Page 33 - Tales the Maggid Never Told Me

Blood Libel

Stonebreaker State Hospital: interview transcript
Doctor: Maisie Strickner
Patient: Hamish Becker
Date: November 14, 19—

Dr. Strickner: For the record, could you state your name?

Mr. Becker: Mendel Beilis. How do you do? I don’t believe I’ve had
the pleasure. You needn’t be so formal. I don’t bite.

S: I am Doctor Strickner. Doctor Fogel is no longer working here.

B: I see. Then I shall have to start over.

S: That’s fine with me, Mendel. Of course, I did speak with Doctor
Fogel about your case. But I would rather hear you tell your own
story. Do you know where you are?

B: Not specifically. I believe I am still west of the Mississippi, in one
of the secret concentration camps the government has built for the
indefinite detention of dissident Jews. I have been unable to
determine if this is but a way-station on the road to a death camp. If I
could make contact with another inmate, I might find out more. But
the guards are very effective in keeping me away from other
prisoners.

S: Why do you think you are being held here?

B: (laughs) You tell me! Maybe the Ritz Carlton has been totally
booked for the past—what?—eighteen months. I’m losing track of
time. One day does seem a lot like the one before and the one after.

S: Then perhaps you can tell me about your life before you came
here.

32