`But - What are you saying?'
'The Die told me to tell you that the Die told me to take the patients on an excursion to Hair.'
`But is that story the truth?' asked Inspector Putt, his face somewhat flushed.
Dr. Rhinehart shook a die onto the little coffee table in front of him. He examined the result.
`Yes,' he announced.
The inspector's face became redder.
`But how do I know that what you have just said `Precisely,' said Dr. Rhinehart.
The inspector moved in a daze back behind his desk and sat down.
`Luke, you're relieved of all your duties at QSH as of today,' said Dr. Mann.
`Thank you, Tim.'
`I suppose you're still on our board of management for the simple reason that I don't have the authority to fire you
from that, but in our October meeting -'
'You could forge Dr. Cobblestone's signature, Tim.'
There was a silence.
`Are there any more questions, Inspector?' Dr. Rhinehart asked.
`Do you wish to initiate criminal proceedings against Dr. Rhinehart for forgery, sir?' the Inspector asked Dr. Mann.
Dr. Mann turned and looked a long time into the black, sincere eyes of Dr. Rhinehart, who returned his gaze steadily.
`No, Inspector, I'm afraid I can't. For the good of the hospital, for the good of everyone, I wish you'd keep this whole
conversation confidential. The public thinks the escape was a conspiracy of hippies and blacks. For all we know; as Dr.
Rhinehart so kindly points out, it still may be a conspiracy of hippies and blacks. They also wouldn't understand why
all Dr. Rhinehart has done only constitutes a misdemeanor.'
`It confuses me, sir.'
`Precisely. There are some things we must protect the common man from knowing as long as we can.'
`I think you're right.'
`May I go now, fellows?' asked Dr. Rhinehart
Chapter Sixty
The Die is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my Die
Than to dwell in the tents of consistency.
For the Lord Chance is a sun and a shield
Chance will give grace and glory and folly and shame:
Nothing will be withheld from them that walk randomly.
Q Lord of Chance, My Die, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. .
from The Book of the Die
Chapter Sixty-one
`Your free will has made a mess of things,' I told Linda after explaining at length my dice theory. `Give the Die a try.'
`You sound like a TV commercial,' she said.
Nevertheless, Linda and I began living a dicelife together, the first full dice-couple in history. She knew she'd reached
a dead end with her `real' self and enjoyed trying to express a variety of others. Her sexual and social promiscuity was
a good preparation for the dicelife; it dis-inhibited her in an area which often blocks the whole life system. On the
other-hand, she had repressed the whole spiritual side of herself: she was as ashamed of having to pray in front of me
as would be most other people of having to perform soixante-neuf at the communion rail. But she could do it (and
probably the other too). She prayed.
I was tender and warm with her and - when the Die so chose - I treated her like a cheap slut, using her body to satisfy