Kate Wilhelm - Let the Fire Fall

Teague listened closely and when the voice stopped, he clutched his head hard, looked about wildly for an escape and found only the door Avery had left by. It was locked. The Voice started again in a moment, and this time while it was speaking Teague sank to his knees and put his head down low between his hands. “Yes, yes, I’ll do it. I’ll do it! What do you want?”

When Avery returned he found Teague still on his knees, muttering incoherent prayers, promising obedience. Avery informed him that he was to be sent to the temple at Covington. Teague nodded dumbly.

Joe: Dr. Bevins, you say that the listener’s Booths will be the most successful part of the Church. Would you care to elaborate on that?

Bevins: Sure, Joe. It’s simple. You see, they give new converts on appointment for the first time in the booths, and at that time there is a real listener. That’s all his job is, to listen. Not comment, not make notes, not censure, or praise. He listens. The poor guy might not soy much the first time, but he is hooked anyway because he can have the attention of another human being for a whole hour without fear of interruption. He can spill his guts and not be afraid of being arrested later. It’s a good gimmick.

Joe: You agree, Bishop O’Brien?

O’Brien: Of course not. It’s a fad, like the rest of it. Besides, most of the people don’t talk for an hour, or any part of it. They go in, five minutes later they are out. Auricular confession, to be successful, must have two participants. There must be a judgment….

Bevins: Exactly my point. After the person is hooked there is no need for a listener, and there is none after that. The booth is empty. They still go and unload, and they seem to benefit from it….

O’Brien: Seem, my dear Dr. Bevins. You surprise me. It is well recognized that man yearns to confess his sins and atone for them. It is not enough to relate them to on inanimate object; atonement must follow.

Bevins: The philosophy of the Voice of God Church is that man does not have this need and the success of the Listener’s Booths and the incidence of repeaters attests—

O’Brien: Like so much that this church has done, this is a truncated version of a practice that was beneficial to man. Just what good can it do to sit in an empty room and relate your aggressions, give voice to your transgressions? Without atonement there is no forgiveness.

Bevins: From whom? Obviously the God that Obie Cox calls upon doesn’t care if pensioners count beads or if they don’t count beads. Just as obviously the people accept this much grander concept with ease. You must admit that this bigger god is more awesome than one who watches to see that a penitent doesn’t miss a Hail Mary….

O’Brien: Dr. Bevins, you are twisting my words….

Bevins: I’m telling you it’s time to see why the booths work, why the people go bock week after week, what .they gain….

O’Brien: In the end they will have gained only hell….

Joe: Gentlemen, let me ask you another question here. Dr. Bevins, something you said earlier has been nagging at me. You said the people are hooked after a visit or two. Exactly what do you mean by that? Addicted, as with drugs?

Bevins: Yes. I think so. let’s trace the history of the listener’s Booths a bit, shall we? At first there weren’t many of them. Cox preached that his converts should go to them and unburden themselves. Of course this was a ruse. He simply didn’t have the staff at that time to hear all the people who come forward. No doubt he was thinking it terms of what Bishop O’Brien represents. A place with a priest to hear confessions and to advise afterward. But priests are expensive. He improvised. Did you know that in the beginning he paid absolutely nothing for the services of the Listeners? Most of the booths were donated also. He. scrambled his listeners so that those from Boston heard people in southern California; people from Florida manned the Washington booths, like that. And it worked. They didn’t have to be trained, and they were free. Converts themselves, eager to serve the church. We ran some experiments in the Arlington area when the booths opened there. We sent in some of our bright young psychology majors and instructed them to relate rather bizarre behavior. No reaction on the port of the listeners. The accounts become more and more loaded, actual criminal activities were recounted, and no reaction. After the testing period ended, questioning the subjects disclosed that they had begun to look forward to the sessions, that they were reluctant to discontinue them. Several of the subjects guessed that a subtle hypnosis hod been used on them to make them want to return. One suggested a gas, but the containers we sent in with them showed nothing but plain air. Of course, this was in the early period when there were still listeners. Later, after they began to use empty booths we did the same experiment, and found that the subjects were even more drown to the confessionals. We had come up with new and better sample units to obtain air samples, but again could find nothing that could account for the effect. Several theories were advanced to explain this behavior. Very briefly I’ll sum them….

O’Brien: Please remember, Joe, that Dr. Bevins said theories. None of this has been proven, and his own tests have been almost completely invalidated by the revelation that some of the subjects he used in the experiments were either at the time of the experiments, or shortly afterward, members of the Voice of God Church. One wonders about their observations, how much objectivity they showed, and so on.

Joe: Is that right, Dr. Bevins?

Bevins: Not just like that, Joe. That’s coloring it a bit. Now the theories—

O’Brien: What do you mean, I colored it. Were some of the subjects members?

Bevins: Let me get on with—

Joe: Why not answer the question first? Were they?

Bevins: In any sample of the population you will find that a certain percent of those being tested belong to certain religious organizations….

Joe: Were they members of the Voice of God Church?

Bevins: Some of them later joined. Now about the—

Joe: When did they join? How many of them joined?

Bevins: Are you more interested in the conversion of a few students or in the theories proposed by eminent scientists to account for the curious effects of the listener’s Booths on those who visit them?

Joe: Were the theories advanced on the basis of information garnered from any of the students who were members of the Voice of God Church? Just yes or no, if you will, Doctor. It’s a simple question.

Bevins: Well, yes, but to explain—

Joe: Wouldn’t you say that that fact invalidates whatever theories you might—

Bevins: (Crackle, crackle) it! There’s no other way to investigate the (crackle crackle) Booths! A certain number of the investigators always become converted!

O’Brien: You see, Joe, it all goes back to the innate need of man to unburden himself and then to crone for his transgressions. Unfortunately, with listener’s Booths only the first half of that need is satisfied….

Bevins: Wait a minute! Have you gone to one of the booths, Bishop O’Brien?

O’Brien: Of course not!

Bevins: Well, I have, and I know that some sort of gas is used there, or some subliminal suggestion to return that is almost too strong to resist….

Joe: You want to go bock, Dr. Bevins?

Bevins: (Crackle, crackle, crackle) I do! But I’m able to resist it because I can understand….

Joe: I see, Dr. Bevins. Wouldn’t you say, Bishop O’Brien, that a new look should be given to the work that has been done by the doctor and his students….