Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Spouses -- Fiction; Subconsciousness -- Fiction
George decided on an arm and a hand to begin with; they seemed a rather
utilitarian item to have in the event that you wanted to go around
picking things up. He gave his thoughts over to that appendage.
The process worked with surprising facility. In the very next moment an
arm, neatly tapering off to a hand, promptly appeared, balanced on the
elbow, on the basement floor. George looked at it and felt a thrill of
pride at the accomplishment; it didn't matter that the thing was rather
starkly at loose ends with itself.
Glowing with the success of his first venture, George decided on a head
as the subject of his next efforts. Without a moment's hesitation,
but several feet above the arm, a head appeared in thin air, bearing
a duplicate face to the one of Marc Pillsworth. It was wonderfully
lifelike. It turned, looked down at the arm, and frowned.
Now George wasn't so sure; somehow things didn't seem to be shaping up
quite as he'd expected. He shrugged. Probably matters would be improved
when everything was more connected together. He thought for a moment
and remembered the matter of legs.
A moment later a leg and accompanying foot popped into being, but oddly
it appeared in a position near the head, a bit to one side with the
foot leading off rakishly toward the ceiling.
The head turned and regarded this phenomenon with worried interest.
Definitely, things weren't balancing out at all well. But what was
there to do but to go on with it now that it had gotten this far? And
then the head smiled; George had remembered. There should be two arms
and two legs in place of just one. In the grisly moment that followed,
the arm on the floor was joined by a mate, as was the leg hovering in
the air by the head.
The head peered with unwarranted pride from between the floating legs
and smiled on its accomplishments. Now George felt he was really
getting somewhere. There remained only the torso to be materialized.
George thought about this and wished it into being.
* * * * *
The picture that followed was lurching madness. Somehow a body had
appeared, balanced upside down on its elbows, in the very center of the
basement floor. And if that wasn't enough, the head had apparently been
severed and placed, for the sake of pure frightfulness, between the
knees.
George, now that the body was complete, recognized the error at
once. With a blush, he dissolved the head from between the knees and
concentrated it down towards the shoulders. The scene instantly became
more sane. Now there was a complete and perfectly formed man standing
on his elbows in the center of the basement. For a moment he remained
rigidly upright, then he wavered and fell flat on his back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account