On the Far Side of Darkness by R. C. Graham Read Free Book Online

Ms. Richardson is misinterpreting my actions. She has no idea that it was for her safety that I didn’t continue to face her.
    Back in control of myself I return my attention to my students, and others. “It’s at this time the guillotines started to do a heavy business. There wasn’t a minute of the day in France where someone wasn’t losing their life to those efficient devices. All it took was the barest hint to The Committee for Public Safety and your days on this Earth were very few indeed.”
    “You disapprove of this, teach?” Ms. Richardson’s tone is scornful.
    “Indeed I do.” It’s difficult, but I manage to keep my facade as a human being. “People should be judged on what they do, not what they are. Nor should accusations alone be enough. America’s Founding Fathers understood this and put into position a justice system that at least tried for this ideal. My nation didn’t succeed in doing that for almost another century after The Revolution.”
    “They had the power,” Mandy continues. “Power is meant to be used.”
    “Surely you can come up with a better endorsement that that ancient one, Ms. Richardson.”
    “What do you mean?” She frowns at me, but there is enough uncertainty on her face to show that she doesn’t know where this dialog is going, and she dislikes that.
    “The Melian Dialog.”
    She blinks at me with incomprehension.
    “Thucydides recorded it at the siege of Melos. This line is most important, when an Athenian emissary said to the Melians, ‘…the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must…’ Considering that the war Athens was starting with Sparta weakened both states beyond redemption it would have been wiser if the Athenians had not used their power, and considering where The Terror ended up leading, it would have been wiser if the revolutionaries had been restrained and careful with their power.” I shrugged. “History is replete with examples of the misuse of power leading to the end of a nation or empire. You would think humanity would have learned better by now.”
    Although after watching over two centuries of power madness I’m not hopeful.
    “Teach,” spits Mandy, “you are such a fucking wimp.” She slams her laptop computer closed, stands and starts to leave the room.
    “Ms. Richardson, you are going to find that your actions are going to adversely affect your mark.”
    She turns to me to give a confident, wicked smile. “Teach, you’re going to find that your opinion doesn’t matter at all.” With that warning Mandy continues out of the class.
    Ms. Coburn glances at me as she passes. Her face is full of pity.
    Any anger I feel vanishes at her expression, replaced by curious wariness. What is Ms. Richardson capable of?
     
    * * * *
     
    My finger pauses a few millimeters short of the intercom button. I’m just a bit frightened.
    I’m wondering how Diane will react seeing me again. I’d left so abruptly two nights ago, and I hadn’t talked to her since. I wasn’t sure if I’d come back. I wasn’t sure if I should come back. Like all vampires I’ve lead a solitary existence until now. It might not be wise to introduce some one, and a human at that, into my situation.
    Almost without my willing it I press the button. It seems an age, and I nearly run while I’m waiting, before the speaker crackles and Diane asks, “Is that you, Georges?”
    The sound of her voice chases away all doubt and pulls my mouth into a smile. “ Bonsoir, cher. May I come up?” The door clicks open in answer.
    It takes only one knock on Diane’s door before it flies open and she, as Americans put it, ‘jumps my bones.’ She kisses me hard. I wrap my arms around her and carry her inside, kicking the door closed as we go.
    An hour later we’re snuggled in her bed. Diane wriggles against me with a throaty purr. “That wasn’t quite as intense as the first time, Georges, but you can eat crackers here anytime.” She stills for a moment.