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Take the shot froht be the target of the well-read man? Me? I won't stomach them for a minute And so when houses were finally fireproofed completely, all over the world (you were correct in your assuer need of fireiven the new job, as custodians of our peace of htful dread of being inferior; official censors, judges, and executors That's you, Montag, and that's me"
The door to the parlor opened and Mildred stood there looking in at the Behind her the walls of the rooe fireworks sizzling and bursting to some music composed almost completely of trap dru so but the sound covered it
Beatty knocked his pipe into the palm of his pink hand, studied the ashes as if they were a sy
"You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred Ask yourself, What do ant in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn't that right? Haven't you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say Well, aren't they? Don't we keep theive them fun? That's all we live for, isn't it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these"
"Yes"
Montag could lip-read what Mildred was saying in the doorway He tried not to look at her ht turn and read as there, too
"Colored people don't like Little Black Saood about Uncle Tom's Cabin Burn it Sos? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book Serenity, Montag Peace, Montag Take your fight outside Better yet, into the incinerator Funerals are unhappy and pagan? Eliminate them, too FiveFlue, the Incinerators serviced by helicopters all over the country Ten minutes after death a man's a speck of black dust Let's not quibble over individuals withFire is bright and fire is clean"
The fireworks died in the parlor behind Mildred She had stopped talking at the sa held his breath
"There was a girl next door," he said, slowly "She's gone now, I think, dead I can't even remember her face But she was different Ho did she happen?"
Beatty smiled "Here or there, that's bound to occur Clarisse McClellan? We've a record on her family We've watched thes You can't rid yourselves of all the odd ducks in just a few years The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school That's e've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until noe're al them from the cradle We had soo Never found a book Uncle had a irl? She was a ti her subconscious, I'm sure, from what I saw of her school record She didn't want to kno a thing was done, but why That can be es and you wind up very unhappy indeed, if you keep at it The poor girl's better off dead"
"Yes, dead"
"Luckily, queer ones like her don't happen often We kno to nip most of them in the bud, early You can't build a house without nails and wood If you don't want a house built, hide the nails and wood If you don't want a ive hiive hiet there is such a thing as war If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it Peace, Montag Give the people contests they win by res or the narew last year Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with inforet a sense ofAnd they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change Don't give thes up with That way lies melancholy Any ain, and most men can, nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide rule, measure, and equate the universe, which just won't beman feel bestial and lonely I know, I've tried it; to hell with it So bring on your clubs and parties, your acrobats and icians, your daredevils, jet cars, motorcycle helicopters, your sex and heroin,to do with auto, if the play is hollow, stingto the play, when it's only a tactile reaction to vibration But I don't care I just like solid entertainment"
Beatty got up "I s The i, is we're the Happiness Boys, the Dixie Duo, you and I and the others We stand against the small tide of those ant to ht We have our fingers in the dike Hold steady Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world We depend on you I don't think you realize how important you are, we are, to our happy world as it stands now"
Beatty shook Montag's li about him and he could not move, in the bed Mildred had vanished from the door
"One last thing," said Beatty "At least once in his career, every fireets an itch What do the books say, he wonders Oh, to scratch that itch, eh? Well, Montag, take my word for it, I've had to read a few in ! Nothing you can teach or believe They're about nonexistent people, figination, if they're fiction And if they're nonfiction, it's worse, one professor calling another an idiot, one philosopher screa out the stars and extinguishing the sun You come away lost"