Read Online The Further Adventures of The Joker by Martin H. Greenberg - Free Book Online

lobotomy on the Joker! Any other patient and they would have said no, but the Joker—yes! Within weeks Arkham Asylum is going to be in all the medical journals!”
    As excited chatter swept the table, I felt my blood run cold. The paintings. The Whittiers. A lobotomized Joker would be so passive and tractable that he’d tell the police the whereabouts of all his stashes of loot. The Whittiers . . . my Whittiers . . . they’d be returned to the gallery . . . to be sold for millions apiece.
    “When is the surgery scheduled?”
    “Tomorrow morning. Doctor Robinson is flying in from Toronto tonight.”
    “Maybe we should give electroshock a try,” I said.
    “ECT has failed already. What’s the matter, Hal? The lobotomy was your idea. Having a change of heart?”
    I hesitated. How could I protest the implementation of my own suggestion?
    But that had been before I’d known about the Whittiers.
    “Maybe. I think ECT deserves another chance. It could be we’re rushing this too much.”
    “We have to move quickly. It was the Board’s opinion that delay will only allow opposition to organize and cause legal obstruction. They feel that if we present the world with a lobotomized Joker as a fait accompli, there will be far less protest. And we will have discharged our duty to the public. As you so eloquently stated Hal, we need definitive therapy in the Joker’s case. And that’s just what we’re providing.”
    What could I say? I decided to risk everything.
    “I’d like to go on record right now as being opposed to the surgery. At least at this time. I think we should explore other options first. And I’d like to call for a vote.”
    They all stared at me in shock. I didn’t care. I had to stop the surgery—at least until I got my hands on the Whittiers. They were all I could think of. Even if I could only delay the surgery, it would give me time to convince Dina to move up our marriage so that the Joker could make good on his promised wedding gift. After that, I’d push again for the lobotomy.
    But when the vote came, mine was the only hand raised in opposition.
    SESSION NINE-B
    That night I arranged another session with the Joker. I didn’t even bother going through the motions of turning on the tape recorder.
    “Did you really mean what you said about giving me the other Whittiers as a wedding gift?”
    “Of course,” the Joker said. “Have you set a date yet?”
    I clasped my hands together to keep them from trembling. I’d always been a terrible liar.
    “Yes. Tomorrow. We’ve decided we can’t wait any longer. We’re getting married before a justice of the peace in the morning.”
    “Really? Congratulations! I’m very happy for you.”
    “Thank you. So . . . I was wondering . . . could you tell me where you’ve stored those stolen Whittiers? I’ll pick them up tonight, if you don’t mind.”
    “No. Of course not. Do you know where Wrightson Street is?”
    I could barely contain my excitement.
    “No. But I’ll find it.”
    “Here,” the Joker said, casually freeing his hands from the restraints and picking up a pencil. “I’ll draw you a map.”
    As he began to draw, I leaned forward. Suddenly his other hand flashed forward. I felt a sting in my neck. As I jerked back I saw the dripping syringe in his hand. I opened my mouth to shout for the guards but the words wouldn’t come. A roar like a subway charging into a station filled my ears as everything faded to black.
    A voice, faraway, calling me through the blackness. I move toward it, and come into the light.
    A bizarre, twisted face, half Joker, half normal, floating before me.
    “Time to wake up, Doctor Lewis,” it says in the Joker’s voice. “Time to rise and shine.”
    I try to speak. My lips feel strange as they move, and the only sounds I can make are garbled, unintelligible.
    I try to move, but my hands and feet are cuffed to the chair. I can only sit and watch.
    And as I watch, the Joker stares into a mirror and fits pieces