Asian nation, whom I temporarily designate The Enemy. He knows everything about the Master Plan, as indeed I know everything about his similar work. We know that we know, and so forth.
‘He is faceless to me, this General X, but I do know that his thoughts, plans, aspirations are much on the order of my own. He knows little of my movements, nor I of his, yet we can make necessary assumptions about one another which turn out to be correct. If they were not, our faulty logic would one day become explicit on the battlefield.
‘Now I wish to subsume his thinking into the Master Plan. To do so, I must affect his system, drawing his soul into a snare while maintaining the integrity of my own soul. The fact our nations are at a stalemate underscores our equivalence; he is equally interested in entrapping my soul, or system. We make our secret plans and attack.’)
‘I am not a monster, forgive me, only a lesser card. The face cards you know only too well; the Communist bosses of Wall Street and Washington, the Fascist pigs of Moscow and Peking. I am a friend. I wanted only to live my life, solve my little calculus of war, and die. A decent burial with a free flag from the Veterans’ Administration, that’s all I wanted.
‘Excuse me, I am of course terrifying; the face of death in the halls of Life. You are here to preserve my skin: I am here to take yours. Fair enough?
‘Forgive me for being obscene pig. I have not the garment your race require for decent civilized discourse. Ignorant bastard, me. Have not even Jesus-boy laplap. Sorry, boss.
‘Gentlemen, my work is
crucial
to the war effort. It is absolutely essential that I be left undisturbed,
not bled daily
, and so forth. I would like to see my aide, Captain Savage, as soon as he comes in. I am our only real guarantee of liberty – I do not exaggerate. I would like the bombing to stop between ten and twenty hundred hours, if you please. And for God’s sake, take that burned child away to some other ward!’
The nurses are frozen, like the men in his dream. The throat of Dr Godden smiles at them from the floor.
‘And the toilets are a disgrace. In conclusion may I say that this has been a most successful year, fellows. I really mean it. The Enemy is everywhere, in our food and air, up our rectums and down our throats. But we have every confidence of an early victory. If we have to poison our food, burn our air, and flush our guts, I can promise you one thing – The Enema is finished! We will mop up his cells wherever we find them, and you have my word – the boys will be home for Christmas!’
(and standard purées. The only enjoyment left him at mealtime now was imagining the dietician ladling goop from tiny jars whose labels exhibited pretty babies. His hair began falling faster now, and there were sudden blinding headaches and spells of high fever. He was enveloped by a very ancient and fish-like smell which reminded him, when he happened to notice it, of woman.
(4. J: an attractive first piece
a. on earth
b. in winter
c. female dominant position
d. conclusions
(1) lazy and reluctantly responsive
(2) engages only to be sociable
5. J: a nice tight second
a. darkly tanned
b. athletic socks
c. boring
6. one night stand
7. not applicable
8. n/a
9. M: a rich third
a. needed to get drunk for it
b. eventually, so did I
10. O.n.s.
11. O.n.s.
12. S: a beautiful fourth
a. almond eyes
(1) ophidian eyes
(2) parenthetical
(A) made me think of parenthood
(B) made me wonder about her other, multiple parentheses
13. O.n.s.
14. R: a seductive fifth
a. passionate
b. intelligent
c. well-made
d. but
(1) error
(2) stillborn son changed things
e. suicide
(1) I made her nervous and sleepless
(2) the doctors gave her pills to make her sleep
(3) she slept
(4) with the TV on
(A) I thought she was watching the Big Picture
(B) Battle of the Bulge
(C) I watched it through, not knowing
(D) then called the doctor
(E) but she was dead when I got there
(F) really
f. parenthesis closed
g.
‘He is faceless to me, this General X, but I do know that his thoughts, plans, aspirations are much on the order of my own. He knows little of my movements, nor I of his, yet we can make necessary assumptions about one another which turn out to be correct. If they were not, our faulty logic would one day become explicit on the battlefield.
‘Now I wish to subsume his thinking into the Master Plan. To do so, I must affect his system, drawing his soul into a snare while maintaining the integrity of my own soul. The fact our nations are at a stalemate underscores our equivalence; he is equally interested in entrapping my soul, or system. We make our secret plans and attack.’)
‘I am not a monster, forgive me, only a lesser card. The face cards you know only too well; the Communist bosses of Wall Street and Washington, the Fascist pigs of Moscow and Peking. I am a friend. I wanted only to live my life, solve my little calculus of war, and die. A decent burial with a free flag from the Veterans’ Administration, that’s all I wanted.
‘Excuse me, I am of course terrifying; the face of death in the halls of Life. You are here to preserve my skin: I am here to take yours. Fair enough?
‘Forgive me for being obscene pig. I have not the garment your race require for decent civilized discourse. Ignorant bastard, me. Have not even Jesus-boy laplap. Sorry, boss.
‘Gentlemen, my work is
crucial
to the war effort. It is absolutely essential that I be left undisturbed,
not bled daily
, and so forth. I would like to see my aide, Captain Savage, as soon as he comes in. I am our only real guarantee of liberty – I do not exaggerate. I would like the bombing to stop between ten and twenty hundred hours, if you please. And for God’s sake, take that burned child away to some other ward!’
The nurses are frozen, like the men in his dream. The throat of Dr Godden smiles at them from the floor.
‘And the toilets are a disgrace. In conclusion may I say that this has been a most successful year, fellows. I really mean it. The Enemy is everywhere, in our food and air, up our rectums and down our throats. But we have every confidence of an early victory. If we have to poison our food, burn our air, and flush our guts, I can promise you one thing – The Enema is finished! We will mop up his cells wherever we find them, and you have my word – the boys will be home for Christmas!’
(and standard purées. The only enjoyment left him at mealtime now was imagining the dietician ladling goop from tiny jars whose labels exhibited pretty babies. His hair began falling faster now, and there were sudden blinding headaches and spells of high fever. He was enveloped by a very ancient and fish-like smell which reminded him, when he happened to notice it, of woman.
(4. J: an attractive first piece
a. on earth
b. in winter
c. female dominant position
d. conclusions
(1) lazy and reluctantly responsive
(2) engages only to be sociable
5. J: a nice tight second
a. darkly tanned
b. athletic socks
c. boring
6. one night stand
7. not applicable
8. n/a
9. M: a rich third
a. needed to get drunk for it
b. eventually, so did I
10. O.n.s.
11. O.n.s.
12. S: a beautiful fourth
a. almond eyes
(1) ophidian eyes
(2) parenthetical
(A) made me think of parenthood
(B) made me wonder about her other, multiple parentheses
13. O.n.s.
14. R: a seductive fifth
a. passionate
b. intelligent
c. well-made
d. but
(1) error
(2) stillborn son changed things
e. suicide
(1) I made her nervous and sleepless
(2) the doctors gave her pills to make her sleep
(3) she slept
(4) with the TV on
(A) I thought she was watching the Big Picture
(B) Battle of the Bulge
(C) I watched it through, not knowing
(D) then called the doctor
(E) but she was dead when I got there
(F) really
f. parenthesis closed
g.
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