The Servants of Twilight

" Oh, easily, easily," the psychologist said, looking away from the rain-filled February morning." She'd justify it by saying she was only telling her followers things that God would've told them, anyway, if He actually had appeared to her in visions.

The second possibility, which is more disturbing, is that she ac Lually is seeing and hearing God."

" You don't mean literally seeing Him," Henry said, surprised.

" No, no," Boo said, waving one pudgy hand. He was an agnostic, flirting with atheism. He sometimes told Charlie that, considering the miserable state of the world, God must be on extended vacation in Albania, Tahiti, Cleveland or some other remote corner of the universe, where the news just wasn't getting to Him. He said, "I mean that she's seeing and hearing God, but, of course, He's merely a figment of her own sick mind.

Psychotics, if they're far enough over the line, often have visions, sometimes of a religious nature and sometimes not. But I wouldn't have thought Grace had gone that far 'round the bend."

Charlie said, "She's so far gone that they don't even have Taco Bells where she's at."

Boo laughed, not as heartily as Charlie would have liked, but he did laugh, which was better than the scowl that made Chaflie nervous. Boo had no pretensions about his profession and held nothing sacred; he was as likely to use the term "fruitcake" as "mentally disturbed." He said,

"But if Grace has slipped her moorings altogether, then there's something about this situation that's hard to explain."

To Henry, Charlie said, "He loves to explain things. A born pedant.

He'll explain beer to you while you're trying to drink it.

And don't ask him to explain the meaning of life, or we'll be here until our retirement funds start to pay off."

Boothe remained uncharacteristically solemn." It isn't the meaning of life that puzzles me right now. You say Grace has gone 'round the bend, and it certainly sounds as if you may be correct. But you see, if she really believes all this Antichrist stuff, and she's willing to kill an innocent child, then she's evidently a paranoid schizophrenic with apocalyptic fantasies and delusions of grandeur. But it's hard to imagine someone in that condition would be able to function as an authority figure or conduct the business of her cult."

"Maybe someone else is running the cult," Henry said.

"Maybe she's just a figurehead now. Maybe someone else is using her."

Boothe shook his head." It's damned difficult to use a paranoid schizophrenic the way you're suggesting. They're too unpredictable. But if she's really turned violent, has begun to act on her doomsday prophecies, she doesn't have to be crazy. Could be another explanation."

" Such as?" Charlie asked.

"Such as. maybe her followers are disillusioned with her.

Maybe the cult is falling apart, and she's resorting to these drastic measures to renew her disciples' excitement and keep them faithful."

"No," Charlie said." She's nuts." He told Boo about his macabre meeting with Grace just a short while ago.

Boothe was startled." She actually drove nails into her hands? "

"Well, we didn't see her do it," Charlie admitted." Maybe one of her followers wielded the hammer. But she obviously cooperated."

Boo shifted, and his chair creaked." There's another possibility. The spontaneous appearance of crucifixion stigmata on the hands and feet of psychotics with religious persecution complexes is a rare phenomenon but not entirely unheard of."

Henry Rankin was astonished." You mean they were real.?

You mean… God did that to her?"

"Oh, no, I don't mean to imply this was a genuine holy sign or anything of that sort. God had nothing to do with it."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Charlie told him." I was afraid you were suddenly going mystical on me. And if there are two things I'd never expect you to do, one is to go mystical on me, and the other is to become a ballet dancer."

The worried look on the fat man's face did not soften.

Charlie said, "Jesus, Boo, I'm already scared, but if the situation worries you this much, I'm not half as frightened as I ought to be."

Boothe said, "I am worried. As for the stigmata phenomenon, there is some evidence that, in a Messianic frenzy, a psychotic may exert a control on his body. on tissue structure. an almost, well, psychic control that medical science can't explain.

Like those Indian holy men who walk on hot coals or lie on nails and prevent injury by an act of will. Grace's wounds would be the other side of that coin."

Henry, who liked everything to be reasonable and orderly and predictable, who expected the universe to be as neat and wellpressed as his own wardrobe, was clearly disturbed by talk of psychic abilities. He said, "They can make themselves bleed just by thinking about it?"