The Call-Girls (23 page)

Dr Grob laughed reassuringly. ‘I must confess I never saw his serpent's tail. Does it come out through a hole in his flannels?'

‘Of course not. They all wear it coiled round their stomachs, like a cummerbund.'

‘Well, maybe next time we'll get Dr Miller to undress before us. Would that convince you?'

‘You will never make him.'

‘We'll see. But as I said, the hour is up, and so good-bye for today.'

‘Make him now.'

‘The hour is up,' Dr Grob repeated for the third time, giving out a noise that sounded like a growl. At that very moment, like a responding echo, they heard an inarticulate clamour coming from the street, getting louder and louder. Curiosity triumphing over fear, Anderson emerged from his shelter, dusting his trousers, and took up his position next to the doctor at the window. Across the whole width of the road a horde of chimeras were advancing, roaring some leonine war-song, smashing windows and lamp-posts with their scaly tails, while their goaty parts erupted in farts which turned into a poisonous, swirling cloud, rising ever higher.

‘I thought so,' said Dr Grob, nodding benignly. ‘A demonstration of the Peace Scouts' Love Brigade. Nice kids, full of vitality.'

‘But don't you see …' cried Anderson, glancing sideways at the doctor, and hurriedly averting his eyes from what he saw.

‘You seem frightened,' Dr Grob remarked solicitously. ‘What's the matter with you?'

Instead of a reply, Anderson made hurriedly for the door. He was seen out by smiling Dr Miller, who, having in the meantime unzipped his hip-pocket, smartly opened the door with his tail. As a farewell greeting, Dr Grob rose on his hind-legs, and gave Anderson an encouraging lick on the cheek. ‘He looks already much improved,' Grob remarked to his colleague.

On his way down in the elevator, Anderson no longer knew whether he was boy or girl, man or chimera. It was already dark when he got out into the fog-bound street, and he could see only vague shapes, neither real nor unreal, like a face in a tree open to different interpretations.

He shuddered at the thought of going back to Dr Grob next Friday at 6 PM, and wondered whether it was worth the hundred dollars. But what else was there left to do?

Arthur Koestler CBE (1905 – 1983) was a Hungarian-British author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and educated in Austria. In 1931 Koestler joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned by Stalinist atrocities, resigned in 1938. In 1940 he published his novel
Darkness at Noon
, an anti-totalitarian work, which gained him international fame.
Over the next 43 years from his residence in Great Britain, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, memoirs, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1968, he was awarded the prestigious Sonning Prize for ‘outstanding contribution to European culture' and, in 1972, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
In 1976, Koestler was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and, in 1979, with terminal leukaemia. In 1983 he and his wife committed suicide at home in London.

Discover books by Arthur Koestler published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/ArthurKoestler
The Call-Girls
Thieves in the Night

This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
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First published in Great Britain 1972 by Hutchinson & Co Ltd
Copyright © 1972 Arthur Koestler
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eISBN: 9781448210015
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