The Song of the Earth
Page 11
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, March 12, 2053:
Emma stayed the weekend. She and Mother are lovers. I hate them.
From John Firth Baker’s computer file “BillyLee,” entry dated April 22, 2053:
GAIANS GET RELIGION
CHIEF GURU INCORPORATES CULT AS CHURCH
By Ross Azzarella
Special to IN-News
NEW YORK, April 22, 2053. Celebrating Earth Day in New York today, former atmospheric processor and presently chief Gaian guru Srimaati (Holy Mother) Brianna Andrews, 50, announced, “Under Article Eight of the Religious Corporations Law of New York State, we two-and-a-half-million American Gaians have incorporated ourselves into the Church of Gaia, the religion of the living planet Earth.
“The word ‘religion’ means to bind together,” said Andrews. “We Gaians are bound together by our commitment to helping huminkind gain Gaian Consciousness and make a covenant with our living Motherworld.”
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, June 2, 2053:
Day before yesterday, during an eleven-hour blowout of the S.W., a homeless wrinklie got suffocated by dust on the corner opposite the keep’s West Gate.
I glimpsed her corpse being dug from a drift by the cops. Ever see a corpse? This was a first for me. The stomach was swollen.
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, June 20, 2053:
CATHER KEEP HIGH SCHOOL HOME REPORTS
Student: John Firth Baker Grade: 10
Course: PreAlgebra
Teacher: Janis Birt
Date: 6/20/53
Semester Grade: C–
Genetic Propensity for Subject: Average.
Understanding of Concepts: Poor.
Homework Preparation: Poor.
Class Participation: Poor.
Written Work: Poor.
Tests and Quizzes: Poor.
Effort: Poor.
Comment: Topics covered this semester included factoring, work with fractions, decimals, percents, and simple line graphing.
John showed little interest in acquiring the concepts and techniques of the above, which were thoroughly discussed in class. His homework was ill-prepared—if at all. He was frequently absent from class.
John’s gen-pro indicates he should have average mathematical skills. A great disparity exists between John’s intellectual potential and his scholastic performance in this subject.
Student: John Firth Baker Grade: 10
Course: United States Herstory
Teacher: Brigid Khalid
Date: 6/20/53
Semester Grade: C
Genetic Propensity for Subject: Does not apply.
Understanding of Concepts: Excellent.
Homework Preparation: Poor.
Class Participation: Good.
Written Work: Poor.
Tests and Quizzes: Adequate.
Effort: Adequate.
Comment: John was an erratic student. His homework was often sloppy. During class discussions, however, he showed his considerable intelligence by clearly articulating his political philosophy, Gynarchism, and applying its critical insights to U.S. herstory.
John’s passionate ideological commitment, however, often makes him intolerant of differing political opinions. He must learn to moderate his enthusiasm so that his classmates have a chance to participate in a meaningful dialogue with him.
Student: John Firth Baker Grade: 10
Course: Earth Science
Teacher: Barbara Ellis
Date: 6/21/53
Semester Grade: A
Genetic Propensity for Subject: Does not apply.
Understanding of Concepts: Excellent.
Homework Preparation: Excellent.
Class Preparation: Excellent.
Written Work: Excellent.
Tests and Quizzes: Excellent.
Effort: Excellent.
Comment: John is very taken with the Gaia hypothesis and constantly related it to our work. He became the class authority on the ocean’s crust, which, as you know, serves the Earth as a kind of self-regulating global water-treatment plant that maintains the planet’s chemical equilibrium.
John recently gave an outstanding oral report on the unique way the Earth vents its internal heat through the hydrothermal vents and megaplumes on the ocean floor. He showed a deep appreciation of how the Earth rids itself of heat, thereby maintaining the fragile chemical balance that keeps us alive.
It was a pleasure to have John in my class.
Student: John Firth Baker Grade: 10
Course: English
Teacher: Kenneth Hubner
Date: 6/20/53
Semester Grade: A–
Genetic Propensity for Subject: Does not apply.
Understanding of Concepts: Excellent.
Homework Preparation: Excellent.
Class Preparation: Excellent.
Written Work: Excellent
Tests and Quizzes: Very good.
Effort: Excellent.
Comment: John was a joy to teach. He loves Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and communicated his enthusiasm to his less-than-enthusiastic fellow students, who regarded Shakespeare as hopelessly old-fashioned, tough to understand, and irrelevant to modern life. There was plenty of resistance in class to studying A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream till John pointed out that the name of the popular English music group “Hot Ice” was taken from Theseus’ speech in Act V, Scene 1 of the play: “Merry and tragical, tedious and brief. That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.”
Wish I’d spotted that! I certainly will make good use of his observation when I teach the play to future classes.
In general, John did excellent work in English this term.
Student: John Firth Baker Grade: 10
Course: Concert Jazz.
Teacher: Dottie Hanson
Date: 6/21/53
Semester Grade: Credit Withheld.
Genetic Propensity for Subject: Average.
Attention in Class: Poor.
Punctuality: Poor.
Brings Materials: Poor.
Ability to Take Directions: Poor.
Ability to Work with Others: Poor.
Practice and Class Preparation: Poor.
Tone Quality: Poor.
Intonation: Poor.
Fluency of Technique: Poor.
Rhythmical Accuracy: Poor.
Comment: Given John’s gen-pro, which emphasizes his rich complement of visual arsogenes, I was surprised that he opted at the beginning of the year to fulfill his requirement for credit in the Arts by taking Concert Jazz.
At first, John strove valiantly to master the elements of playing his instrument of choice, which was the trombone. But he rapidly lost interest and made no further effort to acquire any musical technique or indeed to participate at all in class work.
I am therefore unable to give John credit for his work this term in Concert Jazz.
I asked Johnny how he intends to make up the above withheld credit; he said, “I dunno.” These days, his answer to everything is “I dunno.”
Drifting, drifting—the boy is drifting.
He hasn’t made a drawing in five months.
Anselmo Diaz
Johnny never once invited me home to meet his mother. I never set foot in Cather Keep. That hurt my feelings, but I never said nothin’ to him about it.
Johnny couldn’t help hisself. He was born and raised in a keep, and everybody knows what a keep is short for. A keep is short for “keep out.”
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, June 21, 2053:
Mother’s been hinting like mad that she wants a drawing from me for her upcoming birthday.
I haven’t drawn a line since February. I fear I’ve lost my touch.
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, July 3, 2053:
Forty-four today.
Johnny ignored my little hints over the last few months and instead of a drawing gave me a first edition of Femina Dominans.24
Emma, who’s working in
Mexico, forgot my birthday altogether. Forty-four! Ugh!
Emma Torchlight
Jeanette never mentioned her birthday to me. Come to think of it, she never told me her age.
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, July 9, 2053:
Last night when it cooled off a bit, I dragged Anselmo to a Gaian round dance in Elmwood Park. The dancers were led by Billy Lee, who looked gorgeous in scarlet harem pants.
The drawing I made of him from my dream is a bad likeness. He’s much more Indian-looking.
After the dance, Billy Lee said just four words to a big crowd. “Death makes life possible.” I felt he was addressing me personally. Then he recited the poem “Two-some” by the Gaian poet Sistah Sally:
Death,
We be a two-some.
Make dat a one-some!
Cause—
—les face it:
No you,
No me.25
Anselmo Diaz
Once a month, I visited my Granny out in Cleveland at a Guild home for wrinklies called The Humin Touch. Her heart and lungs was in good shape, but mentally she was off the air. Johnny couldn’t believe I took care of her after what she done to me as a kid.
“Shame on you,” he says. “You still want her love.”
“Jeez, I never thought of that, but it’s true.”
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, July 16, 2053:
Anselmo, who’s got a taste for drawings done by hand, asked me to draw his Granny’s portrait from life. I’m giving it a try. We visited her this afternoon at a Guild wrinklie home in Cleveland called The Humin Touch, because the staff is all humin—no carebots allowed.
Granny’s name is Shelagh Cavanaugh. She was ninety-four last month. She’s been in the wrinklie home four years. Three years ago, she started getting senile but responded well to CREB rejuvenation therapy. Then her insurance ran out, the therapy ended, and her senile dementia came back worse than before. She babbles night and day.
Anselmo recorded some of her babbling. We’re both fascinated by it. She plays with words. For example, at one point, she was like, “Exceptional change, exceptional change, exceptional change. See this hole they dug in the back of my hand? Cold star coffle, cold star coffle, cold star coffle.”
Later she went, “Don’t let me die. I’m too young to die.”
I never looked at a wrinklie’s face up close before. All I could think was, This is how Mother will look when she’s ninety-four.
Anselmo Diaz
I took my vacation the last two weeks in July so I could go to Cleveland with Johnny every morning and watch him work.
Them two weeks cost me a pretty penny. Johnny’s art supplies alone—paper, pencils, erasers—cost over two hundred and fifty bucks. And there was our subway fares and lunches. All told Granny’s picture set me back more than six hundred bucks.
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, July 22, 2053:
Worked today on Granny’s portrait for four straight hours, but made no progress. All my drawings are lifeless. I need a theme, some emotion, to convey.
While I draw, Granny babbles. Anselmo records her. Around noon, she got quiet, and he went, “Whatcha thinking about Granny? Me?”
“A girl will soon give me a pill, which will put me to sleep. Then she’ll pin me to the wall for three months and rebuild my body, so I’ll come back to a new life much smarter and stronger than I am now.”
Portrait of Shelagh Cavanagh, 2053, pencil on paper.
Collection Billy Lee Mookerjee
Johnny Baker to Teddy Petrakis, July 23, 2053:
This morning Granny went, “When I was a young girl, I had me a beautiful profile. The envy of all.”
Then she stopped talking, and for a moment you could see in her eyes that she was thinking about her once-beautiful profile.
That’s the moment I will draw.
Anselmo Diaz
Not long after Johnny was murdered, Mookerjee bought his two drawings off me for eight hundred bucks each.
From John Firth Baker’s computer file “BillyLee,” entry dated September 11, 2053:
CREEPING SAND HILLS TO BE IRRIGATED BY METAMORPHIC “WATER BUGS”
New Bacteria Designed To Irrigate Dunes Of
Spreading Tri-State Sandy Wastes Sown By Margaret Kim,
Governor Of Nebraska
Brief Invocation At Ceremony Given By
Midwestern District Guru Of The Church Of Gaia,
Sri Billy Lee Mookerjee
Special to IN-News
By Lily Johanna Davis
LINCOLN, Nebraska, September 4. From her office today in the State Capitol, Nebraska’s Governor Margaret Kim, 49, activated the release of billions of metamorphic bacteria over the Creeping Sand Hills that cover parts of Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. The new bacteria, Pseudomonas hydrophilia, nicknamed “water bugs” by their creators, were designed and manufactured by Dr. Jean Hutslar and her staff of bioengineers at the College of Agriculture of the University of Nebraska. The introduction of the water bugs into the environment was OKed last January by the Federal Recombinant DNA Authority.
The multitude of rapidly-multiplying metamorphic microorganisms will live exactly six months in the sand dunes, all the while extracting water from the air. They will then die. The water within their dead cells will be retained in humus-like compounds which will slowly break down and irrigate the dunes.
Next spring the irrigated dunes will be fertilized with various proliferating species of metamorphic vegetation which will gradually fix the creeping Sand Hills in place. The Sand Hills will eventually be planted with a variety of metamorphic species of fruit-bearing shrubs and trees which were also developed under Dr. Hutslar’s direction at the University of Nebraska College of Agriculture.
Gov. Kim said, “Thanks to Jean Hutslar and her brilliant staff of Cornhusker bioengineers, the Creeping Sand Hills will be transformed within a decade into the world’s largest public orchard.”
The Governor, who is a Gaian, invited Sri (His Reverence) Billy Lee Mookerjee, 32, one of twelve regional gurus of the Church of Gaia, to deliver an invocation at today’s ceremony. Sri Mookerjee was brief and to the point; he quoted one line of Scripture (Jer. 29:5): “Plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.”
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, September 11, 2053:
Emma’s here for the weekend. Johnny aloof and jealous.
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, Friday, October 6, 2053:
TOP IN-NEWS STORY: Teratol Ready For Revenge
CLONED CASABLANCA METAMORPH HOPES TO BE
FIRST HUMIN SINCE 2009 TO WIN WORLD CHESS
CHAMPIONSHIP FROM IBM’s CHESS MAVEN
FACTS OF THE FACE-OFF:
ISHTAR TERATOL VS CHESS MAVEN
October 7–16, 2053, Hotel Asgard, Oslo, Norway
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 7, 2053:
TOP IN-NEWS STORY:
PLEASED TO MATE YOU!
Teratol Wins First Game Of Eight-Game
Championship Match
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, Oct. 8, 2053:
TOP IN-NEWS STORY:
IBM CHESS MAVEN TURNS DOWN AN OPPORTUNITY
TO DRAW AND WINS
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 9, 2053:
TOP IN-NEWS STORY:
CLONED CAPABLANCA METAMORPH
DEFEATS COMPUTER IN THIRD OF EIGHT MATCHES FOR
CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE WORTH $5,000,000
Daringly Sacrifices Queen And Wins In Fifty-Move Masterpiece
Alex Thomas jr.
Johnny and I spoke that night. I know a little something about chess and explained that Teratol’s totally unexpected sacrifice of a queen, the most powerful piece on the board, to a computer programmed to take full advantage of her slightest mistake showed strategic genius.
“The hell with Teratol,” Johnny said. “The girl’s a homophobe!”
“Why a homophobe?”
“Because she sacrificed a queen!”
Joh
nny blew me a kiss; I couldn’t remember him so happy. I was happy, too. Ishtar Teratol made us proud to be metamorphs.
I talked chess with Johnny after every game. Or rather, I talked, and Johnny listened. After the fourth game, which ended in a draw, Johnny said, “I’m no match for chess. Ha-ha!”
The game was beyond him. But he sure pulled for Teratol.
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 13, 2053:
TOP IN-NEWS STORY:
TERATOL ROOKS SELF, OVERLOOKS CHESS
MAVEN’S PLOY OF SACRIFICING ROOK, LOSES FIFTH
GAME IN TWENTY-THREE MOVES
Match Even At 2½ Each
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 14, 2053:
Teratol’s victory in her sixth game today thrilled Johnny.
He said, “I’m proud to be a metamorph and don’t care who knows it.”
I warned him that a public revelation of his identity would expose me to prosecution under the Created Equal Act.
Johnny will be sixteen tomorrow. Polly’s giving him a party.
Am developing a real interest in chess. Hooked on Sarah Jonas’ column, “Gambytes.” Jonas gives Teratol a good chance of winning tomorrow’s game.
Polly Baker
Teratol’s third defeat ruined Johnny’s birthday party.
Alex Thomas jr.
I called to wish Johnny a happy birthday. We talked about the three-and-a-half to three-and-a-half game tie in the desperate struggle between a humin being and a machine. Our conversation inspired me. I stayed up all that night composing my duet for computer and soprano, Tied Score, which scores electronic regularity against aleatory improvisation.
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 15, 2053:
Sarah Jonas: “Ishtar Teratol is in a tight spot. She has used up most of her opening attacks and probably has no surprises left for tomorrow’s game to decide the outcome of the World Chess Championship. Chess Maven knows Teratol must fall back on the classic variations: tactics to which it has complete access. To win Teratol must rely on the power of her imagination.”
From Jeanette Baker’s journal, October 16, 2053:
Teratol, at her press teleconference after today’s deciding match: “Last night, before going to sleep I searched my files, looking for a surprise opening strategy I could use to catch Chess Maven off guard. I checked out hundreds of openings. None of them did it for me. I mean, an opening that does it immediately puts many other moves in my head; I can picture all the potential positions on the board.