what do we do now? j b asked salome.
i don’t know. did you understand that stuff about digital and analog?
i don’t think it meant anything. it was just an excuse not to let us go.
everything is an excuse not to let us go.
it’s the system.
you got that right.
the crowd of persons who had not been let on to the highway was milling around aimlessly.
the tables in front of the gate where the security guards had interrogated the petitioners had been taken away, and now the guards were setting up what looked like an enormous boxing ring.
that has to be where they are going to have the fight with sticks.
so they are really going to do it! i thought that person was just having fun with you.
no, they really do it, a voice behind j b and salome said. i been here before and they really do it.
j b and salome ignored the voice, which might belong to a plant or informer, and watched as a guard in a straw hat, carrying a megaphone, climbed up on to the boxing ring.
listen up, you sorry clowns, the guard shouted through the megaphone. as some of you have been told, or maybe you have been here before, at the end of each day the republic gives those of you who could not get past the gate fair and square another fighting chance. to fight your way on to the highway!
did anybody get through the gate? a voice from the crowd shouted. if they did, i must have missed it!
i am going to ignore that sad malcontent, although it is all too typical of the attitude we have seen here today.
the guard paused.
today we did not get a single volunteer to participate in this generous offer. not one! we have had only two or three before, but never none! what is this world coming to? i ask you!
a few raindrops started to fall.
i give you all one more chance! one more!
no one came forward.
can we leave now? another voice shouted.
no, you may leave! if no one comes forward in ten seconds i will pick two people at random, what do you weaklings say to that? i will count to ten - ten, nine, eight -
j b stepped up. i will do it.
all right, then, anybody else?
no one else stepped up.
then i guess i will have to pick someone to take on this brave soul -
wait a minute, j b interrupted the guard.
yes?
nobody else came forward. but i did. that should mean i win, and you should let me go on the highway.
suddenly the rain picked up and started falling in earnest.
yes,the crowd started shouting. let the citizen go!
a couple of other guards, including the one who had interviewed salome, jumped up on the ring and began palavering with the guard with the megaphone.
now the rain was pouring down, lightning flashed, and the hastily constructed ring started to shake.
all right! the guard with the megaphone shouted! that’s fair! you - pointing at j b - get around behind me and get on down the road! the rest of you get back!
j b took off and the guards began driving the rest of the crowd back off the entrance to the highway.
the rain was coming down like the end of the world.
j b and salome never saw each other again.
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