Elephant Man - Christine Sparks [108]
One of them reached down and managed to seize the hem of the cloak. He lifted it, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious stranger. Merrick pulled away and tried frantically to go faster. Relishing the hunt now the boys followed him, taunting him all the way. As they approached the arch Tom began to see where their quarry was going. Fearful that he would escape the boy dashed in front, and stood there, cutting him off.
“Now I’ll see you …” he said.
His arm shot forward and grabbed the flannel hood before Merrick could back away. One yank and it was out of the cloak, another and Tom was able to lift the front and get a glimpse of what was beneath. At once he dropped it and staggered back, emitting a shrill scream of fear. Merrick turned wildly away, seeking another escape.
Tom’s mother, deep in her conversation, heard the distant shriek that held the note of her son’s voice. She looked up just in time to see Tom collapse to the floor, screaming, and the huge figure in the cloak, whirling round.
She began to cry out. “My son, my son, help!”
Her voice reached Merrick, who turned and tried to run in the opposite direction, toward another archway exit. He stumbled as he went. People stared but did not try to stop him. In his panic he knocked down a little girl, but did not dare to stop. Behind him he heard her screams added to the bedlam that was growing. He saw the archway ahead of him filled with the solid figure of a blue-dressed policeman as Tom’s mother, nearer now, cried, “Stop that man! Stop that man!”
Merrick pulled himself up short to avoid the policeman, but it was too late. He had been seen by the law. The policeman, who wore a sergeant’s stripes, made purposeful steps toward him. He changed course again, but now a group of men, alerted by the woman’s screams, had closed in to cut off his path. They yelled at him and one of them darted forward and seized his hood. As Merrick turned frantically away the hood came off and a roar went up from the crowd.
He had no way of escape now but to move back past Tom and his mother. As he did so they screamed and shielded themselves from his approach. Another group had come up on his other side; he could only retreat.
He backed, and backed, and gradually he became aware that he was nearing the door of the urinal. He went through it, hoping for safety, but some of the men in the crowd followed him in. They were angry now, uttering deep braying noises that echoed fearfully inside the tiled walls. They hemmed him in, shouting with fear, blocking off all hope of escape.
Cornered at last Merrick faced them, his head nakedly exposed. He was breathing heavily with strain and nervous exhaustion, but something was happening to him. A wave of feeling was growing inside, coming from a place deep down, so deep that he had never explored it or known of its existence. It was a feeling of anger that grew out of the self-confidence and knowledge of himself that Treves had studied so hard to give him. It was a realization that now if ever he must assert himself in the face of the world, or pass away without ever having really existed.
It seemed to give him strength, shaking his body uncontrollably as if it were a volcano about to erupt, and suddenly a cry burst from his lips, powerful and assured, such as he had never uttered before.
“No!” he screamed. “I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I—am—a—man. I AM A MAN!”
He clutched the wall for support, feeling the last of his strength drain out of him. He saw the police sergeant press forward to the front of the crowd before he collapsed on the floor. The last thing he was conscious of was the sergeant’s face bending over him, shocked and kind.
When he regained consciousness a few moments later the crowd had gone. He was alone except for the sergeant, a large, moustached individual who was supporting his head. He seemed not to have noticed that Merrick was any different from other men.
“My pocket,” Merrick said feebly. “Left pocket.”
The policeman fumbled in the left-hand pocket of the cloak and came