Page 76 - Just Deserts

Swami Adavasi

barracks if you care to see them, but this ought to give you a good
idea of the pyramid as it will look on its site.”
“Eh? Pyramid? Like they got in Egypt?” Adavasi bent forward,
gripping the padded armrests of his chair for support.
“That’s right. Over there, when they wanted to honor a great king,
they built him a tomb in this shape. Why? It may have had some
symbolic meaning for the Egyptians—just as it certainly does for
Help Yourself—but the fact is that this sort of shape is extremely
durable. Lasts for thousands of years, just as we hope for our great
religion. Solid at the base—solid all the way through, in fact—and
the triangle, as I’m sure you’re aware, is the most rigid structure in
nature. And on this site—the highest point in Camp Help It, by the
way—we need stability because of the earthquake danger. But don’t
worry a bit: your monument will take a 9.0 temblor without losing a
single block of granite.”
“Hold on there, buddy,” wheezed the swami. “Don’t talk so fast.”
He pressed a button on the armchair’s wing, and a female servant
quickly appeared. “You got an inhaler in your pocket, baby? Good:
give me a hit of that stuff. Uhhhhh. That’s better, eh?” The
attendant, a comely young woman, gave Raleigh-Bowle and his
blueprint a sharp glance before padding silently out of the chamber.
Adavasi clutched at the rendering, knocking the weights off the
table. They sank without a sound into the carpeting as he squinted
myopically at his proposed memorial.
“How did you know I was thinkin’ about something like this?”
The architect’s face was all innocence and devotion. “To tell you
the truth, Swami-ji, when I joined Help Yourself I had no idea of it at
all. I’ve been totally absorbed in learning how to help myself here at
the center for several weeks now, and hadn’t given a thought to
designing anything. But I heard some talk in the barracks—just idle
gossip, you understand—about your health and the plans your
successor might have for Camp Help It. Well, it was then that I
decided to give you the honor you so richly deserve by—”
“What’s that? Baba Ganesh been talkin’ against me? Or was it
Yogi Amanita? Those guys can’t wait for me to die! Probably they’d
like to help themselves by helpin’ me out of this world. Hee-hee-
hee!” Adavasi’s rusty frame jerked spasmodically in laughter.
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