‘Tell me and see.’
He gave me the strangest look ‘It’s sometimes called morality.’
‘I guess you’re right. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I pulled myself together. I didn’t have to listen to this. ‘You’re afraid,’ I said. ‘You’re afraid of Homo Gestalt. ’
He made a wonderful effort and smiled. ‘That’s bastard terminology.’
‘We’re a bastard breed,’ I said. I pointed. ‘Sit down over there.’
He crossed the quiet room and sat at the desk. I leaned close to him and he went to sleep with his eyes open. I straightened up and looked around the room. Then I got the thermos flask and filled it and put it on the desk. I fixed the corner of the rug and put a clean towel at the head of the couch. I went to the side of the desk and opened it and looked at the tape recorder.
Like reaching out a hand, I got Beanie. She stood by the desk, wide-eyed.
‘Look here,’ I told her. ‘Look good, now. What I want to do is erase all this tape. Go ask Baby how.’
She blinked at me and sort of shook herself, and then leaned over the recorder. She was there—and gone—and back, just like that. She pushed past me and turned two knobs, moved a pointer until it clicked twice. The tape raced backward past the head swiftly, whining.
‘All right,’ I said, ‘beat it.’