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IFA Review, v. 1, issue 2, September-October 1940

Page 19

Swiftly then I dragged the four occupants of the one car and the lone driver of the other from their seats; carried them to a nearby grassy lawn and propped them there with their backs touching. I laughed as I thought what strange fancies would try to explain their seemingly miraculous escape.

As I passed on down the sidewalk the four inch gap between the cars had narrowed down to a scant two inches.

As I roamed along the strangely silent streets, I saw many grotesque and laughable facial expressions that the puppet-like men and women had assumed. Unmoving blobs of tobacco smoke clung to smoker's lips and a discarded cigar butt floated gently in the air three feet above the gutter. A slim-legged girl, just leaving the curb to cross the street, poised gracefully there in the air six inches above the pavement. And for as long as I could see her, two blocks, there she remained.

I moved along in a painted, unreal picture world.

I looked at my watch again. Five fifty one it read. At this rate it would be about fifty hours before the next eight minutes would pass. I might as well pick up a magazine or a book and go home to eat. I could sleep twice before six o'clock and eat six or seven times!

So I picked up a copy of couple of magazines at the newstands and walked home. Once there, I ate again, read all the stories in the magazines and went to bed -- for about a minute!

At five fifty-five I was sitting in a chair on the front porch feeling extremely sorry for myself. At this rate, eating every minute or two, I would be broke in less than an hour. Already after but five minutes of this speeded-up life -- to me it had been about thirty hours -- I was desperately hungry for the sound of another voice than my own, and for the familiar hum of insect and animal life that normally is about us.

As I sat there I noticed a slight change in the appearance of the broad and wet highway in front of the house. There was a sluggish movement of vehicles there. The wheels of two cars and a truck -- the semi-trailer had at last crept out of vision -- were slowly revolving.

Even as I watched them they seemed to speed up. Now they were moving at perhaps a mile an hour. My lightening metabolism was slackening!

Swiftly then the vehicles increased their pace until they were speeding along at almost a normal rate. And the busy hum of the world I had so recently been longing to hear was born again about me.

I glanced at my watch and sprang to my feet. It was already four minutes until six.

Down the steps I bounded and into the car. The motor hammered into life with the pressure of my foot on the starter and I went whirling out of the driveway cityward. In little more than three minutes I was at the intersection where the two cars had crashed. They were still there, a jumbled interlocked heap of scrap metal and glass. Further along I passed the parked green car. The pickle-faced woman in the rear seat was shouting angrily at the driver who wore a sheepish half grin on his pinkly-shaven face.

I parked my car, jammed the key into my shapeless trouser-pocket; ran wildly to the gate; flashed my pass, and hurried up the stairs. The hum of hundreds of machines was already deafening as I again entered the room.

THE END
------------------------
BOOKS -- RECENT & FORTHCOMING

A TRAVELLER IN TIME by Alison Utley. G. F. Putnam's Sons. Door into past.

THE TEST by B. Van Dalsem. Dorrance & Co. World catastrophe.

MOSCOW 1979 by Erik & Christiane von Kuhnelt-Leddlhn. Sheed & Ward.

DEVIL AND THE DOCTOR by David H. Keller. Simon & Schuster.

MR. ANNIS IN ANESTHESIA by Henry J. Richmond. Burton Pub Co. Kansas City, Mo. $1.00 A fantasy.

Review of the Keller book appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Sep 20.

Saving...

Swiftly then I dragged the four occupants of the one car and the lone driver of the other from their seats; carried them to a nearby grassy lawn and propped them there with their backs touching. I laughed as I thought what strange fancies would try to explain their seemingly miraculous escape. As I passed on down the sidewalk the four inch gap between the cars had narrowed down to a scant two inches. As I roamed along the strangely silent streets, I saw many grotesque and laughable facial expressions that the puppet-like men and women had assumed. Unmoving blobs of tobacco smoke clung to smoker's lips and a discarded cigar butt floated gently in the air three feet above the gutter. A slim-legged girl, just leaving the curb to cross the street, poised gracefully there in the air six inches above the pavement. And for as long as I could see her, two blocks, there she remained. I moved along in a painted, unreal picture world. I looked at my watch again. Five fifty one it read. At this rate it would be about fifty hours before the next eight minutes would pass. I might as well pick up a magazine or a book and go home to eat. I could sleep twice before six o'clock and eat six or seven times! So I picked up a copy of couple of magazines at the newstands and walked home. Once there, I ate again, read all the stories in the magazines and went to bed -- for about a minute! At five fifty-five I was sitting in a chair on the front porch feeling extremely sorry for myself. At this rate, eating every minute or two, I would be broke in less than an hour. Already after but five minutes of this speeded-up life -- to me it had been about thirty hours -- I was desperately hungry for the sound of another voice than my own, and for the familiar hum of insect and animal life that normally is about us. As I sat there I noticed a slight change in the appearance of the broad and wet highway in front of the house. There was a sluggish movement of vehicles there. The wheels of two cars and a truck -- the semi-trailer had at last crept out of vision -- were slowly revolving. Even as I watched them they seemed to speed up. Now they were moving at perhaps a mile an hour. My lightening metabolism was slackening! Swiftly then the vehicles increased their pace until they were speeding along at almost a normal rate. And the busy hum of the world I had so recently been longing to hear was born again about me. I glanced at my watch and sprang to my feet. It was already four minutes until six. Down the steps I bounded and into the car. The motor hammered into life with the pressure of my foot on the starter and I went whirling out of the driveway cityward. In little more than three minutes I was at the intersection where the two cars had crashed. They were still there, a jumbled interlocked heap of scrap metal and glass. Further along I passed the parked green car. The pickle-faced woman in the rear seat was shouting angrily at the driver who wore a sheepish half grin on his pinkly-shaven face. I parked my car, jammed the key into my shapeless trouser-pocket; ran wildly to the gate; flashed my pass, and hurried up the stairs. The hum of hundreds of machines was already deafening as I again entered the room. THE END ------------------------ BOOKS -- RECENT & FORTHCOMING A TRAVELLER IN TIME by Alison Utley. G. F. Putnam's Sons. Door into past. THE TEST by B. Van Dalsem. Dorrance & Co. World catastrophe. MOSCOW 1979 by Erik & Christiane von Kuhnelt-Leddlhn. Sheed & Ward. DEVIL AND THE DOCTOR by David H. Keller. Simon & Schuster. MR. ANNIS IN ANESTHESIA by Henry J. Richmond. Burton Pub Co. Kansas City, Mo. $1.00 A fantasy. Review of the Keller book appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Sep 20.