The Infinite Matrix | Michael Swanwick & Francisco Goya | The Sleep Of

Reason 33

10.17.02

the sleep of reason

by Michael Swanwick

with illustrations by

Francisco JosÉ de Goya y Lucientes

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Digital image © copyright

Davison Art Center,

Wesleyan University

DAC permission required

for any other use.

33. [Plate 73]

Wicked Grace

Grace did so love being wicked! It was a revelation to her. The wicked

were allowed to have fun, to begin with ? or, rather, fun was as

forbidden to them as it was to good folk, but they went and had it

anyway! They never said anything out of politeness, and if they itched

someplace rude, they scratched it right in public.

It was ever so much more pleasant than being virtuous.

All her friends were wicked, and because she was no better than they,

they treated her like a pal. They stole small gifts for her, and told her

dirty jokes. If somebody mistreated her, they waited for him in a dark

alley and broke both his legs. Really, the wicked were nicer friends than

the righteous ever were!

Sweet, innocent Grace wasn't truly wicked, of course, only terribly,

terribly naughty. And even that was explained away by her profession. One

cannot be a drab without naughtiness ? the customers would revolt. But

the wicked are in no position to be censorious. They accepted her, even

though her credentials were weak.

Nobody who knew her believed for an instant that Grace's wickedness would

last. It was inevitable that she should fall off the wagon, and one day

she did. She fell in love with a young wastrel, who carried her away from

the whorehouse before calmer heads could intercede. Off she went to scrub

and clean and cook and sew for him. That's when her life went back to

normal. That's when her life went straight to hell.

Her lover beat her, of course, and refused to marry her, and told her she

was a slut, and slept with other women every chance he got. So miserable

did he make her that Grace returned to the Church. She went to Mass each

morning and afternoon, took Communion every day, and prayed incessantly

for her lover's salvation. Her confessor made a pass at her, and told her

to offer it up to God.

Oftentimes, Grace wistfully thought back to the days when she was wicked.

They were for her that lost Garden of Eden that childhood is for the rest

of us.

But no fair drawing conclusions! There is no moral to this story.

Absolutely none. Life is not like that at all, and don't you dare think

for even an instant that it is. We're done now ? just move along, okay?.

There's nothing to see here, nothing to look at, nothing to learn.

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This is the 33rd of 80 stories by Michael Swanwick written to accompany

Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos. For a listing of the most recently

available stories, go to The Sleep of Reason.

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