Page 77 - Just Deserts

Swami Adavasi

“Well, I don’t know the source of these rumors, and I really
wouldn’t want to say who told me. You understand, don’t you,
Swami-ji?” Raleigh-Bowle hung his head contritely.
“Yeah, yeah, sure I do. Don’t rat on your buddies, right? I don’t
care who said it: just tell me what they said!” His tone was tinged
with menace, and his rheumy eyes fixed the acolyte in a gimlet gaze.
The swami’s charisma was, in limited measure, irresistible.
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Swami-ji. I didn’t mean to upset you. All
that I heard was that after—after you were gone, the Help Yourself
assets would be split up among the subswamis and each would form
his own splinter group. I guess that happens to all great religions after
the founder has passed from the scene. Those who come after have
their own ideas and interpretations of the original message and they
wind up in endless dispute, each claiming to have the truth and the
only valid line of succession. I don’t know if that would really happen
here so quickly; I mean, aren’t all the level two gurus loyal to you and
to the principles of Help Yourself?”
Adavasi sneered, a guttural whine.
“You ain’t paid your dues long enough in this game to appreciate
my principles. Very deep, very profound, I always say. Yeah, the
subswamis know how to help themselves. I trained them myself,
those damned ingrates!”
The monument plans had fallen to the floor. The architect picked
them up and shook his head. “That’s a shame, Swami-ji. If what you
say is true, they certainly would not be in favor of completing your
pyramid. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt had to start building early in
their lives to be sure their tombs would be done in time.” He sighed.
“It must have given them a great deal of satisfaction in their old age
to be able to look out the window and see their structure gleaming in
the tropical sunlight, a perfect and indestructible vessel of
immortality.”
Adavasi rubbed at one naturally pendulous earlobe. “You sure got
a way of putting words together, buddy. Takes a long time to build
one of those things, eh? You got an estimate on that one?”
“I do,” said Raleigh-Bowle with pride. “And more than one,
depending on the size and type of materials we use. I’ve looked into
the locations of stone quarries, and the availability of heavy
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