Mack Reynolds - Once Departed

Ferd Dempsey, swaying—his once heroic proportions, now gone to fat, threatening to collapse—held high his glass. “We’ll all go tasca-hopping!” he proclaimed. “Go bar hopping, pub crawling, saloon slinking. We’ll all go on down to Chicote’s and stan’ in front, out on the street, and I’ll give ’em a recitation.”

Ferd, Quint decided cynically, was at the stage where he was going to render Omar Khayyam. To render means to tear apart. And sure enough. Here it came. “And, as the Clock crew, those who stood before The tavern shouted—’Open then the Door!’ You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more.”

Quint Jones could just see Ferd and the rest standing in front of Chicote’s shouting quatrains from the Rubaiyat . Come to think of it, though, there was a certain appropriateness about it all. Omar Khayyam, the patron saint of the hedonist. All over again, Quint Jones wondered what he was doing associating with this crowd. How had he ever gotten into this rut?

Ferd’s idea grew on the rest A tasca crawl was in order. Carry the party onto the town. The remaining guests sought their things.

Mike Woolman was one of the last to leave. His eyes went from Quint to Marylyn, who was seeing someone out, and then back again. He said, “So, you’ve finally made it, eh?”

Quint scowled at him. “Come again?”

“Never mind,” Mike grunted. “I suppose it’s got to happen to her some day. Why not you?”

“Get lost, Buster,” Quint growled at him.

“See you around,” Mike said without inflection. “Good old Joe Garcia wants to talk to me about something.”

“He probably wants to know what, if anything, we found out at this party.”

“Well, I’ll tell him we found out a nice round zero.” Mike muttered. He turned to leave.

Something was churning in Quentin Jones’ brain. Something brought to mind by Ferd. The last two lines of his quatrain went over and over through the columnist’s head… how little while we have to stay, and, once departed, may return no more .

He wandered back to the bar and poured himself another short brandy. Actually, he hadn’t drunk much tonight. He had kept himself sober, so that his mind would be keen enough to pick up the slightest hint of a clue. Much good it had done him.

Marylyn said, from behind him, “They’re all gone, Quentin.”

“Oh? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking.”

She sat on the extremely large divan which dominated one side of the room. “Gracious! They drank so much. And were so loud. Thank goodness no one lives below.”

He put his glass down, untouched, and sat beside her. Still thoughtful. How little time we have to stay, and, once departed, may return no more .

“What were you thinking about… Quentin?”

He looked at her. “A lot of things. For once, what a worthless gang this is. Except for Mike, and yourself, who among them works? Do any work at all? Who among them has an iota of ideal? Who has a dream, an ambition—beyond getting over a hangover so he can start hanging a new one on? I think I’m a little disgusted with myself for remaining in this atmosphere as long as I have.”

She said, urgently, “That’s what I’ve been telling you, Quentin. You’re a man of destiny. I knew it from the first time I met you. Even before, when I read some of your columns. I don’t agree with all of them, of course. Perhaps not even most. But you haven’t found yourself yet. When you do…” She had run out of breath in her earnestness.

Quint looked at her ruefully from the side of his eyes, then stared unseeing into a corner of the room. “I got a letter today from a new political party starting up in the States. They call themselves the Liberal Party.”

“Liberal Party.” Marylyn made a face.

He looked at her. “What ever happened to the liberals in the States? Back when I was a kid, during the depression, everybody was a liberal. There were darn few brave enough to call themselves conservatives, and to be a reactionary was like being in cahoots with the devil.”

He thought about it. “Today, the term is rapidly disappearing in the States. To say you’re a liberal now means you’re a wide-eyed do-gooder. A wooly-head who signs petitions for peace, and marches in anti-segregation parades. I remember a speech Roosevelt once made…”

Marylyn made a face again, but moved slightly nearer to him, listening.

“… in which he defined reactionary, radical, liberal and conservative. For an example, he took an old bridge crossing a stream. The radical comes along and says the bridge is no longer safe, it should be torn down and a new one built utilizing the most modern methods. The conservative comes along and says, the bridge is fine, just the way it is, don’t touch it. The liberal comes along and suggests various repairs to patch it up so that it can continue to be used. And the reactionary comes along and says tear it down, and we’ll cross the stream the old way, jumping from rock to rock.”

Marylyn laughed hesitantly, after looking into his face and seeing she was expected to.

Quint said, “Actually, there’s little meaning to be found in the name of political parties nowadays. There’s hardly a country in Europe that doesn’t have parties that work the word Christian into their names. The Christian Democrats, the Christian Socialists, the Christian Republicans, and so on and so forth.” He chuckled sarcastically. “Have you ever heard of a political party really based on Christian principles?”

Marylyn said, “I see what you mean. In Germany in the early 1920s the people liked the word socialist. They weren’t too clear what it meant, but they liked the idea. So when Hitler’s movement began to develop he called it National Socialism, although, of course, the Fuhrer had no sympathy with socialism at all.”

He put an arm around her, and drew her nearer. She looked up at him suddenly. “Quint! That’s it. This is your chance. What difference does it make what the name of the party is? This is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor.”

He pursed his lips and chuckled wryly. “They wanted me to run for Senator from my state.”

“Quint! It’s your chance! Why, in six months you’d be head of the party.”

Still chuckling, he drew her closer, and ran a finger down along a slight scar near her temple. He scowled and said, “How did you get this?”

“What? Oh. An auto accident when I was a little girl.”

how … little … time … we… have … to stay … and … once … departed … may … return … no … more …

He murmured, astonished by it all, “But that’s the whole thing, isn’t it? The effort to stay on. The effort to return, though it all should have ended.”

She frowned up at him. “I… I don’t know what you mean, Quentin.”

“Ann Asian and her H3 vitamin,” he murmured. “She’s probably a comparative amateur.”

“Quentin,” she said.

He looked at her strangely, “You’ve obviously had your face lifted, probably more than once. How old are you, really, Grete?”

She drew back from him,

He said, “How long did you really live in Border, Nebraska? Just long enough to establish a phoney identity?”

“Quentin! Don’t attempt to judge me… not yet. You don’t understand. I lived many years in the United States. For a time I attended school there.”

He was nodding. “Back before the first World War, I imagine. How old are you, Grete Stahlecker?”

Her face went strange. She had removed herself from his enveloping arm, but now she seized his hand tightly. “I am seventy-two years old, Quentin!”