Yesterday I met with an Exorcist. We discussed the
possibility of removing a cretin alter ego of mine; a spirit
named "Shloyme Ansky", or just "Shloyme" in short.

I used to meet the Exorcist more often in days long gone,
back when the voices used to torment me more frequently;
'Kill this!', 'Do that!', 'Say the following!', 'Don't
listen to him!'
the voices will say. I wasn't sure anymore where did they
come from, especially not
when most of the time these voices didn't come out from my
integrated entertainment system;
"You can even kill time, with the new shoot'em-all video
game",
"Do that, that is the best idea for your bathroom and
toilet",
"Say the following if we call and you can win a million
credits",
"Don't listen to him; he is a corrupt politician- vote for
us instead!"
I will try my best to turn the damn thing off but the voices
will stay there, like thin cigarettes smoke, polluting the
air with their presence.
Then I met the Exorcist for the first time. It wasn't
anything sinister, like an entertainment system ad, or a
door salesmen, no, I actually got to meet him on a dark
street one night on my way back from work. He seemed so
trustworthy, standing there with his gray suit, a hat and a
pipe.
"Good evening sir" I said,
"I know how to get rid of these voices you hear all the
time" he replied.
"It will only cost you 50 credits per session".
All that seemed very dubious, but I tried to challenge him
about that.
"How do you know I hear voices?"
"I know these things, I'm an Exorcist."
Then he touched the side of my head and this voice, talking
about a good mortgage deal with the central finance bank
just disappeared.
"Hey, I was thinking of getting that", I said, "That was a
very good mortgage deal".
"No it wasn't and anyway, listen to that!",
"What? There is nothing",
"My point exactly!"
He was right, there was no music, or sound, or color, it was
all gray. Like the suit the man was wearing.
"What just happened? Where did everything go?"
"Nothing left, it's all the same, just wait"
Slowly, like leaving a dark room into a hot summer day,
painful to start with, but pleasant a few moments later, I
saw it. The streets had no neon signs nor ads. There was no
music, or voices, even the cars that were passing on the
road beside us didn't make any noise. It was all very quiet.

"How did you do that?"
The Exorcist was quiet for a second and then said:
"It is cheaper this way, you see. No point spending money on
noise or paint if you can see it all for yourself. Gray is
cheap, very cheap."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I said 50 credits..."
That was the first time we met, the Exorcist and I.
Each time the voices left me for a bit longer. First, like
in the first time, just for a few minutes, then a few hours,
and eventually for good. That was a very expansive
relationship, but I discovered that for some strange reason
I seemed to have more credits on my bank line. The Exorcist
even explained to me that there was some contract signed
once by some big advertising company, the government and the
hospitals, and since then everyone is hearing voices.
That was a few years ago.
But now I started hearing voices again.
It claimed to be "Shloyme" But these voices seem more
artificial, not as colorful and
real as the old ones. I met with the Exorcist once more and
after a short examination he said, "I heard that people used
to hear such voices in days long gone, back when people were
practicing a pagan worship named psychiatry, I don't know if
I can help you with that. But I have a friend who is a
Rabbi, and that is a different story all together..."
"So what is that really? I asked, this voice?"
"Well, an alter ago! that is obvious! This breed died away
very long ago, drowned with the voices of modern society, no
one was reported to have one for a while now."
"So I have an alter ago?"
"Well, you don't need an Exorcist to figure that one out!"

So, I thought I might challenge it again, using a technique
I read about in an old Yiddish play:

Shloyme leave!

Shloyme leave!

Shloyme leave!

I hope that will work...