James V. McConnell

“ She watched the crowd outside, wishing she could be a part of it. There seemed so little life inside the prison where the only function of living was the awaiting of death. "To Care for the Aged." That meant to like and love them as well as to take physical care of them. Only, somehow, it seemed so hard to really love them.
She sighed and turned away from the window to look at one of the reasons she could not be with the rest of the world that night.
He sat bunched up in his chair like a vegetable. She could have closed one of her hands around both his arms together. ”

“ I always take them at lunch."
"You won't need them if you're eating real food."
He whipped his voice into petulance. "Yes, I will! I don't care if it is real food—I want my pills!"
"I'll get them for you later. Go ahead and eat first."
"I can't eat until I take my pink pills! You ought to know that! I won't touch a thing until I get them! You've ruined my birthday party."
The whims of the aging are without logic, so she went to get the pills, leaving Oliver Symmes and the gleaming, sharp knife together, unattended. ”

“ The years that pass are a digger, a giant excavator, scooping the mass of past experience up in the maw of dissipation. The slow, sure evacuation of the passing decades leaves wing-room in a man's head for stirring memories.
The withered man looked up again. The woman in the green uniform was smiling at him through parted, almost twisted lips.
"I suppose that this time of year is the worst for you, isn't it?" she asked sympathetically. The first requirement of a good geriatrician was sympathy and understanding. She determined to try harder to understand. ”

“ We must establish our own precedent, since there is no recent one and the ancient punishments are not acceptable to us. Therefore, because we are humane and reasoning persons, the Court orders that the defendant, Oliver Symmes, be placed in the National Hospital for observation, study and experimentation so that this crime may never again be repeated. He is to be kept there under perpetual care until no possible human skill or resource can further sustain life in his body. ”

“ He recognized the black voice of the judge and took his hands from his ears and put them in his lap. He was told to stand and he obeyed.
"Oliver Symmes, there has been no taking of human lives in this nation for many years, until your shockingly primitive crime. We had taken pride in this record. Now you have broken it. We must not only punish you adequately and appropriately, but we must also make of your punishment a warning to anyone who would follow your irrational example. ”

“ It was peculiar that they were all so excited.
"Your Honor, having duly considered the seriousness of the crime and the evidence presented ..."
The balloon faces on the stick men stretched in anticipation.
"... taking full cognizance of the admitted passion on the part of the defendant and the circumstances ..."
The balloons were strained, contorted out of all proportion in their eagerness.
"... we find the defendant guilty of murder, making no recommendation for consideration by the Court." ”

“ Naturally, we no longer have either the apparatus to execute anyone or an executioner. We do not believe that a stupidly unreasoning act should incite us to equally unreasoning reprisal, for we would then be as guilty of irrationality as you. ”

“ The whole story, the New Year's crowd, his hunger for her, his arrival, the other man and his babbling, the woman and how she looked, his feelings, his transfigured passions, and the deaths. He told the story again and again until they seemed satisfied.
"You understand, Mr. Symmes, that you have committed a most heinous crime. You have killed two people in a passion that, while it used to be forgiven by the circumstances, is no longer tolerated by this government. You have killed, Mr. ”

“ The people inside were standing; stick men, it seemed to him, with painted balloons for faces. The sound of the rapping of a gavel caught his ear. The people sat, and the trial began.
"This court will admit to evidence only those events and artifacts which are proved true and relevant to the alleged crime."
An obsequious clearing of throats. A coughing now and then.
"... And did you see the defendant, Oliver Symmes, enter the apartment of the deceased on the night of the Thirty-first of December, two thousand and ..." ”