_Opus 21_ BOOKS BY _Philip Wylie_ HEAVY LADEN · BABES AND SUCKLINGS · GLADIATOR FOOTPRINT OF CINDERELLA · THE SAVAGE GENTLEMAN FINNLEY WREN: HIS NOTIONS AND OPINIONS AS THEY REVELED · AN APRIL AFTERNOON THE BIG ONES GET AWAY · SALT WATER DAFFY THE OTHER HORSEMAN · GENERATION OF VIPERS CORPSES AT INDIAN STONES FISH AND TIN FISH · NIGHT UNTO NIGHT AN ESSAY ON MORALS · TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING CRUNCH AND DES: STORIES OF FLORIDA FISHING OPUS 21 _By Philip Wylie and William W. Muir_ THE ARMY WAY OPUS 21 _Descriptive Music_ FOR THE LOWER KINSEY EPOCH OF THE ATOMIC AGE _a Concerto for a One-Man Band_ SIX ARIAS FOR SOAP OPERAS _Fugues, Anthems, & Barrelhouse_ BY PHILIP WYLIE RINEHART & COMPANY, INC. _New York and Toronto_ _First Printing, April 1949_ _Second Printing, June 1949_ _Third Printing, September 1949_ _Fourth Printing, November 1951_ _Fifth Printing, October 1953_ _Sixth Printing, September 1956_ _Seventh Printing, October 1959_ COPYRIGHT, 1949, BY PHILIP WYLIE PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO MY WIFE _Ricky_ AND MY DAUGHTER _Karen_ I LOVINGLY DEDICATE THIS ROMANCE WARNING Most of the characters in this book are unreal--and that is particularly true of the author.... Few of the events recorded here ever took place--exactly.... Even the time is somewhat out of joint, so purists are advised not to bother to compare the meteorology with the obituaries.... I never had (for instance) an elder sister named Georgianna, that I know of.... The difference between what is Real (or Truth) and what is Illusion (or Fiction) is left to such judgment as the reader may own--just as it is in all the other experiences of life. _P.W._ PART ONE: _Scherzo_: 3 PART TWO: _Tarantella_: 79 PART THREE: _Andante_: 124 PART FOUR: _Rondo_: 225 PART FIVE: _Coda_: 361 _Opus 21_ PART ONE _Scherzo_ 1 It happens to millions. They sit in doctors' offices trying to hide nervousness in the pages of magazines. Wondering what germs their predecessors have deposited in _Life_ and _Harper's Bazaar_ or _Action Comics_. The nurse calls: Mr. So-and-so. Mrs. So-and-so. Miss So-and-so. They go in. "Doctor," they say, "just lately I've begun to notice...." They have begun to notice Death. And now the doctor notices, too. Millions of us, in this century, find out before angina curls us like insects in flame. Before the stone is lodged in its screaming cavity. Before the final, involuntary issue of bowel or bladder or foamy lungs. It is one of the marvels of science. "Tom," I said, for the doctor is an old friend, "lately I've noticed a feeling of fullness in my nasal passages. And this morning, before I flew down from the country, I looked at the back of my throat. Up behind the uvula. Something is--growing there." "Let's take a squint."