“M-O-N-T-A-G. Guy Montag. Still running. Police helicopters are up. A new Mechanical Hound has been brought from another district. The Mechanical Hound never fails. Never since its first use in tracking quarry has this incredible invention made a mistake. Tonight, this network is proud to have the opportunity to follow the Hound by camera helicopter as it starts on its way to the target. We owe this wonderful invention and its numerous innovations to our engineers. It is created with a nose so sensitive that the Mechanical Hound can remember and identify ten thousand odor indexes on ten thousand men without resetting! Truly a marvelous invention. The Mechanical Hound is almost here. Police are saying they will allow it to land soon. Look! The Mechanical Hound is now landing by helicopter at the site of the Burning! It is now sniffing the air for Montag. Has it identified his scent? Of course it has. See! There he is. The Hound is now chasing Montag! Wait. It stopped at a house. Is there some other scent in the air we do not know about? Does Montag have an accomplice? No, the needle is back inside the Hound. It is turning. It is plunging away from the house and down the alley again. The helicopters are now closer to Montag. He is still running. Though the alley. Now he’s on a street. Another alley! Another street. Wait, he is heading toward the river! We’ll surely catch him now. I doubt he would attempt to keep running now. Police suggest entire population in the Elm Terrace area do as follows: Everyone in every house in every street open a front or rear door or look from the windows. The fugitive cannot escape if everyone in the next minute looks from his house. Ready! At the count of ten now! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six seven eight! Nine! Ten! Yes! He is running toward the river again. Wait, is he going into the river? What on earth is he doing? The Hound is almost where he is. Helicopters are still searching… Now, a commercial break.

“What are they doing? They’re turning around! He’s right there in the river. Wait, are you serious? You mean to tell me that the Hound has failed? But how?! He masked his scent? But where could he be now? Beyond our control, you say? What will we tell the people? They don’t care? Pick someone else to follow? What will we do with that person then? Kill him? Where would we find a person like that? You say there must be insomniacs walking around somewhere at this time of night, but how can we be so sure? They have already targeted him? Close description, okay. So we will just leave out the parts in between. He is suddenly in that part of town. Okay, I understand. Is the commercial break almost over?

“Alright, we are back! Montag is still running. He’s running north now. The chase continues north in the city! Police helicopters are converging on Avenue 87 and Elm Grove Park! Yes! We are so close. There he is. Look, he is turning a corner!  The Mechanical Hound is almost there! Yes, it just rushed forward into the man. The helicopters are now shooting their pillars and caging the man! We have him finally cornered. There he is! There’s Montag! The search is finally done. The Hound leaps up into the air, its needle is shot out now. So precise, so perfect! Montag! Don’t move!  The search is over, Montag is dead; a crime against society has been avenged. We now take you to the Sky Room of the Hotel Lux for a half hour of Just-Before-Dawn, a program of —“


Teya Khalil