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IFA Review, v. 1, issue 2, September-October 1940
Page 17
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FIVE MINUTES Basil & Welis FIVE MINUTES MAY NOT BE A LONG TIME, BUT A LOT CAN HAPPEN, ESPECIALLY IN A CASE LIKE THIS, WHERE A FELLOW CAN EAT HIMSELF INTO THE POOR HOUSE IN A FEW HOURS. Branches slashed against the windows and the rain slammed in a bullet-like hail of drumming liquid pellets against the tin roof overhead. Light, great flaming spears of it, gashed across the sodden darkness that yet lingered just before the dawn. And the thunder of a million crashing, tumbling, rolling, empty barrels incessantly throbbed from horizon to horizon. The storm was dying and the rays of the early morning sun pierced thru the eastern cloud. A final stabbing blast of livid fire tore through the opened window; exploded soundlessly about my sleeping form, and my body snapped rigidly erect and stiffened rock-like beneath the surging fury of that concentrated floor of electricity. I fell back upon my pillow. Silence grew about me and a dull radiance swelled up, and died. Slowly, painfully, I crawled from my bed. A sullen gnawing pain ate at every muscle and nerve of my lax body. I groaned with the misery of it. Abruptly the pain was gone and I felt alive and strong once again. I turned to the tinny old alarm clock on the little desk beside my bed and saw that in but ten minutes, at six o'clock, I was due at the factory. The alarm had not gone off! Quickly, I dressed and raced down the stairs to the garage and my car. And as I ran a solid wall of damp thickness seemed to fight back at me, pressing chokingly against my throat and chest. Then I was stepping on the starter, but there was no response. I snapped a quick look at my watch and swore. It was still ten minutes of six! For what seemed like several minutes, I watched that tiny second hand and saw that it moved but the veriest fraction of an inch along it's circumscribed course. Broken! In disgust I jammed the useless timepiece back into my pocket. The alarm clock, the car, and now this! I hurried down to the road and started walking, perhaps a passing truck or car would give me a lift. Ahead of me, a hundred feet or more, there appeared the spacious bulk of a semi-trailer. It was parked on the highway, tractor and trailer alike probably in trouble. I thought, for the penalties are heavy for parking on the pavement. As I came abreast of the looming behemoth of the highways, I saw its driver seated woodenly behind the wheel, his eyes fixed in glassy concentration on the road ahead. I called to him, but he paid me not the slightest attention; so I put my foot on the running board and shouted in his ear. The ignition key was turned on and the gear-shift, as well as the primary high-speed lever, was locked back in high. I felt the running board slowly crawling beneath the sole of my foot and suddenly realized the truck was in motion.
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FIVE MINUTES Basil & Welis FIVE MINUTES MAY NOT BE A LONG TIME, BUT A LOT CAN HAPPEN, ESPECIALLY IN A CASE LIKE THIS, WHERE A FELLOW CAN EAT HIMSELF INTO THE POOR HOUSE IN A FEW HOURS. Branches slashed against the windows and the rain slammed in a bullet-like hail of drumming liquid pellets against the tin roof overhead. Light, great flaming spears of it, gashed across the sodden darkness that yet lingered just before the dawn. And the thunder of a million crashing, tumbling, rolling, empty barrels incessantly throbbed from horizon to horizon. The storm was dying and the rays of the early morning sun pierced thru the eastern cloud. A final stabbing blast of livid fire tore through the opened window; exploded soundlessly about my sleeping form, and my body snapped rigidly erect and stiffened rock-like beneath the surging fury of that concentrated floor of electricity. I fell back upon my pillow. Silence grew about me and a dull radiance swelled up, and died. Slowly, painfully, I crawled from my bed. A sullen gnawing pain ate at every muscle and nerve of my lax body. I groaned with the misery of it. Abruptly the pain was gone and I felt alive and strong once again. I turned to the tinny old alarm clock on the little desk beside my bed and saw that in but ten minutes, at six o'clock, I was due at the factory. The alarm had not gone off! Quickly, I dressed and raced down the stairs to the garage and my car. And as I ran a solid wall of damp thickness seemed to fight back at me, pressing chokingly against my throat and chest. Then I was stepping on the starter, but there was no response. I snapped a quick look at my watch and swore. It was still ten minutes of six! For what seemed like several minutes, I watched that tiny second hand and saw that it moved but the veriest fraction of an inch along it's circumscribed course. Broken! In disgust I jammed the useless timepiece back into my pocket. The alarm clock, the car, and now this! I hurried down to the road and started walking, perhaps a passing truck or car would give me a lift. Ahead of me, a hundred feet or more, there appeared the spacious bulk of a semi-trailer. It was parked on the highway, tractor and trailer alike probably in trouble. I thought, for the penalties are heavy for parking on the pavement. As I came abreast of the looming behemoth of the highways, I saw its driver seated woodenly behind the wheel, his eyes fixed in glassy concentration on the road ahead. I called to him, but he paid me not the slightest attention; so I put my foot on the running board and shouted in his ear. The ignition key was turned on and the gear-shift, as well as the primary high-speed lever, was locked back in high. I felt the running board slowly crawling beneath the sole of my foot and suddenly realized the truck was in motion.
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