[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

off? Maybe they will, but not in Brooklyn!"
"When I was a young girl, some fifty years ago, I had a sim-ilar experience to
Mr. Locke's. But my explanation is quite sim-ple. The persons I saw proved to
be my ancestors. Mr. Locke's new-found friends will, I am sure, prove to be
the same. The World Beyond knows all and tells all, and my Control, with whom
I am in daily communication Over There, assures me that mankind is in no
danger whatever, except from the evil effects of tobacco and alcohol and the
disrespect of youth for their elders."
"The guy's nuts! He ought to go back to Russia. He's nothing but a nut or a
Communist and in my book that's the same thing."
"He isn't telling us anything new. We all know who the enemy is. The only way
to protect our-selves is to build TWO GUNS FOR ONE!"
"Is this Locke character sell-ing us the idea that we all ought to go batty to
save the world?"
Saddened and defeated, Clock-er went through his accumulated mail. There were
politely non-committal acknowledgments from embassies and the U.N. There was
also a check for his article from the magazine he'd sent it to; the amount was
as-tonishingly large.
He used part of it to buy radio time, the balance for ads in rural newspapers
and magazines. City people, he figured, were hard-ened by publicity gags, and
Page 21
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
he might stir up the less suspicious and sophisticated hinterland. The replies
he received, though, ad-vised him to buy some farmland and let the
metropolises be de-stroyed, which, he was assured, would be a mighty good
thing all around.
The magazine came out "the same day he tried to get into the U.N. to shout a
speech from the balcony. He was quietly surrounded by a uniformed guard and
moved, rather than forced, outside.
H
E went dejectedly to his hotel. He stayed there for sev-eral days, dialing
numbers he selected randomly from the tele-phone book, and getting the
brushoff from business offices, housewives and maids. They were all very busy
or the boss wasn't in or they expected important calls.
That was when he was warmly invited by letter to see the editor of the
magazine that had bought his article.
Elated for actually the first time since his discharge from the hospital,
Clocker took a cab to a handsome building, showed his invitation to a pretty
and cour-teous receptionist, and was es-corted into an elaborate office where
a smiling man came around a wide bleached-mahog-any desk and shook hands with
him.'
"Mr. Locke," said the editor, "I'm happy to tell you that we've had a
wonderful response to your story."
"Article," Clocker corrected.
The editor smiled. "Do you produce so much that you can't remember what you
sold us? It was about "
"I know," Clocker cut in. "But it wasn't a story. It was an ar-ticle. It
really "
"Now, now. The first thing a writer must learn is not to take his ideas too
seriously. Very dangerous,
especially in a piece of fiction like yours."
"But the whole thing is true!"
"Certainly while you were writing it." The editor shoved a pile of mail across
the desk to-ward him.
"Here are some of the comments that have come in. I think you'll enjoy seeing
the reaction."
Clocker went through them, hoping anxiously for no more than a single note
that would show his message had come through to somebody. He fin-ished and
looked up blankly.
"You see?" the editor asked proudly. "You're a find."
"The new Mark Twain or Jon-athan Swift. A comic."
"A satirist," the editor amend-ed. He leaned across the desk on his crossed
forearms. "A mail response like this indicates a tal-ent worth developing. We
would like to discuss a series of stor-ies "
"Articles."
"Whatever you choose to call them. We're prepared to "
"You ever been off your rock-er?" Clocker asked abruptly.
T
HE editor sat back, smiling with polite puzzlement. "Why, no."
"You ought to try it some time." Clocker lifted himself out of the chair and
went to the door. "That's what I want, what I was trying to sell in my
article. We all ought to go to hospitals and get ourself let in and have these
aliens take over and show us where we're going."
"You think that would be an improvement?"
"What wouldn't?" asked Clocker, opening the door. "But about the series "
"I've got your name and ad-dress. I'll let you know if any-thing turns up.
Don't call me; I'll call you."
Clocker closed the door behind him, went out of the handsome building and
Page 22
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
called a taxi. All through the long ride, he stared at the thinning out of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]