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The Invitation(15)

By:Michael McKinney


“Hmm, Tim, when you interviewed Phillip Garrett, he never mentioned seeing any drug use by Myers.”

“That’s right, Sir. We asked a number of people from his college days. We found no association with drug use.”

“Hmm, okay, let’s watch it through. I’ll let you know if we need to pause it.”

“Yes, Sir”

As they continue viewing, an unnatural silence comes over them. Rapt in curious amazement, they say nothing for over twenty minutes, when they see Kenneth Myers pause with an expression of pensive sadness after finishing The Merchant of Venice. Director Slaughter interjects, “Stop it for a moment Sid. He looks sad. We haven’t seen ̓em look like that before.”

“He just finished ‘The Merchant of Venice’. It’s not a happy story,” Mr. Pennington says.

“What’s it about?” Director Slaughter asks.

“It’s about a man who borrows money from a Jewish money lender. When he can’t pay it back he finds out he has to forfeit a pound of his own flesh. It’s very anti-Semitic. The Jew is portrayed as a pitiless bloodsucker, who would rather take a pound of Christian flesh than be repaid with money. In the end the Christian is saved. The Jew is humiliated, and forced to renounce his Jewish faith.”

“So it’s a story of persecution,” says Mr. Slaughter.

“That’s essentially what it conveys, in my opinion. What makes the play so anti-Semitic is the dialogue.”

“Give me an example.”

“When two friends of the man who must forfeit a pound of flesh are talking, one says to the other, in effect, I hope it all works out unless, ‘the devil crosses my prayer, for he comes in the likeness of a Jew.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty anti-Semitic,” says Mr. Slaughter.

“The play is laced with that kind of speech. It almost seems it was written to convince people how hateful Jews are to Christians.”

“Do you think he’s reacting to the anti-Semitism?” Mr. Slaughter asks.

“I think so. Knowing the history of the twentieth century, as I’m sure he did when was reading this, he understood the consequences of scapegoating minorities. That’s why he has a sad expression on his face. That’s my opinion.”

“Hmm, makes sense. Okay, let’s continue,” Mr. Slaughter says.

Little more is said as the men sit through the rest of the recording. As Ken Myers reads through the histories and tragedies his countenance remains sober and serious. The phenomenal reading speed reaches its maximum towards the end. Finally, the last play is finished, and the young Ken Myers slowly closes the book, turning it over to view the sketch of William Shakespeare on the back jacket. Pausing for a moment, he sits back, and an expression of deep sagacity comes over his face, as if he possessed the edifying, all-knowing discernment of absolute wisdom. In the last thirty seconds of the recording the three men see a young man who is calm, lucid, and intense, the image of human understanding personified. Then, in a gesture of serene resignation he quietly says four words, “and this is man,” and the screen goes blank. After fifteen or twenty seconds pass, Director Slaughter, nonplussed for an explanation, looks at Mr. Pennington.

“Well, Sid, you’re the psychologist here. What do ya think?”

“Sir I can’t explain what we just saw. I can only give my opinion on whether or not I think it’s real, and I think it is.”

“What’s your reasoning for that?”

“First, I think it’s safe to assume the recording is not a fake for two reasons. Number one, this recording began at eight p.m. Mr. Myers didn’t begin reading until about 8:12, and continues for almost another three hours. We can see it getting darker when we look through the window in the background. The background movement of cars with their headlights on gives us a fixed reference in real time to compare with the physical movements of Mr. Myers. That would be exceedingly difficult to fake. The second reason is this: we have the original camera, and the original recording. Everything is pristine. There’s no indication it was tampered with.”

“Well let’s assume that it’s genuine. How do we explain his behavior?”

“I can’t explain it, Sir.”

“Have you ever seen or heard of any prior cases of this kind of accelerated reading?”

“Well, we have savants that can solve math equations very rapidly, but this is something altogether different.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is more than accelerated reading. It’s more of what I would call hyper-accelerated comprehension. He’s even blinking his eyes to match the page turns. It’s incredible.”