2.

It was a Friday night, so the suckers didn't start going home till after eleven and my senectuous bribee didn't come round to collect his twenty dollars till midnight. Ishmael was asleep sitting up, still bundled up in his blankets, and I didn't feel any qualms about waking him; I wanted him to reassess the charms of the independent life.

He yawned, sneezed twice, cleared his throat of a mass of phlegm, and fixed me in a bleary, malevolent glare.

"Come back tomorrow," he said in the equivalent of a mental croak.

"Tomorrow's Saturday-hopeless."

He wasn't happy about it, but he knew I was right. He managed to put off the inevitable by laboriously rearranging himself, his cage, and his blankets. Then he settled down and gave me a look of loathing.

"Where did we leave off?"

"We left off with a new pair of names for the Takers and the Leavers: Those who know good and evil and those who live in the hands of the gods."

He grunted.

3.

"What happens happens to people who live in the hands of the gods?" to people who live in the hands of the gods?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what happens to people who live in the hands of the gods that does not not happen to people who build their lives on the knowledge of good and evil?" happen to people who build their lives on the knowledge of good and evil?"

"Well, let's see," I said. "I don't suppose this is what you're getting at, but this is what comes to mind. People who live in the hands of the gods don't make themselves rulers of the world and force everyone to live the way they live, and people who know good and evil do."

"You've turned the question round back to front," said Ishmael. "I asked what happens to people who live in the hands of the gods that doesn't doesn't happen to those who know good and evil, and you told me just the opposite: what happen to those who know good and evil, and you told me just the opposite: what doesn't doesn't happen to people who live in the hands of the gods that happen to people who live in the hands of the gods that does does happen to those who know good and evil." happen to those who know good and evil."

"You mean you're looking for something positive positive that happens to people who live in the hands of the gods." that happens to people who live in the hands of the gods."

"That's right."

"Well, they do tend to let the people around them live the way they want to live."

"You're telling me something they do do, not something that happens happens to them. I'm trying to focus your attention on the effects of this lifestyle." to them. I'm trying to focus your attention on the effects of this lifestyle."

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I just don't know what you're getting at."

"You do, but you're not used to thinking about it in these terms."

"Okay."

"You remember the question we started out to answer when you arrived this afternoon: How did man become man? We're still after the answer to that question."

I groaned, fully and frankly.

"Why do you groan?" Ishmael asked.

"Because questions of that generality intimidate me. How did man become man? I don't know. He just did it. He did it the way birds became birds and the way that horses became horses."

"Exactly so."

"Don't do that to me," I told him.

"Evidently you don't understand what you just said."

"Probably not."

"I'll try to clarify it for you. Before you were Homo Homo, you were what?"

"Australopithecus."

"Good. And how did Australopithecus Australopithecus become become Homo Homo?"

"By waiting."

"Please. You're here to think."

"Sorry."

"Did Australopithecus Australopithecus become become Homo Homo by saying, 'We know good and evil as well as the gods, so there's no need for us to live in their hands the way rabbits and lizards do. From now on by saying, 'We know good and evil as well as the gods, so there's no need for us to live in their hands the way rabbits and lizards do. From now on we we will decide who lives and who dies on this planet, not the gods.' " will decide who lives and who dies on this planet, not the gods.' "

"No."

"Could they have become man by saying that?" they have become man by saying that?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because they would have ceased to be subject to the conditions under which evolution takes place."

"Exactly. Now you can answer the question: What happens to people-to creatures in general-who live in the hands of the gods?"

"Ah. Yes, I see. They evolve."

"And now you can answer the question I posed this morning: How did man become man?"

"Man became man by living in the hands of the gods."

"By living the way the Bushmen of Africa live."

"That's right."

"By living the way the KreenAkrore of Brazil live."

"Right again."

"Not the way Chicagoans live?"

"No."

"Or Londoners?"

"No."

"So now you know what happens to people who live in the hands of the gods."

"Yes. They evolve."

"Why do they evolve?"

"Because they're in a position position to evolve. Because that's where evolution takes place. Preman evolved into early man because he was out there competing with all the rest. Preman evolved into early man because he didn't take himself out of the competition, because he was still in the place where natural selection is going on." to evolve. Because that's where evolution takes place. Preman evolved into early man because he was out there competing with all the rest. Preman evolved into early man because he didn't take himself out of the competition, because he was still in the place where natural selection is going on."

"You mean he was still a part of the general community of life."

"That's right."

"And that's why it all happened-why Australopithecus Australopithecus became became Homo habilis Homo habilis and why and why Homo habilis Homo habilis became became Homo erectus Homo erectus and why and why Homo erectus Homo erectus became became Homo sapiens Homo sapiens and why and why Homo sapiens Homo sapiens became became Homo sapiens sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens."

"Yes."

"And then what happened?"

"And then the Takers said, 'We've had enough of living in the hands of the gods. No more natural selection for us, thanks very much.' "

"And that was that."

"And that was that."

"You remember I said that to enact a story is to live so as to make it come true."

"Yes."

"According to the Taker story, creation came to an end with man."

"Yes. So?"

"How would you live so as to make that that come true? How would you live so as to make creation come to an end with man?" come true? How would you live so as to make creation come to an end with man?"

"Oof. I see what you mean. You would live the way the Takers live. We're definitely living in a way that's going to put an end to creation. If we go on, there will be no successor to man, no successor to chimpanzees, no successor to orangutans, no successor to gorillas-no successor to anything alive now. The whole thing is going to come to an end with us. In order to make their story come true, the Takers have to put an end to creation itself-and they're doing a damned good job of it."

4.

"When we began and I was trying to help you find the premise of the Taker story, I told you that the Leaver story has an entirely different premise."

"Yes."

"Perhaps you're ready to articulate that premise now."

"I don't know. At the moment I can't even think of the Taker premise."

"It'll come back to you. Every story is a working out of a premise."

"Yes, okay. The premise of the Taker story is the world belongs to man the world belongs to man." I thought for a couple of minutes, then I laughed. "It's almost too neat. The premise of the Leaver story is man belongs to the world man belongs to the world."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning-" I barked a laugh. "It's really too much."

"Go on."

"It means that, right from the beginning, everything that ever lived belonged to the world-and that's how things came to be this way how things came to be this way. Those singlecelled creatures that swam in the ancient oceans belonged to the world, and because they did, everything that followed came into being. Those clubfinned fish offshore of the continents belonged to world, and because they did, the amphibians eventually came into being. And because the amphibians belonged to the world, the reptiles eventually came into being. And because the reptiles belonged to the world, the mammals eventually came into being. And because the mammals belonged to the world, the primates eventually came into being. And because the primates belonged to the world, Australopithecus Australopithecus eventually came into being. And because eventually came into being. And because Australopithecus Australopithecus belonged to the world, man eventually came into being. And for three million years man belonged to the world-and belonged to the world, man eventually came into being. And for three million years man belonged to the world-and because because he belonged to the world, he grew and developed and became brighter and more dexterous until one day he was so bright and dexterous that we had to call him he belonged to the world, he grew and developed and became brighter and more dexterous until one day he was so bright and dexterous that we had to call him Homo sapiens sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens, which means that he was us us."

"And that's the way the Leavers lived for three million years-as if they belonged to the world."

"That's right. And that's how we we came into being." came into being."

5.

Ishmael said, "We know what happens if you take the Taker premise, that the world belongs to man."

"Yes, that's a disaster."