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Texas Week · Classic Short Science Fiction Stories

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  Speaker 1: Section seventeen of twenty short science fiction stories by various authors.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Texas Week
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  Speaker 1: by Albert Hernhutter. Eating the Little Man who Isn't There
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  Speaker 1: is rated a horrendous experience, but discovery that the man
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  Speaker 1: is there may be even worse. The slick black car
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  Speaker 1: sped along the wide, straight street. It came to a
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  Speaker 1: smooth stop in front of a clean white house. A
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  Speaker 1: man got out of the car and walked briskly to
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  Speaker 1: the door. Reaching out with a pink hand, he pressed
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  Speaker 1: the door bell with one well manicured finger. The door
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  Speaker 1: was answered by a housewife. She was wearing a white blouse,
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  Speaker 1: a green skirt, and a green apron trimmed with white.
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  Speaker 1: Her feet were tucked into orange slippers. Her blonde hair
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  Speaker 1: was done up in a neat bun. She was dressed
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  Speaker 1: as the government had ordered for that week. The man said,
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  Speaker 1: are you missus Christopher Nest's a trace of anxiety in
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  Speaker 1: her voice as she answered yes, and you are. My
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  Speaker 1: name is Maxwell Handstark. As you may already know, I
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  Speaker 1: am the official psychiatrist for this district. My appointment will
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  Speaker 1: last until the end of this year. Missus Nest invited
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  Speaker 1: him in. They stepped into a clean living room. At
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  Speaker 1: one end was the television set. At the other end
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  Speaker 1: were several chairs. There was nothing between the set and
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  Speaker 1: the chairs except a large gray rug which stretched from
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  Speaker 1: wall to wall. They walked to the chairs and sat down. Now,
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  Speaker 1: just what is the matter with your husband, missus Nest.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Nest reached into a large bowl and absently picked
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  Speaker 1: up a piece of stale popcorn. She daintily placed it
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  Speaker 1: in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully before she answered, I
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  Speaker 1: wish I knew. All he does all day long is
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  Speaker 1: sit in the back and stare at the grass. He
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  Speaker 1: insists that he is standing on top of a cliff.
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  Speaker 1: Hand Stark took out a small pad and a short
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  Speaker 1: ballpoint pen. He wrote something down before he spoke again,
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  Speaker 1: Is he violent? Did he get angry when you told
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  Speaker 1: him there was no cliff? Missus Nest was silent for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. The second piece of popcorn joined the first
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  Speaker 1: hand Stark's pen was poised above the pad. No, he
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  Speaker 1: didn't get violent, Hanstark wrote. As he asked the next question,
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  Speaker 1: Just what was his reaction? He said, I must be crazy?
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  Speaker 1: Were those his exact words. No, he said that I was.
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  Speaker 1: She thought for a moment. Loko, Yes, that was the
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  Speaker 1: word loko. Yes, he said it, just like those cowboys
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  Speaker 1: on the television. Hand Stark looked puzzled. Perhaps you'd better
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  Speaker 1: tell me more about this. When did he first start
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  Speaker 1: acting this way? Missus Nest glanced up at the television set,
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  Speaker 1: then back at Hanstark. It was right after Texas Week.
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  Speaker 1: You remember they showed all of those old cowboy pictures.
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  Speaker 1: Hanstark nodded. Well, he stayed up every night watching them.
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  Speaker 1: Some nights he didn't even go to sleep, even after
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  Speaker 1: the set was off. He sat in one of the chairs,
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  Speaker 1: just staring at the screen. This morning, when I got up,
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  Speaker 1: he wasn't in the house. I looked all over, but
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't find him. I was just about ready to
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  Speaker 1: phone the police when I glanced out the window into
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  Speaker 1: the back yard and I saw him. What was he doing?
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  Speaker 1: He was just sitting there in the middle of the yard, staring.
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  Speaker 1: I went out and tried to bring him into the house.
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  Speaker 1: He told me he had to watch for some one.
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  Speaker 1: When I asked him what he was talking about, he
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  Speaker 1: told me that I was crazy. That was when I
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  Speaker 1: phoned you, mister Hanstark, a very wise movement, Missus Nest,
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  Speaker 1: And would you show me where your husband is right now?
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  Speaker 1: She nodded her head and they both got up from
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  Speaker 1: the chairs. They walked through the dining room and kitchen
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  Speaker 1: on the back porch. Hanstark came to a halt. You'd
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  Speaker 1: better stay here, Missus Nest. He walked to the door
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  Speaker 1: and opened it, mister Hanstark, Missus Nest called, hand Stark
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  Speaker 1: turned and saw her standing next to the automatic washing machine. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: please be careful, Handstark smiled, I shall be, Missus Nest.
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  Speaker 1: He walked out of the door and down three concrete steps.
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  Speaker 1: Looking a little to his right, he saw man squatted
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  Speaker 1: on his heels. He walked up to the man. You are,
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  Speaker 1: mister Christopher Nest. Man looked up and stared for a
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  Speaker 1: moment at Hanstark. Yep, he answered, Then he turned and
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  Speaker 1: stared at the grass again. And may I ask you
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  Speaker 1: what you are doing? Nest answered, without looking up. Parden
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  Speaker 1: the Handstark scribbled something in his notebook, And why are
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  Speaker 1: you guarding the pass? Nest rose to his feet and
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  Speaker 1: stared down at Handstark. Just what are you asking? All
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  Speaker 1: these questions for stranger hand. Stark saw Nest was bigger
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  Speaker 1: than he and decided to play along for a while.
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  Speaker 1: After all, strategy, I'm just interested in your welfare, mister Nest,
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  Speaker 1: Nest shrugged his shoulders. He reached into his shirt pocket
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  Speaker 1: and pulled out a sack of tobacco and some paper.
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  Speaker 1: Holding a piece of paper in one hand, he carefully
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  Speaker 1: poured a little tobacco into it. In one quick movement,
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  Speaker 1: he rolled the paper and tobacco into a perfect cylinder.
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  Speaker 1: He put the sack of tobacco and paper back into
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  Speaker 1: his pocket and took out a wooden kitchen match. He
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  Speaker 1: scraped it to life on the sole of his shoe
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  Speaker 1: and applied the flame to the tip of the cigarette.
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  Speaker 1: He puffed it into life and threw the match away.
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  Speaker 1: It burned for a few moments in the moist grasp,
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  Speaker 1: then went out. A thin trail of smoke rose from it,
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  Speaker 1: and then was gone. Why are you guarding the pass,
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  Speaker 1: han Stark asked again. Nest resumed his crouch on the grass.
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  Speaker 1: News is around that dirty Dan, the cattle rustler, is
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  Speaker 1: going to try to steal some of my cattle. He
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  Speaker 1: patted an imaginary holster at his side, and I aimed
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  Speaker 1: to stop him. Hand Stark thought for a moment, strategy,
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  Speaker 1: he must use strategy, mister Nest. He waited until Nest
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  Speaker 1: had turned to him. Mister Nest, what would you say
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  Speaker 1: if I told you that there was no pass down there? Why,
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  Speaker 1: Shuck's partner, I'd say you'd been chewing some local weed,
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  Speaker 1: and if I could prove it, Nest answered, after a
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  Speaker 1: moment's pause, why, then, I guess I'd be local. Hand
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  Speaker 1: Stark thought it was going to be easy, mister Nest.
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  Speaker 1: It is a well known fact that no one can
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  Speaker 1: walk in mid air. Is that not true? Nest? He
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  Speaker 1: took a deep drag on his cigarette and blew the
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  Speaker 1: smoke out of his nostrils. Sure, then, if I were
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  Speaker 1: to walk out above your pass, you'd have to admit
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  Speaker 1: there is no pass reckon, so Handstark began to walk
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  Speaker 1: in the direction of Nest's cliff. Ness jumped to his
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  Speaker 1: feet and grabbed the official psychiatrist by the arm. What
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  Speaker 1: are you trying to do, Ness said, angrily, kill yourself.
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  Speaker 1: Hand Stark shook free of his grasp. Mister Nest, I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to kill myself. I'm merely going to walk
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  Speaker 1: in that direction. He pointed to where the cliff was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be. To you, it will look as if
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  Speaker 1: I were walking in mid air. Nest dropped his hands
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  Speaker 1: to his sides. Shucks, I don't care if you kill yourself.
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  Speaker 1: It's just that it's liable to make the cattle nervous.
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  Speaker 1: Hand Stark gave him a cold glare and begin to walk.
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  Speaker 1: He took three paces and stopped. You see, mister Nest,
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  Speaker 1: there is no cliff. Nest looked at him and laughed.
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  Speaker 1: You just take one more step and you find there
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  Speaker 1: is a cliff. Handstark took another step, a long one.
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  Speaker 1: His face bore a surprised look as he disappeared beneath
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  Speaker 1: the grass. His screams could be heard for a moment
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  Speaker 1: before he landed on the rocks below. Nest walked to
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the cliff and looked down at the
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  Speaker 1: mangled body. He took off his hat in respect. Little
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  Speaker 1: Feller had a lot of guts, Then he added, poor
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  Speaker 1: little Feller. He put his hat back on and looked
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  Speaker 1: down at the entrance to the valley. A horse and
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  Speaker 1: rider appeared from behind several rocks. Dirty Dan Nest exclaimed
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  Speaker 1: he reached down and picked up his rifle. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section seventeen