Read Online Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans - Free Book Online
Authors: Richard Paul Evans
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Torstynâs and Taraâs garb, was a pink, paper-fabric jumpsuit.
He had woken confused. He couldnât remember if it was the day he would be moved into the monkey cage. He thought he remembered a guard telling him that, but he couldnât remember or even be sure whether the guards were toying with him or not.
Ever since his stay in Cell 25 he had trouble keeping his thoughts together. Even with all the terror and humiliation of the monkey cage, he would still choose it over Cell 25. How had Vey survived it? Vey was a lot stronger than Quentin had given him credit for.
There was a loud burst of air, and Quentin looked up to see his door open. Hatch walked into Quentinâs cell, leaving his guards outside.
âI came to see if you were ready to tell me about Welch.â
Quentin looked away from him.
âIâve been visiting with your partners in crimeâthe ones youâve murdered by involving them in your plot. Not surprisingly, they are not doing well. It seems that they are afraid to die. Where you, on the other hand, would gladly die, wouldnât you?â
Quentin tightly closed his eyes.
âCell 25 has that effect,â Hatch said softly. âI went to see if they would tell me where Welch is. But they donât know, do they? Not that that would have spared them anything. Either way they will die a horrible and ignominious death.â He walked closer to Quentinâs cot. âI would ask if you knew where he was, but I know you donâtâotherwise you would have told us in Cell 25. You have nothing to give me.â
âThen what do you want?â Quentin asked.
âI just wanted to see you.â Hatch sat down on the edge of Quentinâs cot. âAnd enlighten you.
âYou might be wondering, why the monkey cage? I did not invent this torture, you know. I wish I had, but someone beat me to it. There is precedence for this. Youâll be glad to know youâre in good company.
âAt the end of World War II, the Americans established an army disciplinary camp in Pisa, Italy. Right next to the famous leaning tower. At that time, the greatest attraction in Pisa was not the tower. It was an American traitor named Ezra Loomis Pound. Pound wasnât just any American; he was one of the most famous poets in the world. He was a friend to Yeats. He collaborated with T. S. Eliot on his masterpiece âThe Waste Landââin fact, the book is dedicated to Pound. He even hung around with Ernest Hemingway. He learned boxing from him.
âHe was an absurd little man, the pride of the worldâs intelligentsia and the social elite. He was invited to all their fancy soirees. He once attended a London society party dressed in an all-green suit made from the felt of a billiard table.
âBut none of that mattered after the war. He had betrayed his country. He, like you, was a traitor. To punish Pound for collaborating with the enemy, the Americans put him in a monkey cage. It didnât take long for it to crack his beautiful mind.
âThe uncultured American soldiers would stand next to the cage and listen to the madman rant in English, Italian, Chinese, French, and even some languages he made up. They didnât realize that what he was ranting was the brilliant mental vomit of a genius, and what he said became some of the greatest poetry of his time:
âThe enormous tragedy of the dream in the peasantâs bent shoulders
Manes! Manes was tanned and stuffed,
Thus Ben and la Clara a Milano
by the heels at Milano
. . .
yet say this to the Possum: a bang, not a whimper,
with a bang not with a whimper, . . .
âBen and Clara were Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara, who were hung by their feet in Milano. The Possum was Poundâs nickname for his old friend T. S. Eliot. He was mocking Eliotâs poem âThe Hollow Men.ââ Hatch sighed. âThis is how the world ends, not with a bang but a
He had woken confused. He couldnât remember if it was the day he would be moved into the monkey cage. He thought he remembered a guard telling him that, but he couldnât remember or even be sure whether the guards were toying with him or not.
Ever since his stay in Cell 25 he had trouble keeping his thoughts together. Even with all the terror and humiliation of the monkey cage, he would still choose it over Cell 25. How had Vey survived it? Vey was a lot stronger than Quentin had given him credit for.
There was a loud burst of air, and Quentin looked up to see his door open. Hatch walked into Quentinâs cell, leaving his guards outside.
âI came to see if you were ready to tell me about Welch.â
Quentin looked away from him.
âIâve been visiting with your partners in crimeâthe ones youâve murdered by involving them in your plot. Not surprisingly, they are not doing well. It seems that they are afraid to die. Where you, on the other hand, would gladly die, wouldnât you?â
Quentin tightly closed his eyes.
âCell 25 has that effect,â Hatch said softly. âI went to see if they would tell me where Welch is. But they donât know, do they? Not that that would have spared them anything. Either way they will die a horrible and ignominious death.â He walked closer to Quentinâs cot. âI would ask if you knew where he was, but I know you donâtâotherwise you would have told us in Cell 25. You have nothing to give me.â
âThen what do you want?â Quentin asked.
âI just wanted to see you.â Hatch sat down on the edge of Quentinâs cot. âAnd enlighten you.
âYou might be wondering, why the monkey cage? I did not invent this torture, you know. I wish I had, but someone beat me to it. There is precedence for this. Youâll be glad to know youâre in good company.
âAt the end of World War II, the Americans established an army disciplinary camp in Pisa, Italy. Right next to the famous leaning tower. At that time, the greatest attraction in Pisa was not the tower. It was an American traitor named Ezra Loomis Pound. Pound wasnât just any American; he was one of the most famous poets in the world. He was a friend to Yeats. He collaborated with T. S. Eliot on his masterpiece âThe Waste Landââin fact, the book is dedicated to Pound. He even hung around with Ernest Hemingway. He learned boxing from him.
âHe was an absurd little man, the pride of the worldâs intelligentsia and the social elite. He was invited to all their fancy soirees. He once attended a London society party dressed in an all-green suit made from the felt of a billiard table.
âBut none of that mattered after the war. He had betrayed his country. He, like you, was a traitor. To punish Pound for collaborating with the enemy, the Americans put him in a monkey cage. It didnât take long for it to crack his beautiful mind.
âThe uncultured American soldiers would stand next to the cage and listen to the madman rant in English, Italian, Chinese, French, and even some languages he made up. They didnât realize that what he was ranting was the brilliant mental vomit of a genius, and what he said became some of the greatest poetry of his time:
âThe enormous tragedy of the dream in the peasantâs bent shoulders
Manes! Manes was tanned and stuffed,
Thus Ben and la Clara a Milano
by the heels at Milano
. . .
yet say this to the Possum: a bang, not a whimper,
with a bang not with a whimper, . . .
âBen and Clara were Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara, who were hung by their feet in Milano. The Possum was Poundâs nickname for his old friend T. S. Eliot. He was mocking Eliotâs poem âThe Hollow Men.ââ Hatch sighed. âThis is how the world ends, not with a bang but a
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