Bethany Read Online Free Page A
thing writhed and lashed its tail and glared at me, and I knew that it was beyond my powers to remove it. The best I could do would be to hold her hand while one wiser than I brought her out of the shadows.
I came home from work on the Monday and saw theHumber parked under the laurel tree. They were all there: Simon, Dao, and their three little girls, and Pete, Coral and the baby.
âKay!â said Coral and hugged me. Dao, luminous with smiles, placed her hands palm-to-palm and inclined her head above them in the Eastern greeting. I responded, less gracefully, but from a full heart. Simon and Alex were talking in the garden. It was going to be all right, I thought, as I made the tea.
We sat in the sun listening to the bees among the roses, and smiled at each other. Simon said it had been agreed that they should move in at the end of the week. He thought there should be a trial period, and asked for suggestions as to its length. No one volunteered a suggestion, so Simon said five months. We agreed.
As Simon talked, I realised that what he had in mind was far more than a friendly house-sharing, far more even than a conventional commune. He wished to find out whether there was a new way for people to live together. A way that did not involve private will; a way that broke down the barriers between people until the will of the individual and the will of the group were one. A way in which communication flowed freely between people, unimpeded by motives arising from the self, so that a thing was no sooner thought than it was said, no sooner said than it was done, no sooner done than it was dismissed from the mind so that the next thing could be dealt with. A way in which there were no lies, no evasions and no secrets. A way in which there was no dwelling on the past and no dreaming of the future, but only total awareness of the timeless present. It was an amazing conception. Dimly I glimpsed the sort of power such a group would have.
So that was why he wanted so long a trial period. With such an aim in view, there would be many problems to be overcome.
But what was he saying now?
âOne sees that in this beautiful place there is something wrong. There is something not straight. It is like a broken limb.When a limb is broken you put a splint on it to keep it straight. Something strong and straight is tied to something weak and crooked, until the weak thing grows strong. That is what we are going to do here.â
I had some difficulty in believing that he meant what he obviously had to mean. I glanced at Alex, who was smiling serenely. She doesnât understand, I thought. I felt protective, and for a moment indignant.
âA five-month splint. The Bethany splint.â
Well, it was what I wanted, wasnât it?
2
The Ark
Simon, sipping his peppermint tea by the kitchen window, said, âThe group has been in existence for a week. Are there any suggestions?â
âYes. Another week,â said Coral with a broad smile.
She looked blissfully happy, sitting on the floor feeding her baby. We had all taken to sitting on the floor. It was the only comfortable way six adults and three children could fit into the long, narrow kitchen at Bethany, and in any case there were never enough chairs in the house for visitors because of Alexâs deep-rooted hostility to furniture.
Alex and I had never encouraged sitting on the floor because, trodden constantly by three dogs, the floor had never been very clean; but now it shone with a lustre we dimly remembered from years ago when the lino had just been laid. Unlike Alex and me, Coral and Dao did not regard the fact that a thing would immediately get dirty again as a good reason for not washing it. The whole house sparkled.
âItâs very nice here,â said Coral in her American drawl, andthen smiled again at the inadequacy of the statement. I studied the slim figure, in white shirt and faded jeans, resting easily against the wooden cupboard. The lazy
I came home from work on the Monday and saw theHumber parked under the laurel tree. They were all there: Simon, Dao, and their three little girls, and Pete, Coral and the baby.
âKay!â said Coral and hugged me. Dao, luminous with smiles, placed her hands palm-to-palm and inclined her head above them in the Eastern greeting. I responded, less gracefully, but from a full heart. Simon and Alex were talking in the garden. It was going to be all right, I thought, as I made the tea.
We sat in the sun listening to the bees among the roses, and smiled at each other. Simon said it had been agreed that they should move in at the end of the week. He thought there should be a trial period, and asked for suggestions as to its length. No one volunteered a suggestion, so Simon said five months. We agreed.
As Simon talked, I realised that what he had in mind was far more than a friendly house-sharing, far more even than a conventional commune. He wished to find out whether there was a new way for people to live together. A way that did not involve private will; a way that broke down the barriers between people until the will of the individual and the will of the group were one. A way in which communication flowed freely between people, unimpeded by motives arising from the self, so that a thing was no sooner thought than it was said, no sooner said than it was done, no sooner done than it was dismissed from the mind so that the next thing could be dealt with. A way in which there were no lies, no evasions and no secrets. A way in which there was no dwelling on the past and no dreaming of the future, but only total awareness of the timeless present. It was an amazing conception. Dimly I glimpsed the sort of power such a group would have.
So that was why he wanted so long a trial period. With such an aim in view, there would be many problems to be overcome.
But what was he saying now?
âOne sees that in this beautiful place there is something wrong. There is something not straight. It is like a broken limb.When a limb is broken you put a splint on it to keep it straight. Something strong and straight is tied to something weak and crooked, until the weak thing grows strong. That is what we are going to do here.â
I had some difficulty in believing that he meant what he obviously had to mean. I glanced at Alex, who was smiling serenely. She doesnât understand, I thought. I felt protective, and for a moment indignant.
âA five-month splint. The Bethany splint.â
Well, it was what I wanted, wasnât it?
2
The Ark
Simon, sipping his peppermint tea by the kitchen window, said, âThe group has been in existence for a week. Are there any suggestions?â
âYes. Another week,â said Coral with a broad smile.
She looked blissfully happy, sitting on the floor feeding her baby. We had all taken to sitting on the floor. It was the only comfortable way six adults and three children could fit into the long, narrow kitchen at Bethany, and in any case there were never enough chairs in the house for visitors because of Alexâs deep-rooted hostility to furniture.
Alex and I had never encouraged sitting on the floor because, trodden constantly by three dogs, the floor had never been very clean; but now it shone with a lustre we dimly remembered from years ago when the lino had just been laid. Unlike Alex and me, Coral and Dao did not regard the fact that a thing would immediately get dirty again as a good reason for not washing it. The whole house sparkled.
âItâs very nice here,â said Coral in her American drawl, andthen smiled again at the inadequacy of the statement. I studied the slim figure, in white shirt and faded jeans, resting easily against the wooden cupboard. The lazy
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