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JayMerill
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wrong in the house, like if
the washing machine got
blocked or the window
in the hallway wouldn’t
open, I was the one who
was blamed.
And this is what happens
when you get a bunch of
people in a house together
I realised, though I hadn’t
understood itat first. There
is like, a group situation.
And every group needs
to have a victim all of its
own who can function as
a scapegoat for all the ills
and terrors that life can
throw. And guess what,
I was selected to play
that role, and guess what
again, I wasn’t having it.
No way.
Before I had a plan I
had the smile. Almost
unconsciously I made it
brighter and more heart-
warming than it had ever
been before, in order
to disarm them. But for
some reason the house
got increasingly harder to
please. The brighter the
smile the greater the level
of mistrust, it seemed.
Were their instincts spot
on after all? I’d have said
they knew nothing, that
they were brain-dead
tv
consumers.
Music
zombies. So it just went
to show. Anyway, I had
to be on my guard even
more thoroughly, and that
included not making the
assumption that my co-
sharers were so out of it
they wouldn’t see a thing.
I think now, yes, people
do have their instincts.
And in fact instinct is
drawn upon very strongly
when it comes to the
setting up of a scapegoat
figure. For I’ve become
convinced the scapegoat