Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Subconsciousness -- Fiction
"George!" Toffee said, thoroughly scandalized, "how can you even
entertain such a notion?"
"Just to show you," Marc said, "why don't you stay invisible? You're
perfectly safe that way."
"Okay," George agreed. "Just hold out the bottle."
"Right-oh," Marc said and turned to Toffee. "Give it everything," he
whispered. Toffee nodded.
* * * * *
As Marc held out the bottle, Toffee sighted on the area in line with
his hand, on the principle that George, being a duplicate of Marc, his
head would be on the same level. The best strategy, she felt, was to
concentrate on this area as swiftly and violently as possible. She held
the bottle in readiness and when, a moment later, the bottle jogged in
Marc's hand, she was prepared. She swung as hard as she could in a wide
horizontal swipe. About half way, the bottle jarred to an abrupt stop
and shattered, spewing liquid and glass in all directions. This was
subsequently followed by a surprised moan and a heavy thudding sound in
the vicinity of the floor.
"Got him!" Toffee cried jubilantly. "Smashed him right on the button!"
She dropped the jagged neck of the bottle daintily to the floor.
"He's still invisible," Marc said worriedly. "I hope there'll be
developments."
Developments came almost immediately, and they were well worth
watching, though hardly the sight for sore eyes. Marc's calculations
had been correct. Surprised, as it were, into unconsciousness, George
had completely lost control of his ectoplasm. The trouble, though,
was that instead of splashing out through his body all of a piece, it
trickled out in fits and starts.
What appeared on the floor, under Marc's and Toffee's watchful eyes,
was not George in total, but a sort of jig-saw George in which many
of the vital pieces had been omitted. While one could be grateful for
George's head, there was bound to be a pang of regret for the neck
which had failed to appear.
An arm lay to the left, with only a finger or two to indicate that it
had once blossomed a hand. Had there ever been an expression to the
effect that half a torso was better than none, George had disproved
it beyond measure; a torso, apparently severed from the collar bone
to the mid-riff was so much worse than no torso at all as to be
positively hair-raising. A random foot here, an errant knee cap there
only garnished the over-all picture of hideous human butchery. With a
shudder of revulsion, Toffee turned from the awful sight.
"Leave it to George," she said, "just leave it to that monster to be as
revolting as possible."
"I don't suppose it's really his fault," Marc said fairly, "but I wish
he were invisible again."
It was at this moment that the congressman and his henchman, having
completed their discussion in the front of the warehouse, arrived at
the door of the storeroom and fitted a key to the lock.
"Duck!" Toffee said. "Get behind those crates!"
"What about you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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