David Ackerman Kyle

“ That wizen, hollow-eyed face a foot away, so much like a withered plant dying of a vicious blight, was his own. The thought seemed too horrible to bear,
"Oh God, I'm dying! Why must I suffer so?" His hot, damp hands beat his forehead and pushed back his unkempt hair with quick and desperate motions.
Suddenly he straightened. His jaws tightened firmly together, and his mouth became a thin, bloodless slit. If he was to die, there were things to do first. ”

“ Then a paralyzing shock seemed to grip the man. On the paper were words to which he had never paid much attention. They caught his eye as if written in red. How strangely prophetic they were. He had read of his death many times and had never realized it! "The control of the brain makes it possible for the body to function properly."
He was a fool! A blind, blundering fool! Mad with anger, he flung the book at the window; it smashed through the dusty pane, hitting three floors below with a smack that was heard clearly in the still night. The paper had crumpled in his fist. ”

“ The lawyer let the papers, which he had been holding, drop from his sticky hands to the surface of the blue, splotched desk blotter and relaxed against the chair back. The head of the speaker was bowed. It straightened suddenly as a shiver passed through the man, and, with a nervous lick of his lips, he continued.
"My emotions were finally conquered and my true status took form; I was unable to have any more common everyday habits. I must always be forced to think. It was consoling to know that it was a small price to pay for the greatest brain in the world. ”