I WILL FEAR NO EVIL by Robert A. Heinlein

Joan dropped into Lotus seat “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Gigi had given him a shoulder, eased him down. He sat on the floor with his head against his knees, sobbing, while Gigi knelt by him, her face showing the ages-old concern of a mother for a hurt child. “Om Mani Padme Hum.” (Om Mani Padme Hum.) (Can’t I help her, Eunice?) “Om Mani Padme Hum.” (No, Boss. Ask Gigi to help you.) (How?) “Om Mani Padme Hum.” (Ask for a Circle. Om Mani Padme Hum.)

“Gigi! Help me form a Circle. Please!”

The girl looked up, looked very startled as if seeing Joan for the first time.

“Om Mani Padme Hum. Help me, Gigi—help us both.”

Gigi slid into Lotus seat by her, knee to knee, reached for Joan’s left hand, took Joe’s right hand. “Joe! Joe, you must listen! Close the Circle with us. Now!” She started chanting with Joan.

Joe Branca stopped sobbing, looked up, seemed not to believe what he saw. Then slowly he straightened his legs, moved until he filled the third side of the triangle and tried to assume the Padmasana. His paint-smeared shorts were too confining; they got in the way. He looked down, seemed puzzled, then started unfastening them. Gigi let go his hand and Joan’s, helped him get them off. Then he settled easily into Lotus, reached for their hands. “Om Mani Padme Hum!”

As the Circle closed Joan felt a shock through her body, somewhat like electricity. She had felt it before, with three, with four, but never so strongly. Then it eased off to a sweet feeling of warmth. “Om Mani Padme Hum.”

The prayer rolled around the Circle, rolled back, and was chanted in unison. They were still softly whispering when Joan stopped feeling or hearing anything—other than utter peace.

“Wake. Wake up. Come back.”

Joan fluttered her eyelids, felt her eyeballs roll down. “Yes, Winnie? I’m awake.”

“You said you had supper ready to flash. Want to do it? Or shall I?”

“Oh.” She became aware that the Circle was still closed. “I’ll do it. If I may.”

Joe looked inquiringly into her face, his own face serene. “You okay? Good vibes?”

“She’s okay,” Gigi answered. “Go take a pee and we’ll get supper on. Wash your hands; I left turpentine in the medicine cabinet.”

“Okay.” He got up, gave a hand to each of the girls, pulled them to their feet together, turned to do as he was told.

Joan followed Gigi to the kitchen unit, noticed the clock of the flash oven. “Gigi, is that clock right?”

“Near enough. Do you have to leave? I hope not”

“Oh, no, I can stay. But how long did we hold the Circle?”

“An hour, hour and half, maybe longer. Long enough. Does it matter?”

“No.” Joan put her arms around the other girl. “Thank you, Gigi.”

Gigi put her arms over Joan’s, hugged her. “Thank you. This is the first time I’ve seen Joe truly at one with the All, accepting his karma, at peace with it, since, uh, since—”

“Since Eunice was killed?”

“Yes. He’s kept coming back to the crazy notion that, if he hadn’t gone to Philly to see his Maw, it wouldn’t have happened. He knows that’s not so—but now he knows it in his belly, I can tell.” (Boss? Say hello to Gigi for me.) (Break cover?) (Oh, hell, we’d better not. I don’t think she’d tell Joe—but we can’t risk it. And things are okay the way they are.)

“Gigi, I think Eunice would want to thank you. If she could. Things look okay the way they are, now.”

“Looks like. Say, what do I call you? I can’t say, ‘Hey, you!’ But ‘Johann Sebastian Bach Smith’ seems like a hell of a name for a girl.”

“My name is Joan, now. Uh, my full name is ‘Joan Eunice Smith.’ But my middle name is, well, sort of a memorial. Rozzer?”

“Roz. That’s nice, I think that’s perfect—Joan. Eunice.” (I think you’re perfect, Boss. You did it! You know why I didn’t want to come here? I was scared for Joe…but twice as scared for me.) (I knew, sweetheart. We both were scared. And so was Joe.)

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