"John Price had a name of two parts," he said, "so why should I not
have the same?"
He looked about him and a breeze in the green branches above seemed to
whisper the answer. He heard and considered, then smiled to himself,
raised his voice.
"I christen myself Bram Forest, to be known from this moment on by
that name."
Suddenly his smile deepened, then laughter welled from his great
chest; a laughter arising from the sheer joy of this new thing called
living into which he had stepped.
Now he stretched his arms over his head, palms upward as though
supplicating to some far-off deity. He leaped high in the air testing
his muscles and finding them good.
Then he was running, naked and golden off across the open hill. He ran
until his huge chest pounded with delicious pain as his lungs labored
for air. Finally he dropped to the ground and lay spread-eagled
looking up at the sky.
He laughed long and joyously.
He lay for a long time thus, then suddenly remembered the box John
Pride had given him. But the scanty garment had dropped from his
shoulders so he sprang to his feet and ran back until he discovered
it.
The box was still there. He examined it curiously turning it over and
over in his hands. The seal was stubborn but it finally gave and he
peeled off the heavy wrapping. A small white box came to light.
This he opened to stand frowning at what it contained. An odd
instrument of some sort--a flat disc about two inches in diameter and
possibly a quarter of an inch thick. Both faces were of shining,
crystalline metal reflecting back anything that was imaged upon them.
Two short metal straps appended from opposite sides of the queer
instrument, one of which held a buckle at its end. He held the shining
disc to his ear but there was no sound that he could detect.
Frustrated he looked again into the box. It appeared to be empty. But
no. As he was about to fling it away, he noted that what appeared to
be its inner bottom was in reality a second flat package that fitted
perfectly into the receptacle. He shook it free and found it to be
merely a flat rectangle wrapped tightly in white paper.
* * * * *
He was about to rip the paper with his thumbnail when his attention
switched suddenly to the shining disc. He had envisioned a use for it;
or at least a place for which it seemed constructed.
He tested his theory and found the straps fit snugly and perfectly
around his wrist. He pondered which wrist to place it on and decided
the right one would be appropriate. Quickly, he snapped the buckle
into its hasp and then held forth his arm to admire the brightness of
the queer device.
If he had expected anything to happen, he was disappointed and he
stood there wondering what use was to be found from such a seemingly
useless device.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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