He Who Shapes Read Online Free PDF Page B

when I passed."
    "Did you know him?"
    "I don't even know the name yet. How could I?"
    "Priss Tully just called meshe's a receptionist for that
    engineering outfit up on the eighty-sixth. She says it was James
    Irizarry, an ad designer who had offices down the hall from
    them.That's a long way to fall. He must have been
    unconscious when be hit, hub? He bounced off the building. If
    you open the window and lean out you can seeoff to the left
    there where . . ."
    "Never mind, BennieYour friend have any idea why he did
    it?"
    "Not really. His secretary came running up the hall,
    screaming. Seems she went in his office to see him about some
    drawings, just as he was getting up over the sill. There was a
    note on his board. I've had everything I wanted,' it said. 'Why
    wait around?' Sort of funny, hub? I don't mean funny . . ."
    "Yeah.Know anything about his personal affairs?"
    "Married. Coupla kids. Good professional rep. Lots of
    business. Sober as anybody.He could afford an office in this
    building."
    "Good Lord!" Render turned. "Have you got a case file
    there or something?"
    "You know," she shrugged her thick shoulders, "I've got
    friends all over this hive. We always talk when things go slow.
    Prissy's my sister-in-law anyhow"
    "You mean that if I dived through this window right now,
    my current biography would make the rounds in the next five
    minutes?"
    "Probably," she twisted her bright lips into a smile, "give or
    take a couple. But don't do it today, hub?You know, it would
    be kind of anticlimactic, and it wouldn't get the same coverage
    as a solus.
    "Anyhow," she continued, "you're a mind-mixer. You
    wouldn't do it."
    "You're betting against statistics," he observed. "The medical
    profession, along with attorneys, manages about three times as
    many as most other work areas."
    "Hey!" She looked worried. "Go 'way from my window!
    "I'd have to go to work for Doctor Hanson then," she added,
    "and he's a slob."
    He moved to her desk.
    "I never know when to take you seriously," she decided.
    "I appreciate your concern," he nodded, "indeed I do. As a
    matter of fact, I have never been statistic-prone1 should have
    repercussed out of the neuropy game four years ago."
    "You'd be a headline, though," she mused. "All those
    reporters asking me about you . . . Hey, why do they do it,
    hub?"
    "Who?"
    "Anybody."
    . "How should I know, Bennie? I'm only a humble
    psychestirrer.   If   I   could   pinpoint   a   general   underlying
    causeand then maybe figure a way to anticipate the
    thingwhy, it might even be better than my jumping, for
    newscopy. But I can't do it, because there is no single, simple
    reason1 don't think."
    "Oh."
    "About thirty-five years ago it was the ninth leading cause of
    death in the United States. Now it's number six for North and
    South America. I think it's seventh in Europe."
      "And nobody will ever really know why Irizarry jumped?"
    Render swung a chair backwards and seated himself. He
    knocked an ash into her petite and gloaming tray. She emptied
    it   into   the   waste-chute,   hastily,   and   coughed   a   significant
    cough.
    "Oh, one can always speculate," he said, "and one in my
    profession will. The first thing to consider would be the
    personality traits which might predispose a man to periods of
    depression.   People who keep their emotions under rigid
    control, people who are conscientious and rather compulsively
    concerned with small matters . . ." He knocked another fleck of
    ash into her tray and watched as she reached out to dump it,
    then quickly drew her hand back again. He grinned an evil
    grin. "In short," he finished, "some of the characteristics of
    people in professions which require individual, rather than
    group performancemedicine, law, the arts."
    She regarded him speculatively.
    "Don't worry though," he chuckled, "I'm pleased as hell with
    life."
    "You're kind of down in the mouth this morning."
    "Pete called me. He broke his ankle yesterday in gym class.
    They