No.6 For Further Investigation!” by our own reporter

    After a meeting with the Committee this morning, when No.6’s complaints were discussed, of which he said he had several, it was decided that No.6 required further investigation, having been found to be disharmonious!  It couldn’t have helped him when he deliberately tore up the questionnaire. It seems No.6 has an aversion to questionnaires. So further investigation of No.6, hardly surprising when you think what a troublemaker he is. When he’s not attempting escapes he’s always putting in his oar where it isn’t wanted! Apparently it all began with two bully boys who stirred things up when they provoked No.6 into a fist fight. No.6 who vanquished the pair was left with the promise of having to face the committee! Only in this case No. 6 is the innocent party, his only crime is preferring his own company, his own privacy, but then that could be seen as being anti-social. But just a minute, what about No.61 who ignored No.6’s greeting, is she going to be under investigation? After all that’s what happened to No.42 when she ignored No.10’s greeting, because she said she was preoccupied composing poetry.
    I asked No.2 if he was above investigation? He assured me that no-one is above investigation, he went on to say that “failure to co-operate makes one an outcast.” And it could all begin with the taking away of privileges, no more taxis or credit, and that could only be the beginning. I went on to ask No.2 if he was a member of the Committee. He assured me that the Committee is completely independent. And to the people of the community, and the Committee No.6 is merely that, and if necessary shaped to fit! Speaking to No.6 he explained himself as being “Public enemy No.6!”    No.86 attempted to help No.6 by taking him to one of the Social Group meetings, which he disrupted by dividing the question of No.42’s rehabilitation, and disrupt her social progress! No.6 was accused of being a reactionary, a rebel, and disharmonious!    A second meeting with the Committee didn’t go at all well for No.6, as he was declared unmutual until further notice! And any further unsocial incident involving Number 6 should be reported immediately to the appeals sub-Committee, of which No.42 is now all of a sudden a member! Now 42 is one of “them,” describing the attitude of the people against No.6 as being “Socially conscience citizens, who are provoked by the loathsome presence of an unmutual!” No.6 describes them as sheep. If that’s the case, he must be a goat, because there’s been nothing but trouble since he arrived in The Village! Needless to say No.6 rejects help from the ladies appeal sub-Committee, and quickly discovers that unmutualism is more than just a game. It’s a witch-hunt aimed at him! And when friendly persuasion fails, then good old fashioned brute force, which No.6 is so keen on, is the last resort. More then that, mob rule. As No.6 is roughly manhandled all the way from his cottage to the hospital. But when he emerges he’s a new man. In fact eventually since his social conversion, No.6 has the desire to address the entire community. So there he stood with No.2 on the Gloriette, with the entire community waiting to hear what No.6 had to say. It wasn’t so much a confession, as an accusation, that unmutualism has nothing to do with the Committee, but that its No.2 who wishes to possess the minds of the citizens! No.86 stepped out of the crowd shouting “Social conversion for Number Two the unmutual.” With the help of No.86 No.6 had been able to turn the tables on No.2 who took to his heels, and was chased back to the relative safety of the Green Dome  with the people in pursuit chanting “Unmutual, unmutual, unmutual.” I telephoned the Green Dome for a statement from No.2. But unfortunately he was not available for comment! 

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