Scary Monsters

 

 

She's Dreaming. 

 

Got that? Off the charts.

 

Scary Monsters.

 

Let's amp it up. 

Delcium, eight drop.

 

See, most of our best work is done

when they're asleep.

 

 

 

 

Helen, may I ask you a question?

Helen : 

Uh, yeah, of course.

 

I don't mean to be patronizing,

but you seem to be quite a fragile thing.

 

Are you ill?

Helen : 

Um, guess I am.

Got quite a few things wrong with me.

 

Um, my ankle, my wrist.

 

I get tired.

I get anxious.

 

What are you anxious about?

 

 

Helen :

Everything.

Makes it hard to make friends.

 

Oh, yeah, I had A Friend once.

 

We used to play chess every Saturday morning.

Yeah, he was very interesting.

 

He lost both legs in the 

retaking of Goose Green.

Helen :

Poor guy.

 

Yeah.

Funny thing was is 

his nickname was

‘Stumpy’ before it all happened.

Just didn't feel like I could 

call him that after.

Helen : 

What did you call him?

 

Knobby No-Legs.

I don't know what 

happened to him.

We must have had 

a falling out.

 

 

 

James Whale :

Tell me something, Clayton. 

Do you believe in mercy killing? 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

I never really gave it much thought. 

James Whale : 

You must've come across 

such situations in Korea. 

 

A wounded comrade, or 

perhaps even An Enemy. 

You know, someone for whom 

Death would be a blessing. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

I never went to Korea. 

I never even made it through boot camp. 

That I was A Marine, which is True.

You filled in the rest. 

James Whale : 

Oh, I see. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

My Old Man was A Marine. 

Lied about his age, and he enlisted. 

 

James Whale :

Is this The Great War? 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Yeah. Yeah.

By the time he was ready 

to ship out, it was all over.

So, he felt like he'd missed out. 

 

James Whale :

Well, it was a very lucky thing he did.

Clayton, The Gardener : 

 That's not the way he saw it. 

To him it was like

His Life never really got started. 

 

Nothing else seemed to matter.

Certainly not His Family. 

James Whale : 

Is that why you became 

A Marine, for Your Father's sake? 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

I figured it'd be The Next Best Thing. 

I mean, but, you know, 

I loved it, too. 

 

It was a chance to be 

a part of something important, 

Something that's 

bigger than yourself. 

 

James Whale :

So, what happened? 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Didn't have the guts for it. 

 

James Whale :

Hmm? 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Literally. My appendix burst. 

They gave me a medical discharge.

 

And the only thing I can think is, 

‘How the hell am I gonna 

tell My Father?’

 

And you know what happened

when I finally did tell him?  

He laughed at me. 

 

Well, them's the breaks, huh? 

No War Stories for this pup. 

 

 

James Whale :

That's where you're wrong, Clayton. 

You just told me one. 

 

A Very Good Story indeed. 

 

Whew. This Storm is getting worse.

"A Perfect Night for Mystery and Horror.

The Air Itself is filled with Monsters." 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

That's from one of your movies, right? 

 

James Whale :

Very good. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

"The only monsters are here." 

 

James Whale :

Don't remember that one.

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

This afternoon at the party when you said, 

"The only monsters are here," 

I was wondering which "here" that was. 

 

James Whale :

No, I--I don't recall. 

Memories of The War, perhaps.

Barnett. Barnett on The Wire. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Your Friend. 

 

James Whale :

He caught his one night coming 

back from reconnaissance. 

 

I wouldn't take him, but McGill did, 

"just to give the laddie a taste." 

 

They were nearly home when 

a Maxim gun opened fire. 

 

Barnet's body landed on this wire 

that was as thick as briers. 

 

It was hanging there the next morning. 

 

It was only a hundred yards from The Line,

but too far... For anyone to fetch it. 

 

So we saw him every morning stand-to 

"Good morning, Barnett," 

we used to say to him. 

 

"How's old Barnett looking today?"

 

"He seemed a little peaked. 

Looks a little plumper." 

And if he hung there... 

 

Well, at least until we were relieved.

 

We introduced him to 

the new unit before marching out,

speaking highly of his companionship. 

 

God, we were a witty lot.  

Laughing at Our Dead, 

feeling that it was Our Death, too. 

 

But I tell you, for each man who died I thought, 

"better you than me, poor sod." 

 

You know, a whole generation 

was wiped out by that war. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

You survived it. 

Can't hurt you now. 

No good to dig it up. 

James Whale : 

Oh. Friend, it's digging itself up. 

There is nothing in

The Here and Now

to take my mind off it. 

 

The parties... Well, you were there. 

Reading... I can't--

 

I-I can't concentrate. 

There's no Work, of course, 

 

And, uh, love and, uh, 

painting and, uh... 

 

Drawing, I mean. Look. 

 

Your Portrait, Clayton. 

It's all gone from me now. All gone. 

 

They're nothing but the scribblings of an infant. 

There's nothing. Nothing. 

 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

You said you wanted to 

draw me like A Statue —

There. 

 

James Whale : 

It's going to happen after all. 

 

 Clayton, The Gardener :

What did you say? 

 

James Whale :

....No, it won't do. 

 

 Clayton, The Gardener :

What won't do? 

 

James Whale :

You're much too human. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Well, what do you expect, bronze? 

 

James Whale :

Don't move. 

I want you to wear this. 

Just so I can see the artistic effect. 

 

Your very human body

against the inhuman mask. 

 

Oh! Very striking. Mmm. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

I don't know. 

 

James Whale :

Just for a minute, 

so I can see the effects. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

From the first world war, isn't it? 

 

James Whale :

Fasten this around the back. 

Let me help you. There. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Hmm? Uh... Now what?

 

James Whale :

All right, let's take it off.

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Uh, it's too tight. 

I can't breathe. 

 

James Whale :

Oh, no, l-l-leave it. I'll help. 

Leave it to me. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Wha-can you-- 

 

James Whale :

I'm still here. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Um... Mr. Whale. 

 

James Whale :

Oh, what steely muscles 

you've got there. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Just take the fuckin' 

mask off me now, ok? 

 

James Whale :

What a solid brute you are. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Hey, just get your fuckin' hands off me! 

James Whale : 

It's no use, Clayton. I can't hear you.

I can't hear a word. 

Oh, well, then, maybe this. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Hey, hey, hey, hey! 

James Whale :

Ohh! How will you ever 

get yourself back? 

 

I told you, I'm not that way! 

Get it through your fuckin' head, all right? 

James Whale : 

You feel so good, Clayton.

 

Uhh! Didn't even sting! 

Wait till I tell My Friends about this. 

Won't they be surprised. 

 

 Clayton, The Gardener :

I haven't done anything with you 

 

James Whale :

You undressed for me. 

I've been kissing you. 

How will you ever be able 

to live with yourself? 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

What do you want from me? 

James Whale : 

I want You to Kill Me. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

What?

 

James Whale :

Break My Neck. 

It'll be so easy to choke 

The Life out of me. 

 

Come on, Clayton. 

We've come this far. 

 

I'm losing My Mind. 

Every day a new piece of it goes,

and soon there'll be none of it left. 

 

But if You Kill Me, 

Death will be bearable. 

 

You could be My Second Monster. 

Come on. Please, do it now. 

Make me invisible. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

I am not... Your Monster! 

 

 James Whale :

You're a bloody pussycat. 

My deepest apologies.

 Can you ever forgive me? 

 

No, I suppose not. 

I've got to go to bed. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Are you ok? 

 

James Whale :

Oh, Clayton. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Do you need some help? 

 

James Whale :

Pray, you undo this button. 

I don't seem to be able 

to manage it when I'm tired. 

 

Do you believe people 

come into our lives 

for a purpose?

 

 Ok, I can manage now. 

When you die, make sure that

your brain is the last organ to fizzle. 

 

 Clayton, The Gardener :

You'll feel better tomorrow. 

James Whale : 

Good night. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Good night. 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

Hello? 

Oh, hello, Mr. David. 

No, he did not tell me, 

but that's no problem. 

I make the breakfast. 

Yes, very good. Good-bye. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Hanna, this is not what you think it is. 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

Aah! All I ask is you get dressed and go. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Hanna, I need to talk to you 

about Mr. Whale. 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

There is nothing you could 

say would surprise me. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Maybe, but I still need to 

talk to you about him. 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

I blame my daughter for keeping me out so late. 

I only hope you did not get him excited. 

You could give him new stroke. 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Why do you do it, Hanna? 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

What I do? 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Like he was your own 

flesh and blood? 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

I did it when he was happy. It was easy. 

It's only fair I do it now he is ill. 

 

Oh, enough of this talk. 

I must go wake The Master. 

 

Mr. Jimmy, good morning. 

Mr. Jimmy? 

What have you done with him? 

You look for him. 

Clayton, The Gardener :

I put him to bed last night. 

Mr. Jimmy? Mr. Jimmy! 

Mr. Jimmy! Mr. Jimmy! 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Crazy son of a bitch! 

Oh! No! No! No! 

Mr. Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy! 

Clayton, The Gardener :

H-he wanted me to kill him, 

and then he did it himself! 

I didn't do this!

 

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

Mr. Jimmy. It says here, "good-bye."

I find in his room. ‘Sorry', he says. 

'He's had wonderful life'.

 

Oh, my Mr. Jimmy. 

Poor, foolish man.

 

You could not wait for God 

to take you in his time?

 

You must leave.

You were not here 

this morning.

 

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Look, I did not do this.

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

Police will not know that.

They will want to investigate.

You want them to question 

you about Mr. Jimmy?

 

Please, Clayton, it's better 

that I find the body alone.

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

How are you gonna explain how 

you got him out of The Water?

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

You're right. Uh, we must 

put him back.

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

Wh-uh...

 

Hanna / Fritz / Igor :

Oh, Mr. Jimmy, we do not mean disrespect.

You will keep better in water. 

 

 

 

The Hermit :

“Who are You? 

I think you're A Stranger to me. 

 

I cannot see you. 

I cannot see anything. 

 

You must please excuse me, 

but I'm blind. 

 

Perhaps you're afflicted, too. 

We shall be friends. 

 

It's very lonely here, 

and it's been a long time since

any human being came into this hut. 

 

I shall look after you, 

and you will comfort me.

  

 No, no. This is good.

Smoke. You try. Smoke. 

 

The Creature :

Good! Good! 

The Hermit : 

I was all alone. 

It is bad to be alone. 

 

The Creature :

Alone Bad. Friend Good. 

Friend Good! 

 

 Clayton, The Gardener :

Time for bed, sport.

What did you think of the movie?

Clayton's Son : 

Pretty cool.

Better than most monster movies.

 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Yeah? I knew the guy who made it.

 

Clayton's Son :  

Is this another one of your stories?

 

Clayton, The Gardener :

No. It's the original sketch of The Monster.

 

Clayton's Son : 

Is this for real? 

 

 

 

Clay, the trash, before it rains. 

Clayton, The Gardener : 

Come on. 

The Temple Legend

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Temple Legend

 

In his lecture cycle "The Temple Legend - Freemasonry & Related Occult Movements" given in Berlin between 23rd May 1904 and the 2nd January 1906 (GA 93), Rudolf Steiner gives a synopsis of the myth in Lecture 5, entitled "The Mystery Known to Rosicrucians."

 

Below is a synopsis of the legend as given by Steiner in the lecture, followed by a more detailed version provided by the publishers (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1985).

 

Synopsis:

There was a time when one of the Elohim created a human being whom he called Eve. That Elohim united himself with Eve and she gave birth to Cain. After this, another Elohim, named Yahveh, created Adam. Adam also united himself with Eve and from this union came Abel.

 

Thus we see that Cain is a direct descendant of The Gods, but Abel is a descendant of Adam and Eve who are Human. Now the myth proceeds :

 

The sacrifices which Abel made to Yahveh were pleasing to him, but the sacrifices brought by Cain did not please him because the birth of Cain was not ordained by Him. The result was that Cain committed fratricide. He killed Abel and for this he was excluded from communion with Yahveh. He went away into distant lands and founded his own race there.

 

Adam again united himself with Eve and from this union came Seth, also mentioned in the Bible, who took over the role of Abel. Thus we have two generations of mankind; the race of Cain, who was a descentant of Eve and one of the Elohim, and the other race which had human parentage and was brought into existence at the command of Yahveh.

 

Among the descendants of Cain are all those who have been creators of art and science, as, for instance, Methuselah, the inventor of the Tau script, and Tubal-Cain, who taught the use and working of metal ores and iron. In this line of descent, stemming from the Elohim, were all those who trained themselves in the arts and sciences.

 

Hiram also descended from The Race of Cain, and he was the inheritor of all that had been learned by the others of his line in technology and art. He was the most significant architect we can imagine.

 

Out of Seth's line came Solomon, who excelled in everything which came from Yahveh. He was endowed with the wisdom of the world and all the attributes of calm, clear, objective wisdom. This wisdom can be expressed in words which go straight to the human heart and can uplift a person, but is unable to produce anything tangible of a technical nature, in art or science. It is a wisdom which is a directly inspired gift of God and not attained from below through human passions welling up from the human will - that would be the wisdom pertaining to the sons of Cain, a legacy of the other Elohim, not Yahveh. They are the hardworking industriuous ones who seek to accomplish everything through their own efforts.

 

Solomon now decides to build a temple and calls upon Hiram, the descendant of Cain, to be his master builder. It was at the time when Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, was visiting Jerusalem because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon. And she was certainly impressed and charmed by the exalted and clear wisdom and beauty of the King when she first arrived, and when he made love to her she consented to be his bride. Now she heard about the temple which was being built and she desired to make the acquaintance of the master builder, Hiram. When she first met him she was captivated merely by his glance. As a result, a certain mood of jealousy arose between Hiram and Solomon and the latter wished to do something or other against Hiram, but he was dependent upon him for the completion of the temple.

 

Now came the following : The Temple was almost complete. Only one thing was still lacking, which was to have been Hiram's masterpiece; that was The Molten Sea, which was to represent the ocean cast in bronze and was to have adorned the temple. All the necessary mixtures of ores had been prepared by Hiram in a most wonderful manner, ready to be cast. Now, however, three apprentices got to work, whom Hiram had found so lacking in skill that he had been unable to promote them to become Masters. They had therefore sworn to be revenged on him and desired to prevent the casting of the Molten Sea. A friend of Hiram, who got to know about these plans, confided them to Solomon, so that he should prevent their realization. But Solomon, through jealousy, did nothing to stop them, because he wished to destroy Hiram. The result was that Hiram had to look on while the whole casting disintegrated due to the addition of a wrong ingredient in the mixture by the three apprentices. He tried to quench the bursting flames by pouring water over them, but this only made matters worse. Just as he was on the point of despairing about the work ever being completed, Tubal-Cain, his ancestor, appeared to him and told him that he should not hesitate to cast himself into the fire, as he was invulnerable to the flames. Hiram did as he was advised and came to the center of the earth. He was led by Tubal-Cain to Cain, who there resided in a condition of pristine divinity. Hiram was thus initiated into the Mystery of Fire and into the secret of bronze casting, receiving from Tubal-Cain a hammer and a Golden Triangle which he was able to carry with him as a pendant round his neck. Then he returned and was able to complete the casting of the Molten Sea and to put everything in order again.

 

Hereupon the Queen of Sheba consented to become Hiram's bride. He, however, was set upon by the three apprentices and murdered. But before he died, Hiram managed to throw the Golden Triangle into a well. As no one knew where he had disappeared, a search was made. 

Even Solomon was afraid and was anxious to find out what had happened. It was thought that the ancient Master Word could be betrayed by the apprentices, and therefore another one was devised. The first word to be spoken when Hiram was discovered should be the new Master Word. 

At last Hiram was found and was able to utter a few last words. He said: "Tubal-Cain had promised me that I shall have a son who will be the father of many descendants who will people the earth and bring my work - the building of the Temple - to completion.” 

Then he pointed to the place where the Golden Triangle was to be found. This was then collected and brought to the Molten Sea and both were preserved together in the Holy of Holies. 

They are only to be discovered by those who can understand the meaning of the legend of the Temple of Solomon and its Master Builder Hiram.

 

What follows is a somewhat

expanded version of

The Temple Legend,

with more detail:

 

THE LEGEND OF THE TEMPLE

 

Ancestry of Hiram Abiff

Solomon, having determined on the erection of the Temple, collected artificers, divided them into companies, and put them under the command of Adoniram or Hiram Abiff, the architect sent to him by his friend and ally Hiram, King of Tyre. According to mythical tradition, the ancestry of the builders of the mystical temple was as follows: One of the Elohim, or primitive genii, married Eve and had a son called Cain; whilst Jehovah or Adonai, another of the Elohim, created Adam and united him with Eve to bring forth the family of Abel, to whom were subjected the sons of Cain, as a punishment for the transgression of Eve. Cain, though industriously cultivating the soil, yet derived little produce from it, whilst Abel leisurely tended his flocks. Adonai rejected the gifts and sacrifices of Cain, and stirred up strife between the sons of the Elohim, generated out of fire, and the sons formed out of the earth only. Cain killed Abel, and Adonai pursuing his sons, subjected to the sons of Abel the noble family that invented the arts and diffused science. Enoch, a son of Cain, taught men to hew stones, construct edifices and form civil societies. Irad and Mehujael, his son and grandson, set boundaries to the waters and fashioned cedars into beams. Methusael, another of his descendants, invented the sacred characters, the books of Tau and the symbolic T, by which the workers descended from the genii of fire recognized each other. Lamech, whose prophesies are inexplicable to the profane, was the father of Jabal, who first taught men how to dress camels' skins; of Jubal, who discovered the harp; of Naanah, who discovered the arts of spinning and weaving; of Tubal-Cain, who first constructed a furnace, worked in metals, and dug subterranean caves in the mountains to save his race during the deluge; but it perished nevertheless, and only Tubal-Cain and his son, the sole survivors of the glorious and gigantic family, came out alive. The wife of Ham, second son of Noah, thought the son of Tubal-Cain handsomer than the sons of men, and he became progenitor of Nimrod, who taught his brethren the art of hunting, and founded Babylon. Adoniram, the descendant of Tubal-Cain, seemed called by God to lead the militia of the free men, connecting the sons of fire with the sons of thought, progress, and truth.

 

Hiram, Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba

By Hiram was erected a marvellous building, the Temple of Solomon. He raised the golden throne of Solomon, most beautifully wrought, and built many other glorious edifices. But, melancholy amidst all his greatness, he lived alone, understood and loved by few, hated by many, and among others by Solomon, envious of his genius and glory. Now the fame of the wisdom of Solomon spread to the remotest ends of the earth; and Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, came to Jerusalem, to greet the great king and behold the marvels of his reign. She found Solomon seated on a throne of gilt cedar wood, arrayed in cloth of gold, so that at first she seemed to behold a statue of gold with hands of ivory. Solomon received her with every kind of festive preparation, and led her to behold his palace and then the grand works of the temple; and the queen was lost in admiration. The king was captivated by her beauty, and in a short time offered her his hand, which the queen, pleased at having conquered his proud heart, accepted. But on again visiting the temple, she repeatedly desired to see the architect who had wrought such wondrous things. Solomon delayed as long as possible presenting Hiram Abiff to the queen, but at last he ws obliged to do so. The mysterious artificer was brought before her, and cast on the queen a look that penetrated her very heart. Having recovered her composure, she questioned and defended him against the illwill and rising jealousy of the king. When she wished to see the countless host of workmen that wrought at the temple, Solomon protestd the impossibility of assembling them all at once; but Hiram, leaping on a stone to be better seen, with his right hand described in the air the symbolical Tau, and immediately the men hastened from all parts of the works into the presence of their master; at this the queen wonderd greatly, and secretly repnted of the promise she had given the king, for she felt herself in love with the mighty architect. Solomon set himself to destroy this affection, and to prepare his rival's humiliation and ruin. for this purpose, he employed three fellow-craftsmen, envious of Hiram, because he had refused to raise them to the degree of masters, on account of their want of knowledge and their idleness. They were Fanor, a Syrian and a mason; Amru, a Phoenician and a carpenter, and Metusael, a Hebrew and a miner. The black envy of these three projected that the casting of the brazen sea, which was to raise the glory of Hiram to its utmost height, should turn out a failure. A young workman, Benoni, discovered the plot and revealed it to Solomon, thinking that sufficient. The day for the casting arrived, and Balkis was present. The doors that restrained the molten metal were opened, and torrents of liquid poured into the vast mould wherein the brazen sea was to assume its form. But the burning mass ran over the edges of the mould, and flowed like lava over the adjacent places. The terrified crowd fled from the advancing stram of fire. Hiram, calm, like a god, endavored to arrest its advance with ponderous columns of water, but without success. The water and the fire mixed, and the struggle was terrible; the water rose in dense steam and fell down in the shape of fiery rain, spreading terror and death. The dishonored artificer needed the sympathy of a faithful heart; he sought Benoni, but in vain; the proud youth perished in endeavoring to prevent the horrible catastrophe hen he found that Solomon had done nothing to hinder it.

Hiram could not withdraw himself from the scene of his discomfiture. Oppressed with grief, he heeded not the danger, he remembered not that this ocean of fire might speedily engulf him; he thought of the Queen of Sheba, who came to admire and congratulate him on a great triumph, and who saw nothing but a terrible disaster. Suddenly he heard a strange voice coming from above, and crying, "Hiram, Hiram, Hiram!" He raised his eyes and beheld a gigantic human figure. The apparition continued: "Come, my son, be without fear, I have rendered thee incombustible; cast thyself into the flames." Hirm threw himself into the furnac, and where others would have found death, he tasted ineffable delights; nor could he, drawn by an irresistible force, leave it, and asked him that drew him into the abyss: "Whither do you take me?" "Into the center of the earth, into the soul of the world, into the kingdom of the great Cain, where liberty reigns with him. There the tyrannous envy of Adonai ceases; there can we, despising his anger, taste the fruit of the tree of knowledge; there is the home of my fathers." "Who then am I, and who art thou?" "I am the father of thy fathers, I am the son of Lamech, I am Tubal-Cain."

Tubal-Cain introduced Hiram into the sanctuary of fire, where he expounded to him the weakness of Adonai and the base position of that god, the enemy of his own creature whom he condemned to the inexorable law of death, to avenge the benefits the genii of fire had bestowed on him. Hiram was led into the presence of the author of his race, Cain. The angel of light that begat Cain was reflected in the beauty of this son of love, whose noble and generous mind roused the envy of Adonai. Cain related to Hiram his experiences, sufferings, and misfortunes, brought upon him by the implacable Adonai. Presently he heard the voice of him who was the offspring of Tubal-Cain and his sister Naamah: "A son shall born unto thee whom thou shalt indeed not see, but whose numerous descendants shall perpetuate thy race, which, superior to that of Adam, shall acquire the empire of the world; for many centuries they shall consecrate their courage and genius to the service of the ever ungrateful race of Adam, but at last the best shall become the strongest, and restore on the earth the worship of fire. Thy sons, invincible in thy name, shall destroy the power of kings, the ministers of the Adonai's tyranny. Go, my son, the genii of fire are with thee!" Hiram was restored to the earth. Tubal-Cain before quitting him gave him the hammer with which he himself had wrought great things, and said to him: "Thanks to this hammer and the help of the genii of fire, thou shalt speedily accomplish the work left unfinished through man's stupidity and malignity." Hiram did not hesitate to test the wonderful efficacy of the precious instrument, and the dawn saw the great mass of bronze cast. The artist felt the most lively joy, the queen exulted. The people came running up, astounded at his secret power which in one night had repaired everything.

One day the queen, accompanied by her maids, went beyond Jerusalem, and there encountered Hiram, alone and thoughtful. The encounter was decisive, they mutually confessed their love. Had-Had, the bird who filled with the queen the office of messenger of the genii of fire, seeing Hiram in the air make the sign of the mystic T, flew around his head and settled on his wrist. At this Sarahil, the nurse of the queen, exclaimed: "The orcle is fulfilled. Had-Had recognizes the husband which the genii of fire destined for Balkis, whose love alone she dare accept!" They hesitated no longer, but mutually pledged their vows, and deliberated how Balkis could retract the promise given to the king. Hiram was to be the first to quit Jerusalem; the queen, impatient to rejoin him in Arabia, was to elude the vigilance of the king, which she accomplished by withdrawing from his finger, while he was overcome with wine, the ring wherewith she had plighted her troth to him. Solomon hinted to the fellow-craftsmen that the removal of his rival, who refused to give them the master's word, would be acceptable unto himself; so when the architect came into the temple he was assailed and slain by them. Before his death, however, he had time to throw the golden triangle which he wore round his neck, and on which was engraven the master's word, into a deep well. They wrapped up his body, carried it to a solitary hill and buried it, planting over the grave a sprig of acacia.

Hiram not having made his appearance for seven days, Solomon, against his inclination, but to satisfy the clamor of the people, was forced to have him searched for. The body as found by three masters, and they, suspecting that he had been slin by the three fellow-craftsmen for refusing them the master's word, determined nevertheless for greater security to change the word, and that the first word accidentally uttered on raising the body should henceforth be the word. In the act of raising it, the skin came off the body, so that one of the masters exclaimed "Macbenach!" (the flesh is off the bones!) and this word became the sacred word of the master's degree. The three fellow-craftsmen were traced, but rather than fall into the hands of their pursuers, they committed suicide ad their heads were brought to Solomon. The triangle not having been found on the body of Hiram it was sought for and at last discovered in the well into which the architect had cast it. The king caused it to be placed on a triangular altar erected in a secret vault, built under the most retired part of the temple. The triangle was further concealed by a cubical stone, on which had been inscribed the sacred law. The vault, the existence of which was only known to the twenty-seven elect, was then walled up.

The Last Lonely Man

 

 

 

Patrick Wilson: 

I was worried sitting here all alone. 

I wanted to make sure you got there safely.

 

James Hale: 

Get out of here.

 

Patrick Wilson: 

Now, Jimmy...

 

James Hale: 

Get out!

 

Patrick Wilson: 

Please. You are the only friend

I've got in The World. Please!

 

James Hale: 

Friend! I wouldn't call you a friend,

even if you were the last man on Earth. 

 

I did you a favor,

and you paid me back

the way that woman said you would! 

 

I have half a mind 

to go to Contact 

and have you expunged!

 

Patrick Wilson: 

No! Jimmy, you can't do that! 

Jimmy! 

 

It's inhuman!

 

“If, by an accident of science, it became possible for the personality to pass at the moment of death into the mind of someone still alive, then the big new problem would be into whom. 

 

To foist the wits of a rogue onto an unwilling recipient would be unjust indeed. 

 

Any Government who could thus cheat death might indeed win a popular vote, but only so long as all was voluntary - mutually contracted. 

 

James Hale is a man of such a society. 

 

He has insured against death of his personality by arranging mutual "Contact" contracts with his relatives. 

 

He is already host to his late father with whose memories and prejudices he has now learned to live. 

 

He himself is a responsible parent of twins whose Contact he will arrange when they are of age. 

 

He is also a warm-hearted man who, when he meets one Patrick Wilson, agrees to "take him on until he can can get fixed up with a friend". 

 

When, the morning after, it transpires that Patrick is in fact utterly friendless, James begins to get worried.

 

He has, after all, a responsibility to his other Contacts - as they are quick to emphasise. 

 

He must go to the officials and "expunge" this incompatible Contact immediately. 

 

But Patrick is too quick for him. 

 

Before James can get free, the lonely man commits suicide. 

 

Agonising seconds later, James starts to laugh - but with the mirthless bellow of Patrick Wilson. It isn't all one-sided. 

 

There are times when the old James seems quite himself again. 

 

But always the lying, the arrogance, the crafty deceit of Patrick are lurking there in the background. 

 

Of course The Government has installed adjustment clinics. 

 

But to adjust to such a schizophrenia as this, it seems, is too much. 

 

James is stuck - the victim of one kind-hearted moment too many. 

 

All too soon, his sole remaining Contact is his wife. 

 

One Contact, whom he must now take desperate steps to retain. One last Contact - in A World where to die Contactless is to die...

The Blue Angel

I Struck Out at My Enemy.

Downward-Looking Sun, You Saw Me

As I Myself Struck Him.

In The Future

When I Meet My Enemy Again

I Will Overcome Him.

-- Crow Warrior's Oath.

“ Dinner was ready at seven fifteen. Afterwards Kinderman soaked in the bathtub, trying to make his mind a blank. As usual he found himself unable to do it. Ryan does it so easily, he reflected. I must ask him his secret. I will wait until he's done something right and feels expansive. His mind went from the concept of a secret to Amfortas. The man is so mysterious, so dark. There was something he was hiding, he knew. What was it? Kinderman reached for a plastic bottle and poured some more bubble fluid into the tub. He could barely keep from dozing off.

The bath over, Kinderman put on a robe and carried the Gemini file to his den. Its walls were covered with movie posters, black-and-white classics from the thirties and forties. The dark wooden desk was strewn with books. Kinderman winced. He was barefoot and had stepped on a sharp-edged copy of Teilhard de Chaidin's The Phenomenon of Man. He bent down and picked it up and then placed it on the desk. He turned on the desk lamp. 

The light caught tinfoil candy wrappers lurking in the rubble like gleaming felons. Kinderman cleared a space for the file, scratched his nose, sat down and tried to focus. He searched among the books and found a pair of reading glasses. He cleaned them with the sleeve of his robe and then put them on. He still couldn't see. He shut one eye and then the other, then he took off the glasses and did it again. He decided he saw better without the left lens. He wrapped his sleeve around the lens and banged it sharply on a corner of the desk. The lens fell out in two pieces. Occam's Razor, Kinderman thought. He put the glasses back on and tried again.

It was no use. The problem was fatigue. He took off the glasses, left the den and went straight to bed.

Kinderman dreamed. He was sitting in a theater watching a film with the inmates of the open ward. He thought he was watching Lost Horizon, although what he saw on the screen was Casablanca. He felt no discrepancy about this. In Rick's Cafe the piano player was Amfortas. He was singing "As Time Goes By'' when the Ingrid Bergman character entered. In Kinderman's dream she was Martina Lazlo and her husband was played by Doctor Temple. Lazlo and Temple approached the piano and Amfortas said, "Leave him alone, Miss Ilse." Then Temple said, "Shoot him," and Lazlo took a scalpel from her purse and stabbed Amfortas in the heart. 

Suddenly Kinderman was in the movie. He was sitting at a table with Humphrey Bogart. "The letters of transit are forged," said Bogart. "Yes, I know," said Kinderman. He asked Bogart whether Max, his brother, was involved, and Bogart shrugged his shoulders and said, "This is Rick's." 

"Yes, everyone comes here," said Kinderman, nodding; "I've seen this picture twenty times." 

"Couldn't hurt," said Bogart. Then Kinderman experienced a feeling of panic because he had forgotten the rest of his lines, and he began a discussion of the problem of evil and gave Bogart a summary of his theory. 

In the dream it took a fraction of a second. "Yes, Ugarte," said Bogart, "I do have more respect for you now." 

Then Bogart began a discussion of Christ. "You left him out of your theory," he said; "the German couriers will find out about that." 

"No, no, I include him," said Kinderman quickly. 

Abruptly Bogart became Father Dyer and Amfortas and Miss Lazlo were sitting at the table, although now she was young and extremely beautiful. Dyer was hearing the neurologist's confession, and when he gave the absolution Lazlo gave Amfortas a single white rose. 

"And I said I'd never leave you," she told him. "Go and live no more," said Dyer.

Instantaneously, Kinderman was back in the audience and he knew that he was dreaming. 

The screen had grown larger, filling his vision, and in place of Casablanca he saw two lights against a pale green wash of endless void. 

The light at the left was large and coruscating, flashing with a bluish radiance. 

Far to its right was a small white sphere that glowed with the brilliance and power of suns, yet did not blind or flare; it was serene. Kinderman experienced a sense of transcendence. 

In his mind he heard the light on the left begin to speak. "I cannot help loving you," it said. 

The other light made no answer. There was a pause. 

"That is what I am," the first light continued. "Pure love. I want to give my love freely," it said. 

Again there was no answer from the brilliant sphere. 

Then at last the first light spoke again. "I want to create myself," it said.

The sphere then spoke. "There will be pain," it said.

"I know."

"You do not understand what it is." 

"I choose it," said the bluish light. 

Then it waited, quietly flickering.

Many more moments passed before the white light spoke again. "I will send Someone to you," it said.

"No, you mustn't. You must not interfere."

"He will be a part of you," said the sphere.

The bluish light drew inward upon itself. Its flarings were muted and minute. 

Then at last it expanded again. "So be it."

Now the silence was longer, much stiller than before. There was a heaviness about it.

At last the white light spoke quietly. "Let time begin," it said.

The bluish light flared up and danced in colors, and then slowly it steadied to its former state. 

For a time there was silence. 

Then the bluish light spoke softly and sadly. "Goodbye. I will return to you.''

"Hasten the day."

The bluish light began to coruscate wildly now. It grew larger and more radiant and beautiful than ever. Then it slowly compacted, until it was almost the size of the sphere. There it seemed to linger for a moment. "I love you," it said. 

The next instant it exploded into far-flinging brilliance, hurtling outward from itself with unthinkable force in a trillion shards of staggering energies of light and shattering sound.

Kinderman bolted awake. He sat upright in bed and felt at his forehead. It was bathed in perspiration. He could still feel the light of the explosion on his retinas. He sat there and thought for a while. Was it real? The dream had seemed so. Not even the dream about Max had had this texture. He didn't think about the portion of the dream in the cinema. The other segment had blotted it out.

He got out of bed and went down to the kitchen where he put on the light and squinted at the pendulum clock on the wall. Ten after four? This is craziness, he thought. Frank Sinatra is just now going to sleep. Yet he felt awake and extremely refreshed. He turned the flame on under the tea kettle and then stood waiting by the stove. He had to watch it and catch it before it whistled. Shirley might come down. 

While he waited, he thought about his dream of the lights. It had affected him deeply. What was this emotion he was feeling? he wondered. It was something like poignance and unbearable loss. He had felt it at the ending of Brief Encounter. He reflected on the book about Satan that he'd read, the one written by Catholic theologians. 

Satan's beauty and perfection were described as breathtaking. "Bearer of Light." "The Morning Star.'' God must have loved him very much. Then how could he have damned him for all of eternity?

So Point The Finger,

Say No More,

Where it Touches,

UltraWar!

Lost in The Woods

SHAZAM! - Billy Batson Loses His Mom Scene (Gets Lost) [1080p]

INARA

Kaylee's very dear. 

To all of us.

SIMON

I... I'm sorry. For my part in what happened. 

See... I've never... I mean,

I don't know how to --

INARA

You're Lost in The Woods. 

We all are. Even The Captain. 

The only difference is, 

He Likes it That Way.

MAL

(entering)

No. No, the difference is, 

The Woods are The Only Place 

I can See a Clear Path.

The Warriorship of Billy Batson

Billy meets his Mom : Shazam!

"Children in foster care aren't waiting for a loving home – 

they are already in one." 

-- Andy Elvin

In a speech at this year’s Scottish Institute of Residential Childcare conference, Lemn Sissay spoke about the long tradition of fictional characters from “substitute care” backgrounds, and suggested that 

“the kid in care is used in popular culture because they feel so much”. 

Being There & The Importance of Listening

We Get It.

SHAZAM! - Billy Batson Meets His Family Scene (Meets Freddy) [1080p]