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THERE WAS AN odor in the air; a smell which I can only describe as one of corruption

Ahead lay what appeared to be a sprawling collection of hovels I’d say a village but there seeement to the shacks and huts "What is this place?" I asked

"A gathering place for those of sian to ask, then couldn’t finish, the idea too dis to voice

"I don’t think so," Albert answered

I was going to say thank God when it occurred to ht be worse than this I tried to resist the thought but was unable to dislodge it I kneas unjust to her but couldn’t help it, the baleful influence of the real my mind

There was no sound ahead as we approached the haphazard ju of our shoes on the gray, flinty soil

Off to our right, I saw so motionless, all dressed in shabby clothes Who were they? I wondered What had they done--or failed to do--that they should be there?

We walked within a few yards of a group of theh Albert had said he didn’t think that Ann was there, I found lanced at us as we passed "Can’t they see us?" I asked

"We’re of no interest to them," Albert said "They’re absorbed by their own concerns"

I saw soave me an odd sensation to realize that those boulders were created by theirat the ground, immobile in their desolation I know that, unless they were deaf, they heard us walking by but none gave any sign of noticing our presence

Again, I found ht abruptly She isn’t here But Albert didn’t say that, ca response He said that he didn’t know Was it possible? I thought, looking closer still

We were so near to several of the people now that I could ht made me catch my breath

"Get used to it," Albert said, "you’ll see worse"

His tone see uneasily if the place was changing him If he were unable to resist it, what hope was there for , I looked back at the people Ann couldn’t be here; she couldn’t

The features of the alics; not so much the faces of people as bloated caricatures of them

In spite of my resolve, I looked intensely at the woht it off No! She wasn’t there!

"She isn’t here, is she?" I pleaded h to retain conviction

"No," heri at us, then realized, frohts, a stare of withdrawn despondency I sed as I looked at his lost expression and the fetid air felt as though it were trickling down lue

"Why do they look like this?" I asked, pained by the sight

"One’s appearance retrogrades with one’shappens on earth, people’s faces altering, over a period of tiical--if terrible--extension of that process"

"They all look so grim," I said

"They are," he replied "Grim in their preoccupation with themselves"

"Were they--are they--all so bad?" I asked

He hesitated before answering my question Finally, he said, "Try to understand, Chris, when I tell you that this is nothing compared to what lies ahead The people you see here uilty of sins which were, in any way, horrendous Even a ression takes on darker aspects when one is surrounded by those who have coressions Each person multiplies and amplifies the failures of the others Misery loves company, is what they say on earth It should be: Misery, in corows ever worse

"There’s no balance here, you see Everything is negative and this reverse ani more and more disorder This is a level of extremes--and extremes of even a lesser nature can create a painful habitat You see their auras?’’

I hadn’t noticed in the paucity of light but, as he called theray and brown; dismal, muddy colors "These people are all the same then," I said

"Fundamentally," Albert replied "Which is one of the curses of this realm There can be no rapport between the people because they’re all alike in essence and can find no cos"

Abruptly, Albert turned to his right I looked in that direction and saw the first-- relatively--rapidhobble of a man behind a hut

"Mark!" Albert shouted I looked at hihed unhappily as the ht "He always runs away fro with hi tiht I’d alh, convinced hiht hiht" He shook his head "He won’t believe it though"

"Who is he?" I asked

"A businessman," he said "Abut the acquisition of wealth He spent alhts, for seven days a week, fifty-teeks a year, he thought only of ain

"And yet he feels betrayed He thinks he should be rewarded for what he did I worked damned hard, is his constant lah his total absorption in profit was its own justification As though he had no responsibility to anyone or anything else An occasional donation to soenerosity

"Remember Marley with his chains?" Albert asked "The simile is apt Mark is encumbered with chains too He just can’t see them"

I looked to my left and stopped in sudden alarm as I saoman who looked so much like Ann that I was sure it was her and started toward her

Albert held led in his grip

"Don’t let your anxiety to find her make you see her where she isn’t," he cautioned

I looked at hi back toward the woman She did look like Ann, I told myself

I stared at her There was little actual resemblance I blinked and looked more closely I had never suffered from hallucinations inat the woround, covered from head to toe by a network of thin, black threads She didn’t move but stared ahead with lifeless eyes I take that back Like the youngat the darkness of her mind