The Child Buyer Read Online Free PDF

attribute to a pork chop he ate for lunch. He wants to get ahead—to be boss. Once he got the idea that I, too, am a pretty hardheaded fellow, he opened up to me all the way— told me all about how to 'get along' in Pequot, about his 'system/ He does people great favors; he's solicitous; he helps people plan their futures; he drags confessions out of them; he terrifies them with psychiatric 'insights'; he lends them money, serves them cocktails, tells them secrets, flatters them with intellectual argument. He also knows how to manage people by getting the goods on them.
    Senator MANSFIELD. Dear me! This was to be your ally, Mr. Jones?
    Mr. JONES. Absolutely dependable, Senator. No idealism whatsoever.
    Senator SKYPACK. Listen, Jones. We understand you arrived in Pequot on a foreign motorcycle. Is that right?
    Mr. JONES. That's correct. Yes, sir. I ride it everywhere.
    Senator SKYPACK. Why?
    Mr. JONES. Why? Because it gives me extreme pleasure. I have a sensation of flying, skimming along over the highways on those thin whirling wire spokes.
    Senator SKYPACK. Sir, Mr. Broadbent tells me that our investigator down in Pequot reports that three motorcycles were involved in the gang attack on the Rudd home. Was yours one of them?
    Mr. JONES. I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Senator.
    Senator SKYPACK. You say that like somebody who knows exactly what I'm talking about. I want to know—
    Senator VOYOLKO. This kid, now. You the guy's buying the kid?
    Mr. JONES. I am, sir, if I am successful in—
    Senator VOYOLKO. O.K. So you're the guy's buying the kid. Now we're getting someplace. What's with the kid? This boy.
    Mr. JONES. What about him, sir?
    Senator VOYOLKO. You tell me, mister. How about him?
    Mr. JONES. Barry Rudd is fifty-six and three eighths inches tall, medium height for his age. Weighs ninety-eight pounds, nine ounces, compared with a norm for the age of seventy-seven pounds. Twenty-two pounds overweight, other words. Lung capacity one hundred twenty-eight inches, where the standard is one twenty-five. Shoulders twelve and one half inches across, average for the age. Strength of grip thirty-six point four pounds
    THE CHILD BUYER
    compared with a norm of fifty point four. Right shoulder slightly lower than the left.
    Senator MANSFIELD. You make him sound like a cut of veal, Mr. Jones.
    Mr. JONES. Not at all. There's a flame. . . . Let me tell you: The face belongs to a beardless old man. It is round, ruddy, and impassive, and when words that stand for strong feelings pass the short, tight lips, only a flicker of expression, like distant heat lightning, can be seen around the eyes, which are star-tlingly clear, direct, and alert.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Is this boy of the kind and caliber that you want?
    Mr. JONES. He definitely is.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Can you tell us why you want him?
    Mr. JONES. One of his former teachers put it better than I could. Or I think perhaps it was Dr. Gozar, his principal, you know. 'Why is he outstanding?' she said. 'Because he has this mood of intensity. That you don't teach. You don't say, "Flex. Tighten your mind. Have desire." Barry,' she said, 'makes this mood about science more than any child I've ever seen. He creates a certain tension out of nothing—a sense of excitement. That comes from within—and the funny thing is, you can't really see it on the surface.' That's what she said, and that's why I want him.
    Mr. BROADBENT. What do you think of his misbehavior with the Renzulli girl? Would you—
    Mr. JONES. That has nothing to do with me.
    Mr. BROADBENT. To the contrary, Mr. Jones. Barry Rudd, when asked by our investigator what had caused him to get in that particular pickle, said, and these were his words, 'I did it on account of Mr. Jones.' And that is all he would say. How do you explain . . . ?
    Senator SKYPACK. Broadbent, let's us subordinates hold back on that angle till the proper time.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Very good, Senator. I withdraw the question. On another point,