Here is what they did.....
One bright fresh morning filled with birds they came for him. He was wearing a worn black sports coat, dark jeans, and a flattish, grey, newsboys cap.
He put up the expected amount of fuss. He had been half afraid/ excited that they would come.
He cast a mournful look around his cosy little cube he went limp as the assistants bore down on him. This tiny room was peace!
He cried out "nooooooooo as he rattled his gurney and rolled over on all fours. But he wasn't sure he meant it, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling watching the light fixtures come and go till they reached the warehouse. Gingerly, the assistants lay him in front a single active cistern, in the otherwise dim warehouse.
The concrete was cool to his shirtless torso, he rolled over on to his stomach and drummed his fingers on the floor impatiently.
"I know what this is....Your going to dip me in water! What good will that do! I wont take off my pants I wont......or my hat....." His shouts of protest echoed off the distant empty walls.
Different techs arrived, talking amongst themselves and pulling down metal ropes. One tech broke from the pack, and nabbed the cap off of his head exposing a shock of bright red hair and a bald, freckled, handsome face.
"I oughtat, Ill have your tech degree!" They newly unhatted man shouted.
Two more technicians approached him, they fastened two strong metal close pins to his sport jacket and prepared to hoist him towards the cistern of water.
But, he slid his arms out of his sports coat and ran free!
"Dip me in water!!!!" he screamed out and ran further and harder into the dark heart of the warehouse. He inhaled the rarefied air of freedom!!!! But, even at the height of his intoxication the headlights of golf carts pursued him and the feeble shouts of the techs could be heard. He dodged and spun and crouched low and leapt, always just out of reach of the golf cart. He could feel the walls began to shake. He paused and then ran madly in the opposite direction
It came…. the grinding horrible noise….it always came
A net hundreds of feet wide affixed to a metal arm swung out from the ceiling and scooped him up
"Ahhhh," he moaned," it always happens this way!!!!!"
Defeated, he lay motionless in the giant net.
It whizzed above the dormant cisterns towards the bright pool of light on the other side of the vast warehouse. In no time he found himself on the cool cement ground in front of the active silo Water bubbled over the sides, cheerfully streaking the surface with tiny, translucent, rivers .
Here again were the techs, they removed his pants and shoes. They looped his arms through padded hoops, naked he dangled helplessly above the active cistern. Gradually he was lowered into the warm bubbling water, inch by inch till at last his arms were freed. He swam and bobbed in the warm water, kicking his feet and splashing. An hour passed and then another.
Here again came the giant metal arm. He swam from it, it came again, he dodged it....But the third time it grasped him and hoisted him out of the water.
A tech stepped forward with his dark jeans, worn black sports coat, and cap.
"Really Mr. Hargraves, first we can not get you in the water and then you fight getting out your your a migraine of a person!!”
Mr. Hargraves put on his sport coat and hat but not his pants he thrust his hips this way and that. He raised his eyebrows in quick succession, all in a vain attempt to get the techs attention.
She scratched the surface of her paper with the nib of her pen and sighed.
She had seen it all before.............................................
