The Method Read Online Free Page B

above all this. By all means, grieve for your brother; grieve all you like. But while you’re grieving, go back to normal life. You’ve come to the attention of the authorities because of certain lapses.’
    ‘In certain situations …’ begins Mia, but Kramer is shaking his head.
    ‘You don’t need to justify yourself to me, Frau Holl. You’ll be invited to a conciliation meeting by the court. Be sure to accept. And tidy up! Scrub the visible signs of despair from your life. It’s still
your
life, remember. You need to assume control.’
    ‘I fully intend to,’ says Mia softly.
    ‘I’m pleased to hear it.’ Kramer leaps up energetically as if to take charge of the clean-up operation.
    Mia eyes him dubiously. ‘You’ll need a bucket if you’re going to scrub away the visible signs of my despair.’
    Kramer immediately puts his hands in his pockets and changes his pose.
    ‘Which leads me to an interesting question,’ continues Mia. ‘You’re a busy man with no shortage of suitable people to talk to. Are you planning to adopt me?’
    ‘In other words,’ says the ideal inamorata, ‘what the hell are you doing here?’
    ‘I’m here,’ says Kramer, ‘to make a suggestion.’ He strolls around the room, stopping briefly to check the computer on Mia’s exercise bike which is displaying a line of zeros.
    ‘Everything we’ve been discussing affects the whole country, not just you. It won’t be long before the first journal articles are published – the case of Moritz Holl, as described by leading experts in sociology, psychology, politics and law. The incident will rise to become the queen of footnotes, referenced in every academic paper: Moritz Holl, the man who was proven guilty by the Method and pleaded innocent in the face of the evidence. How? Why? What led to the sudden disjunction between private interest and public good? These questions cut to the heart of our society; they’re fundamental questions about the workings of the Method, questions we should never stop asking and discussing.’
    Mia follows him around the room with her gaze. Her face shows astonishment.
    ‘Asking? Discussing? Are you suggesting I … critique the system for your newspaper?’
    ‘I’d like an in-depth conversation with you. I want to write about you, Mia. A profile piece for
The Healthy Mind
. Gone are the days when journalism was a travelling circus; we don’t pack up and move on when the show is over.’
    ‘Ha, that’s a good one,’ says the ideal inamorata. ‘I’d laugh out loud if I could.’
    ‘With your help, I could show that tragedies and contradictions are inevitable even in a well-ordered system like the Method. We could demonstrate why it still makes sense to follow the path of reason. A good citizen shouldn’t follow the crowd like a sheep. A good citizen should work through periods of doubt and crisis to emerge a stronger supporter of the common cause. People would understand it, coming from you. Have a think about it, Frau Holl. It wouldn’t do you any harm.’
    ‘If you agree to it,’ says the ideal inamorata, ‘I’m leaving you.’
    ‘You can’t,’ says Mia. ‘You’re a present from Moritz.’
    Kramer stiffens. ‘You’re starting to frighten me, Frau Holl.’

Through Plexiglas
     
    ‘THAT’S ANOTHER THING I wish we’d done,’ says Mia.
    If we peer through time as if it were a gauzy robe veiling the body of the Eternal, we see Mia and Moritz in a bare room at the remand centre, four weeks ago at most. They are looking at each other attentively, as if seeing each other for the first time.
    ‘Namely?’ asks Moritz.
    ‘I wish we’d had time to find you a woman.’
    They are separated by a wall of Plexiglas, at the centre of which is a star-shaped constellation of small holes. Through these holes Moritz and Mia can talk to each other; if they move a little closer, close enough to anger the guard, they can even smell each other.
    ‘It’s all right,’ says past-tense Moritz,