Famine

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

   The huge crowd of about five hundred people gathered around the center of the basketball court.  Their cheers and jeers were deafening at times.  They seemed to be taking cues from a man talking over some kind of public address system although he had no visible mircophone.  Cordless mikes were not exactly unknown to Jonah but were more cumbersome in his time.  Cheryl was standing in the center of the crowd.  Her excitement grew in intensity as she neared the center of the court.  Jonah still could not see what she saw, but he would have bet a month's pay that what she saw was the source of her apparent fanaticism.  She had never expressed this level of hysteria over a bike race.  She grew even wilder.

   Cheryl was even more annoyed with Jonah's reluctance to join her in the center of the crowd.

   "What's the matter with you, Jonah?"  She shrieked.  "Don't yo believe in punishing evil?"

   Evil, Jonah thought?  There was a man in the center of the crowd with his hands cuffed.  Burly attendants stood by to deal with the man if he tried anything dangerous to the crowd.  Jonah looked to Cheryl.  "What evil did that man do?"  Jonah asked.

   "He's a Christian!" Cheryl was satisfied that it was all that she needed to say.

   Now, Jonah remembered the signs.  They proclaimed the coming circus that featured the Christian Humiliations.  He didn't want to know about them, he confessed to himself, as he shrank in horror at what he saw.  He had heard people allude to them now and then.  Like Germans, who knew of the concentration camps, Jonah himself didn't want to know about them.  It gave him confort not to ask. But here he was, his girlfriend behaving as a banshee rather than the normal, sweet woman he thought he was in love with.  There was a five-meter circle around the subject of the crowd's wrath.  Peple were not to throw anything at him that was harmful.. Some did and struck the unfortunate man, causing him to bleed just above his hairline.  Blood trickled down toward his eyes.

   Dr. Boron was standing in the center with the man.  He must have allowed the abusive crowd to bend the rules a bit.  They even hit him now and then.  Even the man's kin would have a hard time recognizing him, Jonah thought.  They continued to throw popcorn and fresh vegetables sold just outside for the special occasion.  All along, they shouted curses and insults.

   "FREEZE THE CHRISTIAN SCUM!  FREZE THE SUBVERSIVE.  FREEZE THE 'HOLY' LUNATIC FOR A MILLION YEARS!  THAT WILL SHOW HIM!"

   Cheryl was the foremost among the crowd.  She was a mix of joy but unexplained bitterness.  It was automatic, like she was brainwashed against her victim.

   It sickend Jonah to the core.  He had pretended that these things wouldn't happen, but Kristallnacht should have taught him to expect this.  He had convinced himself that this wasn't the Dark Ages or the Spanish Inquisition.  But here were some gentle people he had seen on the streets.  He knew them, he thought.  Now they were barbarians!  Jonah winced every time someone managed to hit the unfortunate man or spit in his face.  Jonah push closer to Cheryl, in vain hope to talk sense in her.  He hoped to reason with her, but he knew it was useless before he started. Determined to turn her around, hoping to rescue something of their loving relationship, he moved toward her with more determination.

   As Jonah pushed forward, at least one fan turned on him, taking hold of him, but he broke away from him with ease.  They were annoyed at anything or anybody who got in the way of their sick pleasure.

   "Cheryl!" Jonah took hold of her.  "You've got to stop!  You're acting crazy!"

   "Why stop?  He's a filthy Christian!"