THE TALLY HO

              No.6 POSTED DISHARMONIOUS

                                        by our own reporter

    Today No.6 was brought before the welfare committee because a complaint has been lodged against him. Because of his liking for his privacy, which in itself can be construed as being anti-social, he constructed his own gymnasium in the woods, instead of using the village gymnasium. Then instead of sharing his private gymnasium with a couple of chums, he carried out a vicious attack on No.53 and No.16. No.6’s defence is that he was provoked, and was only protecting his own property saying “The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.” But

No.’s 53 and 16 saw it differently, and so made their complaints to the welfare committee, and it is the duty of the welfare committee to deal with complaints. As it happens No.6 has several complaints himself, but a serious charge has been levelled against him, one regarding his attitude to his fellow citizens by means of physical assault. No.6’s spirit of disharmony is deplored. But who is saying this, man or the machine? Because when No.6 is seated before the welfare committee it’s a voice on a tape recorder which reads out the complaint against No.6, and not the Chairman of the committee No.18. In fact this so called welfare committee seems just as effective as the local town council was; in fact there is a distinct similarity between the two! There is also a question appertaining to the voice heard on the tape recorder and that of its origin, because the village bell can also be heard playing on the tape recorder at the same time as the voice is heard. So does this mean the recording was made by person or persons unknown somewhere outside in the village? The sound of the bell has to be on the tape recorder because it’s not possible for it to be heard in an underground chamber!

   ‘Your Community Needs You!’ It’s just a pity the welfare committee of this community doesn’t stretch to taking more care of the individual, but then after all it is merely a tool by which No.2 can carry out what is nothing more than a witch hunt! It was reported that No.2 had a list of all known malcontents and intended to purge the village of those malcontents; it was a purge which was never carried out. But now it appears No.2 has found a new way of dealing with malcontents or unmutuals as they are now known, who are now being made docile by a brutal method which has been medically improved upon by Number 86, the operation known as Instant Social Conversion.

   It appears No.2 has the idea of having the citizens living in harmony with each other. To create this he deliberately isolates the subject from the rest of the community, and if this isn’t enough then he takes the subject’s mind and isolates a person’s aggression, taking away a person’s will, thereby rendering him or her docile.

    No.6 isn’t what would be termed  a “social animal.” It was Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who strongly stated about the social nature of the man being a social nature a social animal, an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. I would not say No.6 is anti-social, but he is certainly an individual who likes to mind his own business. He doesn’t openly seek the company of others, except when it suits his own purposes, it generally does suit his own purpose. Yet when isolation is forced upon him by declaring him unmutual, he’s angry at having been made an outcast, no more taxis, the telephone is cut off, and he’s refused custom at the Old People’s Home. He suddenly feels lonely and craves inclusion. No.6 is a loner, yet cannot withstand real loneliness, as it appears the entire community has been turned against him. But does that include “Unmutuals” and those who have undergone the ordeal of social conversion? In the village neglect of social principles can easily get citizens into trouble with the welfare committee. No.42 was reported for failing to heed No.10’s greeting, but she was preoccupied composing poetry at the time. The same should apply to No.64 when she quite deliberately ignored No.6’s friendly greeting. They do say confession is good for the soul, just as No.93 who confessed his inadequacies and disharmony. No.6 has never been one for confession; all No.2 wants to be is No.6’s father confessor about that little incident that has been causing him such absurd distress, his resignation!

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