CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

WALTER SICKERT WAKES

 

 

WALTER SICKERT’S HEAD rolled slowly from side to side as he lay on his cot. He had been unconscious for hours: spent, exhausted by his mental exertions and by his fear.

Edward Leer took the rag – soaked in aromatic oils – from Walter’s forehead and gestured for Ben Gun to take the pup’s hand.

Ben did not hesitate. He perched on the cot and loosely clasped the clammy hand in both of his.

Walter Sickert’s eyes opened slowly and then closed again. He sighed, groaned and frowned.

When he opened his eyes again, he fixed for a moment on the ceiling before looking first at his hand, held in Ben Gun’s, and then at Ben’s face.

There was a look of mild shock on Walter Sickert’s face, but not of panic.

“Walter Sickert, Hearer of Warschauer Pack, me, I am Ben Gun of Zoo Pack,” said Ben, squeezing the pup’s hand slightly. Walter Sickert returned the squeeze. Ben Gun glanced at Edward Leer, a smile flashing across his face. The tale-teller nodded back at him.

“Hearer, you are safe,” said Ben Gun. “You are at Old Zoo, safer and safe. Us, we found you and we brought you here.”

Walter Sickert opened his eyes again, and looked at Ben Gun. He parted his lips, but no words came out. He sighed and closed his eyes once more.

“The Hearer, he is calm,” said Edward Leer.

Walter Sickert’s eyes opened suddenly wide at the new voice. Ben Gun squeezed his hand again, and this time the Hearer clenched his hand hard in answer.

“Hearer, that voice, him Edward Leer. Him Zoo Pack tale-teller. Him will help you. Walter Sickert, you are safe. Safer and safe.”

Walter Sickert’s grip on Ben’s hand did not loosen.

His lips parted, and a single word spilled out.

“Them,” he said.

Edward Leer placed the rag back on Walter Sickert’s forehead, newly moistened with warm oil to soothe him. Then he sat on the small stool next to the cot and began to speak.

“Gene the Hackman, top dog, him done the great Walk Around. Not for him the darkness, not for him the cold, not for him the Time of Ice. Gene the Hackman, him got whet. Gene the Hackman, him got whet and walked the Earth, and him killed Them,” he began.

Both Walter Sickert and Ben Gun visibly relaxed.

“Two-Feet-Walk-on-the-Ground, him ran the World. Him big fella. Them hated him very much. Two-Feet-Walk-on-the-Ground, him make Gene the Hackman to keep Them off his lawn and him sleep long time. Two-Feet-Walk-on-the-Ground, him the Master. Gene the Hackman, him keep Them off the lawn while the Master sleep long time.

“Them got together, tighter and tight. And Gene the Hackman, him Heard his Master’s Voice and him got whet and him killed Them. Him clever. Him had muscles in his head. Him knew the one thing always drew Them quickest. Him built fires, and Them come. Him pulled his two great blades and him swung and him hacked and him scrapped, and him killed Them, deader and dead.

“Gene the Hackman, him heard the Master’s Voice and him felt the Urgings. Gene the Hackman, him led the pack on the Walk Around, and him kept the lawn clean of Them.”

Walter Sickert looked at Edward Leer.

“Me, I hear the Master’s Voice,” he said.

“Me, I know,” said Edward Leer.

There was silence in the tiny cell for several seconds before Ben Gun found the courage to speak up.

“You, why don’t you tell that tale before?” he asked. “Why don’t you ever tell that legend if you are the tale-teller?”

“That, it is an old story,” said Edward Leer. “That, it is a frightening tale, too old to tell. For us, most of us, there is no Master. There is no Master’s Voice. There is no Them. There is only Aux, now. There is only us.”

“Why is it frightening?” asked Ben Gun.

“Us, we are afraid of the things we do not understand,” said Edward Leer. “Us, we are afraid of old things, of dead things, of forgotten things. Us, we are afraid of dying things.”

“Of Hearers?” asked Ben Gun.

“If we do not Hear,” said Edward Lear.

“Us, we heard the whistles in the tunnels at Warschauer,” said Ben Gun.

“Them,” said Walter Sickert, as if in agreement.

“Us, we hear the moans and the creaks of the dying ice,” said Ben Gun, “and the water falling. Me, I hear everything. Me, I listen to everything. Me, because I listened, we did the long Walk Around safe back to Zoo Pack.”

“Then that is what we must tell Ezra Pound,” said the tale-teller. “That is what you must tell Ezra Pound.”