"We need help, Ernie. We need it badly—"
Absently, Ernie said, "Yeah, I see that all right." He kept pacing.
"I don't know if I can make you understand how important you are right now, Ernie. With you helping, we can isolate the thing that triggered you out of this. We can use it as a technique on whole groups of people. The world will begin moving again. At last, things will begin to change."
"Yeah—" Ernie stopped and looked at the rug beside his dresser. He had found what he had been looking for. He picked the microphone up.
And pulled loose the wires.
From the television, Jory screamed. "Ernie, listen to me—"
Ernie turned off the set.
He sat on his bed and continued to think while he finished the can of beer. When he had it all thought out he smiled. He felt very happy. He could stop being afraid. Afraid of anything. His foreman, his job. All of it.
He wasn't interested in walking into banks and carrying off sackfuls of money. What was the sense to that? He couldn't spend it anyway.
Besides, he had something that was better.