"Wilhelm,_Kate_-_Julian(1)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

"I have my car outside. I'll hide you. Please come with me now. I love you, Julian."
"I know. And I love you." He turned and continued to the stage where the curtains were now being drawn to reveal the pool. Three steps led up to it. There was a small platform around it, three steps down the other side. It was Spartan in its simplicity. He went up the three steps and down into the water, which came to his waist. It was body temperature.
The first one came from backstage. She was twenty, Candace. There was a rapt expression on her face, her eyes never left his as she approached, then held out her hand for him to take.
"Candace, you have been afraid and now you repudiate fear." He submerged her, one hand firm under her neck, still holding her hand. She stiffened, then relaxed, and he drew her up. "Candace, you have been lied to, and believing the lies, you have become the machine they said you are. You repudiate hypocrisy and lies." He submerged her again; this time she was perfectly relaxed. Then, "Candace, you have searched yourself for strength and found it. You have rejected the lie that evil is part of being human, and you have rejected evil. With this act you proclaim that purification is at hand, that the self can purify the self."
He smiled at her and submerged her a third time, and when he drew her up from the water, she was radiant. From the audience there was a collective sigh. Disappointment? Satisfaction? He could not tell.
William was next, a forty-year-old ex-policeman. At first he was more tense than Candace had been, but by the end, he too was obviously ecstatic.
Now Stella Johnson came up the steps, hesitated only a moment, then extended her hand. It was cold and shaking.
"There's no television," she whispered, hardly moving her lips.
"No." And he began the ceremony. When he tried to raise her, she resisted, and not until she squeezed his hand did he lift her from the water. Now he could feel the charge in the air, feel the hushed quality in the auditorium, as the air before an electrical storm is hushed. He said the words as if in a dream, staring into her face. Already she was younger, stronger, vibrant. He submerged her again, and again she signaled when she wanted to be raised. He was the surf, pounding, pounding, crashing on the shore, crashing against boulders.
"...purification is at hand, that the self can purify the self." He lowered her into the water and watched her face. Her eyes were open, a faint smile curved her bright lips. Her hair streamed out about her face. She ran her free hand down her body, up again, felt her breasts, then her cheek, and she smiled at him. Then she signaled and he raised her.
He was blinded by a white light that filled the room, that burned his eyes and paralyzed him. She was with him in the light, smiling, still holding his hand. Nothing else existed. Slowly she raised his hand to her lips and kissed it lightly, then she turned and mounted the steps from the pool. The attendants were there with a robe, and she waved them away and walked off the stage, her hair feathery about her head, no water dripping from her body as she moved.
Someone in the audience screamed, and for a moment there was panic as people leaped up, started to surge toward the stage. Julian held up his hands. "Stop," he said quietly. He turned toward the side of the stage where Mildred was waiting.
She looked like a person in deep shock, or ecstasy. Down in the audience his followers were getting the people back to their seats, and in a moment the ceremony continued.
* * * *
When it was over Julian held up his hands once more. "Purification is at hand! The self can purify the self!" The curtain closed, and only then did he leave the pool. Kim met him with a robe. Beyond the stage there was a dead quiet that suddenly broke into a wild clamor.
"Where is she?" It was the FBI agent, Walter Montgomery. "There are hundreds of people who aren't going to stay out there very long. Your people can't hold them back. And I want her before they break through. Where is she?"
"Who?" Kim asked, trying to push Julian forward. "You have to change before they get in," he said. "They all want to touch you, to gaze at you."
"You know damn well who I mean," Montgomery snapped. "That old lady. You snatched her after all, didn't you? And drugged her. She was glassy-eyed from dope. Where is she now?"
Kim stopped pushing and stared at Montgomery. He turned to Julian. "He didn't see."
Julian shook his head. "Mr. Montgomery, I don't know where she is. I have to change now." The noise was getting louder.
Rachel was beside Montgomery. She said, "Julian, what happened? Why are those people trying to break down the doors? What happened?" She was near hysteria.
"You didn't see either, did you?" he asked gently. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I'm truly sorry." He went past her to his dressing room. He was stopped one more time. Eric Mendel was standing by the door. He looked dazed. Hesitantly he reached out and touched Julian's robe, then touched his hand. Julian smiled at him, and went inside the room. Before the door closed he could hear Montgomery demanding to know what Mendel thought had happened, what the hell was going on.
Kim slipped into the dressing room, started to reach out to help Julian undress, and drew back his hand.
Julian looked at him wonderingly. "What is it?"
"I'm afraid to touch you. It was a miracle, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Julian said. "Yes, a true miracle." The clamor increased, then died down as the sound of many feet drew closer, and that too stopped as outside the door they gathered and waited silently.

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