Science fiction; Short stories; Time travel -- Fiction
"He'd tell the kids to go get a pencil and write down the names of
more books to get at the library. And you know what? The kids _do_ it.
That Charlotte, the other night she brings home some Shakespeare
stories for kids by a guy named Lamb. She makes me read 'em to her,
too. Get a load o' me reading Shakespeare. I got to admit they're
pretty good stories. That Charlotte's going to be a real egghead."
"We usually have our TV on around supper time. It's funny we missed
it."
"I checked TV Guide but it was not listed," said the super. "It was
some kind of test show. I guess this guy couldn't find a sponsor."
* * * * *
A week after this incident Betty Randolph picked up the telephone and
said, "Hello?" It was Dot on the ground floor. Ed had phoned earlier
and said he'd be a little late. Betty felt relaxed and just in the
mood for some woman talk.
"Dot, you'll never guess where we were last night," she said. "We saw
My Fair Lady, imagine! Don't you envy me?"
There was a gasp at the other end of the line. "Betty Randolph, you
didn't! We've been on the waiting list for six months. Where in the
world did you get tickets?"
"That's the weird part of it. A messenger just delivered them to Ed in
the office one morning. They were in a plain envelope marked 'Mr.
Randolph' and a card inside said 'Hope you enjoy them--George.' Ed
thinks the messenger made a mistake and got the wrong building or
something because Ed's the only Randolph there. Anyway, by the time Ed
opened the envelope the messenger was gone. There wasn't anything to
do but use the tickets of course."
"Of all the luck! Maybe you and Ed've got a fairy Godmother or
something. What'd you do for a sitter?"
"Oh, we were nearly insane finding one. Jane and Tina were busy and we
knew you were away for the weekend. Fortunately we phoned this Mrs.
Mimms and she was available. Kenneth _loved_ her."
"Isn't she _nice_? That woman's a wonder with children. Dicky and Sue
are as good as gold when she's around and she always seems to be free
when you want her. She's so cheap, too, I don't see how the woman
lives."
"Glory we had a good time!" sighed Betty. "We had drinks and filet
mignon at a nice little place near the theater and forgot all about
kids for a while. It was like going on a date again. I had on my
red-and-gold dress I haven't worn for months and Ed kept telling me
how cute I looked...."
* * * * *
"Zoom, zoom," the captain kept saying. The spaceship swooped in for a
landing on the crimson Martian sands. Captain Bobby Taylor took up a
position before the air-lock and briefed his second-in-command, Ronnie
Smith. "We're surrounded by enemy aliens, Smith," announced Captain
Taylor. "Better break out the death-ray pistols. Our mission is to
destroy every metal monster on this planet. Look at 'em come! They got
eight legs and sixteen wire arms...."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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