The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life Sentence, by James McConnell

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Title: Life Sentence

Author: James McConnell

Illustrator: Dick Francis

Release Date: September 2, 2009 [EBook #29889]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

Life
Sentence

By JAMES McCONNELL

Illustrated by DICK FRANCIS

_"Happy New Year!" she cried. But how often
should one hear it said in a single lifetime?_

Outside, bells were ringing. "Happy New Year!"

The mad sound of people crazed for the moment, shouting, echoed the
bells.

"Happy New Year!"

A sound of music, waxing, waning, now joined in wild symphony by the
voices, now left alone to counterpoint the noise of human
celebration....

For a while, Oliver Symmes heard the raucous music of the crowd. It
became a part of him, seemed to come from somewhere inside him, gave him
life. And then, as always, it passed on, leaving him empty.

Shadows....

The door to his room opened and a young-looking woman, dressed in a
pleasant green uniform, came in and turned up the light. On her sleeve
she wore the badge of geriatrician, with the motto, "To Care for the
Aged."

"Happy New Year, Mr. Symmes," she said, and went over to stand by the
window. In the mild light, the sheen of her hair attracted attention
away from the slight imperfections of her face.

She watched the crowd outside, wishing she could be a part of it. There
seemed so little life inside the prison where the only function of
living was the awaiting of death. "To Care for the Aged." That meant to
like and love them as well as to take physical care of them. Only,
somehow, it seemed so hard to _really_ love them.

She sighed and turned away from the window to look at one of the reasons
she could not be with the rest of the world that night.

* * * * *

He sat bunched up in his chair like a vegetable. She could have closed
one of her hands around both his arms together. Or his legs. Bones and
skin an