/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17824861]

>“Jubal, Jubal! Ben hasn’t called; that’s all we need to know. You know how many times Mike has been arrested—in the army, as a carnie, other places—half a dozen times as a preacher. He never hurts anybody; he lets them do it. They can never convict him and he gets out as soon as he wishes.”
>“What is it this time?”
>“Oh, the usual nonsense—public lewdness, statutory rape, conspiracy to defraud, keeping a disorderly house, contributing to the delinquency of minors, conspiracy to evade truancy laws—”
>“Huh?”
>“Their license to operate a parochial school was canceled; the kids didn’t go back to public school. No matter, Jubal—none of it matters. The one thing they are technically guilty of can’t be proved. Jubal, if you had seen the Nest you would know that even the F.D.S. couldn’t sneak a spy-eye into it. So relax. After a lot of publicity, charges will be dropped—and crowds will be bigger than ever.”
>“Hmm! Anne, does Mike rig these persecutions himself?”
>She looked startled. “Why, I never considered the possibility, Jubal. Mike can’t lie, you know.”
He did it, right? People are trying to tell me that the charges were trumped up by the government, which feared the growing power of their church, but it seems obvious to me that Michael wouldn't give a shit about arbitrary age of consent laws if they stood between between a person and learning to grok in fullness.