Extreme Difference Read Free Page B

in case they were unable to find the right words, and later have to explain their meanings.
    Nan slumped down on his bench, all the spark had gone out of him, and he was a mere shadow of the man he had been only a few moments earlier. He raised his hands twice, and then dropped them back into his lap in resignation, this stranger had shattered his cosy concept of life by asking a couple of questions, what would he do if the stranger tore down the whole structure of their existence with a few more questions? He felt it was quite possible.
    ‘I’m sorry to have shaken you out of what you have taken for granted for so long, but you can surely see, just because you have accepted it, it doesn’t make it a fact, and only by looking at actual facts can we make accurate judgements. Anyway, how do you think you got here?’
    ‘The same way you did, from the Great Light, that’s how we all get here.’ Nan brightened up a little, he was back on familiar ground, talking about things he felt were real to him, things he could identify with.
    ‘The Great Light comes down to the sands just before dawn, creates us, and drops us onto the sand. Sometimes, pieces of old broken machinery are left behind, also packets of seeds, cord, cloth, all manner of things are left for us to make things with. They are gifts from the Great Light. Those are facts, they actually happen, ask anyone here.’ Nan was looking his old self again, assertive, confident, and in control.
    ‘OK, how do you know about ‘broken machinery’? How do you know it’s broken in the first place? How do you know what to do with seeds? Who told you what to do with these things?’ Sandy knew he was being unkind to press the point home so hard, but he wanted answers which made sense, and he was determined to get them at all costs.
    The confused look came over Nan’s face again as he desperately tried to recall the meaning of the items Sandy had mentioned, but there was nothing to recall, just an emptiness, and it made him feel dizzy to look at it.
    ‘Now do you see what I mean?’ Having got the thin end of the wedge of doubt neatly in place, Sandy was intent in hammering it firmly home.
    Nan began to sway on his bench, and Sandy leapt forward to steady him, holding him in place until the spasm passed.
    ‘I’m sorry to do this to you, but you must realize that you have all been fooled, for God knows how long. It’s about time the truth was pulled out of this pitiful charade.’
    Tears ran down Nan’s grime streaked face, and his shoulders heaved as he tried to suppress the turbulent emotions which tore at his very being. Why had this stranger come to upset their world? Everything was just fine yesterday, the plants were growing well, their water bowls were full, there had been no raids for many a day, and now this.
    The very fabric of their existence was being torn apart.
    ‘How do you know these things?’ asked a sobbing Nan, doing his best to control the turmoil which was racing through his mind, threatening to tear apart the fabric of all he knew and understood.
    ‘By the same means you know about ‘machinery’, and other things you do here. I just know. I know the words, and I know what some of them mean. There’s no way I could have learnt them here, so they must come from my past somehow. I can’t explain it, but I know it to be true, and so will you if you’ll only let go of this claptrap you hold onto.’
    The two men sat huddled on the same bench, one comforting the other, both trying to make sense of the seemingly unfathomable situation they found themselves in.
    Nan eventually pulled himself together, and had assumed some semblance of dignity by the time one of the others came into the cavern, stating it was time to get the growing bins inside, as the sun was just breaking the top of the peaks.
    They all hurried outside into the harsh light of a brilliant white sun, shielding their eyes until they had acclimatized to the powerful glare, and working