A Clockwork Orange - Burgess, Anthony [32]
Then there was a crash and plop and a whish whish while the plennies picked up and dropped and lickturned the pages of their grazzy malenky hymnbooks, and the bully fierce warders creeched: “Stop talking there, bastards. I’m watching you, 920537.” Of course I had the disc ready on the stereo, and then I let the simple music for organ only come belting out with a growwwwowwwwowwww. Then the plennies started to sing real horrible:
Weak tea are we, new brewed But stirring make all strong. We eat no angel’s food, Our times of trial are long.
They sort of howled and wept these stupid slovos with the charlie like whipping them on with “Louder, damn you, sing up,” and the warders creeching: “Just you wait, 7749222″, and “One on the turnip coming up for you, filth.” Then it was all over and the charlie said: “May the Holy Trinity keep you always and make you good, amen,” and the shamble out began to a nice choice bit of Symphony No. 2 by Adrian Schweigsel-ber, chosen by your Humble Narrator, O my brothers. What a lot they were, I thought, as I stood there by the starry chapel stereo, viddying them all shuffle out going marrrrre and baaaaaa like animals and up-your-piping with their grahzny fingers at me, because it looked like I was very special favoured. When the last one had slouched out, his rookers hanging like an ape and the one warder left giving him a fair loud tolchock on the back of the gulliver, and when I had turned off the stereo, the charlie came up to me, puffing away at a cancer, still in his starry bogman’s platties, all lacy and white like a devotchka’s. He said:
“Thank you as always, little 6655321. And what news have you got for me today?” The idea was, I knew, that this charlie was after becoming a very great holy chelloveck in the world of Prison Religion, and he wanted a real horrorshow testimonial from the Governor, so he would go and govoreet quietly to the Governor now and then about what dark plots were brewing among the plennies, and he would get a lot of this cal from me. A lot of it would be all like made up, but some of it would be true, like for instance the time it had come through to our cell on the waterpipes knock knock knockiknockiknock knockiknock that big Harriman was going to break. He was going to tolchock the warder at slop-time and get out in the warder’s platties. Then there was going to be a big throwing about of the horrible pishcha we got in the dining-hall, and I knew