Branitelj pogleda suca, porotnike, pučanstvo i prestrašenog Van Der Graafa, uhiti se za glavu i zavapi: – Ja?! Zašto ja!? Ja ništa ne znam!! Nemam što reći! Ne miješajte mene u ovo!! – poviče i kao luđak istrči iz sudnice.

– … ali kako… kako ću sad bez branitelja… – zapetlja se Van Der Graafu jezik.

– Brani se sam! Dostatno si samoživ za nešto takvo! -otrese se sudac, a mnoštvo stane skandirati: – Linč!! Linč!!

Presuda imade biti izvršena odmah po izlasku sunca i nesretnik je još sat vremena proveo u vlažnoj ćeliji, gledajući kako gasnu posljednje zvijezde, zvjerajući u jutro svoga stravična kraja nedostojna čovjeka.

Uvidi Van Der Graaf, bez borbe neće biti ništa, pa se u jadu svome dosjeti. Iz desnog džepa našivenog na kartonsku kutiju, kojom je bio obavijen, izvuče svijeću i šibice, a iz lijevog čašu vode. Zapali svijeću i da je sucu. Doda mu i čašu vode: – Eto, časni suče, ovdje ja pred ljudima koji zahtijevaju moju smrt, dajem tebi milostivi, ovu zapaljenu svijeću, vatru što je izvor života i čašu vode, tekućinu što isto tako život je. Hajde sada ti, časni suče, zalij plamen svijeće ovom vodom.

Sudac sumnjičavo pogleda Van Der Graafa i vodom prelije plamen svijeće koja zacvrči i ugasi se.

– Hu! – oglasi se Van Der Graaf. – Ti možda i ne slutiš, časni suče, što si učinio! Vodom si ubio vatru, izmiješao dva polariteta, vatru ugasio, a vodu prolio! Uništio si dva života! Čast tebi i štovanje, drugima da sudiš predodređen ti si i svakako najmudriji u ovoj dvorani, pa stoga i sam znaš da ubiti samo luđak može, a ja ne kažem da si ti luđak, već si najpametniji ovdje, bez obzira na to što si lakomisleno uništio dva života. Ja na primjer, premda neprilagođeni probisvjet, nikada ne bih učinio to što si ti malo prije učinio. Možeš li časni suče, zamisliti kolika je tek pamet drugih, mudrost onih daleko ispod tebe, ove fanatične gomile što noćas zahtijeva moju smrt. Usuđujem se reći, ne možete me suprotno habeas corpus zakonu o nepovredivosti čovjekove osobnosti, tek tako sramno osuditi. Ipak je ovo demokracija! Časni suče, na dva sata leta zrakoplovom odavdje bjesni strašni i krvavi rat, u kojem je već stotine tisuća nedužnih ljudi izgubilo živote, a ja se pitam hoće li zlikovci koji ga započeše ikada ugledati lice pravde? Ne možete me tek tako osuditi, nizašto, zbog moje različitosti! Život je neotuđiv! Svačiji! Tako i moj! – izviče u zanosu i bez daha, stvorivši neugodnu tišinu u dvorani, tišinu koju je i danas moguće sastrugati s njenih zidova.

Ne treba reći da monolog, ta ponosita sokratovska obrana, bi vrlo loše primljena i porota jednoglasno, habeas tibi, izglasa najtežu kaznu.

Presuda imade biti izvršena odmah po izlasku sunca i nesretnik je još sat vremena proveo u vlažnoj ćeliji, gledajući kako gasnu posljednje zvijezde, zvjerajući u jutro svoga stravična kraja nedostojna čovjeka.

Kada su se svjetla noći, nalik fluorescentnoj kičmi plesačice izvila, nestala u daljini dana, vrata ćelije se otvore i prostrano se dizalo zaustavi pred njima. Na vratima dizala stršio je natpis Lift za gubilište, a iz njegove unutrašnjosti je u Van Der Graafa gledala crna, visoka spodoba, sablasna lica i s nabrušenom kosom u koštunjavoj ruci.

The lawyer looked at the judge, at the jury, and the crowd, then in the direction of frightened Van Der Graaf, who buried his head in his hands and moaned, “But? Why me? I don’t know a thing! I have nothing to say! Don’t involve me in this matter!” then screaming like a madman, he ran out of the court.

“But what… what can I do now without any defence…” stuttered Van Der Graaf.

“Defend yourself alone! You are equipped enough to do that!” snapped the judge and the crowd started chanting, “Lynch! Lynch!”

This won’t pass without a fight, figured out Van Der Graaf and out of his misery an ingenious thought was born: out of his right pocket, sewn on the cardboard box in which he was wrapped, he pulled out a candle and matches, and from the left pocket, a glass of water. He lit the candle and gave it to the judge. While handing him the glass of water he said, “Here, your Honor, in front of all these people demanding my death, I am giving you, oh, merciful one, this burning candle; fire which is a source of life, and a glass of water, the liquid which is life itself, too. Would you now, your Honor, pour the water on the candle flame?”

Suspiciously, the judge looked at Van Der Graaf and poured the water over the burning candle, putting out the flame with a hiss.

“Wow!” cried out Van Der Graaf. “You might not be aware, your Honor, of what you have done right now. You have killed the fire with this water. You have mixed two polarities. You have put out the fire and spilt the water. You’ve destroyed two lives. With all due respect, your Honor, we know you have been destined to judge and as you are the wisest in this court you know that only a madman can kill, and I would never call you a madman, but the wisest one here, regardless of your careless destruction of two lives. While I, for example, in spite of being the biggest scumbag would never do what you have just done. Can you, your Honor, understand the intelligence of those far below yourself, of this fanatic mob which demands my death tonight? I dare say, you can’t judge without habeas corpus, judging shamefully against the laws which protect freedom and dignity of an individual. After all, this is democracy! Your Honor, only two hours of flight from here rages a disastrous bloodshed, a war where there are already hundreds of thousands of innocent people brutally murdered. I wonder, will the criminals who have started it ever face justice! You can’t judge me just like that, for nothing, just for being different! Life is a sacred thing! Everyone’s life! So mine is, too!” he shouted, carried away breathlessly, causing an unpleasant silence in the hall, the silence which is possible to scrape off from the walls even today.

Needless to say that the monologue, his proud Socrates’ defence, fell on deaf ears, and the jury unanimously, habeas tibi, voted for the maximum penalty.

The sentence was to be carried out immediately after sunrise, and the unlucky writer spent another hour in the damp cell, watching the stars fading away, facing the dawn of his horrible end, unfair for any human being.

When the night lights, resembling the fluorescent spine of a twirling dancer on stage, vanished in the distance of the day, the cell door opened and there in front of them was a large elevator. On the door there was a sign: Lift to the Gallows. On the other side of the door there was a black tall creature with a ghostly face and a sharpened scythe in his bony hand looking at Van Der Graaf.