To Ride Pegasus Read Free

indeed. Pegasus … the poetic winged horse of flights of fancy. A bloody good symbol for us. You’d see a lot from the back of a winged horse …”
    “Yes, an airplane has blind spots. Where would you put a saddle?” Molly had her practical side.
    He laughed and hugged her. Henry’s frequent demonstrations of affection were a source of great delight to Molly, whose own strength was in tactile contacts.
    “Don’t know. Lord, how would you bridle a winged horse?”
    “With the heart?”
    “Indubitably!” The notion pleased him. “Yes, with the heart and the head because Pegasus is too strong a steed to control or subdue by any ordinary method.”
    “You couldn’t break our sort of Pegasus anyhow,” Molly said firmly. “Wouldn’t want to even when he flies so high …” She burrowed into Henry’s arms, suddenly frightened by the analogy.
    “Yes, luv. When you ride the winged horse, you can’t dismount. Any more than you can suppress the Talent you’ve been given. We’ll find our bridle, I think, with time and training and more practice at riding.
    “That Goosegg was the really important break. Now we can prove parapsychic powers exist and who has them. We can discredit the charlatans and clowns who’ve given the rest of us a bad name. The real Talents will be registered with the Center, and we’ll have graphs to prove they’ve had valid Incidents. The Center will supply them with the specialized jobs that utilize their Talents. From just a sampling of validly Talented people we’ve already attracted, I can think of hundreds of top jobs.”
    “Even Titter Beyley and Charity McGillicuddy?” Molly Mahony Darrow’s eyes danced with mischief because Titter drank continuously and Charity pursued an old profession diligently.
    “Takes a thief to catch a thief and Titter’s been stealing for years to support his habit Remember that Charity’s heart of gold beats in a true telepath’s breast.”
    “Size 42-C.”
    “Molly!”
    “Go on with our future, Henry.”
    “I want Watson Claire as our PR man because I know damned well he’s a receiving telepath: he must be to handle clients the way he does. He’s got a positive genius for presenting
the
campaign a client’ll buy. Claire’s the sort of person we’ve got to enlist, for his sake as well as ours. Ours, because we’ve got the biggest goddamn public relations program on our hands, and the public can make or break us. His sake, because he’s not happy pushing products he despises.”
    Molly nodded sympathetically.
    “We get an intensive information program going and that will help recruiting. Then we’ve got to start rescue operations for those hidden Talents and especially those poor misfits in institutions because they heard voices … which they did … or they imagined impossible things, which they didn’t. Or their empathy with the world around them was too great to be endured and they abandoned reality. And we’ve got to figure out the best way to train these Talents once we’ve got them verified.
    “
Then
we’ve got to get exactly the right place to live in.”
    “To live? But this apartment is …”
    “Okay for us, for the time being. But not for the rest of us. No, now don’t worry, Molly luv. I know where we’re going.”
    Molly regarded him steadily for a second. “But you don’t know exactly how we’ll get there, is that it?”
    Henry laughed, nodding.
    “That’s the challenge, luv.”
    “And then what’s on the agenda? I’d better know the worst.”
    Henry chuckled to give himself time to evade. “Then comes one of the harder jobs …”
    Molly’s eyes grew round. “You’ve outlined a lifetime’s work and then tell me one of the harder jobs …”
    “Will be to establish professional immunity for the Talents so we don’t get sued out of our eyeball sockets because we said something would happen which didn’t because we said it would. Oh, we’ll get it sooner or later, but I’d rather sooner than