Escape From Hell Read Online Free PDF Page A

near tears.
    “Just who are you?” I asked her.
    “Rosemary Bennett, Esquire.”
    I noticed the accent. Southern. Not Deep South drawl, but definitely Southern. Texas, maybe. “Ms. Bennett, I thank you for trying to help, but I didn’t appoint you as my lawyer, and I don’t need a lawyer.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Pretty sure.”
    She turned to Crinatelli. “I will accept your case.”
    “He already has counsel.”
    “Objection.”
    “Overruled.”
    “We told you, this isn’t your day to be magistrate!”
    “The wasps guide us. They force us to chase those banners,” Crinatelli said. “We stopped when you appeared. Ouch.”
    “How do you stand this?” I waved to indicate the group.
    He shrugged expressively. “We run together. You get used to it. You see where we are.”
    And why, I thought. I pointed to a group running pell–mell after a green banner. Words flowed across it. DON’T LET THEM IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON. I looked at it and blinked. It still said that.
    “The wasps force you to chase banners?” I asked.
    “Yes.” He slapped again.
    “Does it matter which one you chase?”
    “Not that I can discern.”
    “Red banner! Red is best!” Rosemary’s silver–haired opponent was adamant.
    There was a red banner in the distance. It said, for a moment, LIFE IS PAIN. THE PAIN IS CAUSED BY CRAVING FOR LIFE. Then the message changed to something I couldn’t make out.
    “Green! It is vital!” another shouted.
    Several began a chant. “Hey hey! Ho ho! Green banners have got to go!”
    There were cheers, but someone shouted over them, “One, two, three, four, put red banners out the door!” That got more cheers, and now we had two parties, red and green, each with passionate defenders, both chanting.
    “Which do you like?” I asked Rosemary.
    She looked pained. “Do you really think it matters? Or even that they think so? Besides, the colors change.”
    She pointed to a blue banner. For a moment it said O DANIEL, SHUT UP THE WORDS, AND SEAL THE BOOK,
EVEN
TO THE TIME OF THE END: MANY SHALL RUN TO AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE INCREASED.
    I thought about that for a moment. Truth or humor? The words were changing as the banner retreated. OH COME TO THE CHURCH IN THE WILD WOOD!
    As that retreated another came across. KARMA’S FORCE ALONE PREVENTS WHAT IS NOT DESTINED. The letters blurred, and then I made out FOR THEREIN IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED FROM FAITH TO FAITH: AS IT IS WRITTEN, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
    I announced, “Follow me, if you’re tired of banners.”
    “Others have said that,” someone said. “Many others. Sometimes we see them again, but some never return.”
    That voice sounded Italian. Crinatelli? He’d got lost in the chanting crowd, and I couldn’t see him. “Did you know Benito?” I shouted.
    He heard me. “Of a certainty. He asked us to follow him. It was not the first time. I followed him once in life, until the king dismissed him. We all deserted him, but he came back and demanded obedience again, but then he was a mere puppet of the Germans. I had had enough of him, but I could not choose another side. The Germans shot me for my indecisions. I found myself here. Then Mussolini came here and asked us to follow him. He seemed different, less certain of himself. He had no Germans with him. None of us would follow him. Why should we? We knew who he was.”
    “I did follow him,” I said. I didn’t think I was speaking Italian, but he seemed to understand me. But then so did all the others. “I followed him all the way down, through the circles, past Satan. I watched him leave Hell! I’ll show you how!”
    “Follow you through Hell,” Crinatelli said. “Why should we do that? Who are you that you may lead us out of Hell?”
    “I’m the guy who knows the way!”
    Crinatelli’s silver–tongued counsel shouted, “Because you have read a book? Many of us have read that book!”
    “What book?” someone