Fantasy fiction; Short stories; World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Fiction
There was something sinister about the chap, he felt sure. Reggie was
the owner of an extremely lurid imagination and now, warmed by the glow
of alcohol, he began to envision all sorts of wild possibilities.
After his fourth drink he was certain that the man was an Axis agent.
Just why an Axis agent would be staring at him he had no idea, but he
still felt sure the man was a Nazi.
* * * * *
Reggie finished his drink and set the glass on the bar. Then he casually
sauntered toward the door. A few paces from the room's only exit, he
paused and under the pretense of inspecting a faded sports print on the
wall, sneaked a quick glance at the dark little man.
The dark little man was still staring at him with narrowed, shaded eyes.
Reggie yawned ostentatiously and inched closer to the door. He was going
to make a break for it, but it would have to be fast and clever. His
heart was pounding with more gusto than usual and there were bright
spots of excitement in his pale cheeks. This new role of dodging the
Gestapo appealed enormously to his comic strip sense of melodrama.
Headlines popped before his mind's eye.
REGGIE VAN FIDDLER MAKES ESCAPE!
From what he was going to escape he wasn't quite sure, but he felt that
the details would be in the body of the news story. Headlines didn't
tell everything, did they?
Within a foot of the door he turned casually and took one last look at
the little man who was staring so intently at him. Then, with a sudden
slithering motion, he slipped through the door.
He collided heavily with a small figure.
"I'm sorry," he stammered. "I'm in a bit of a hurry."
He turned and started away, but he had barely taken three strides when
he jerked to a stop. An expression of dazed amazement stole over his
face and his sleepy eyes opened wide.
Wheeling suddenly he stared back at the small figure he had collided
with. The man was still standing in the corridor that led from the bar,
regarding Reggie with a fixed, thoughtful expression.
And he was the same dark little man Reggie had left _inside_ the bar
room seconds before!
Reggie gulped audibly. His adam's apple bobbed in his throat like a
mouse in a sock.
_How had the dark little man gotten out of the bar ahead of him?_
Reggie didn't know and he had no inclination to wait and ask questions.
With one last incredulous look over his shoulder he wheeled and loped
across the lobby, down the marble steps, through the club's revolving
doors and into the street.
He walked swiftly, mopping his forehead with his handkerchief.
The experience had been an unnerving one. When he reached the end of the
block he hailed a cab and gave the driver the address of another bar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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