Psychological fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
Persons and objects were much clearer now. Bennett saw that he lay in
a receptacle shaped like a rectangular metal box. It was padded,
reminding him unpleasantly of a coffin. The woman he had seen before
was again with him, but now he knew that her name was Lima. Behind her
stood a man; a tall, dark man whose eyebrows joined over the bridge of
his nose, and whose forehead was creased in a permanent frown. The
woman held out her arms to Bennett. Her lips moved, but no sound came
from them.
Bennett's spirit seemed to rise from the flesh--he could see his body
still lying there--and he followed the woman. As he approached she
retreated and, try as he would to reach her, she remained just beyond
his grasp.
After what seemed hours of futile pursuit, a cloud formed between him
and the woman. When it dissipated, he had left the world of Thone. He
was in a trolley-bus, in his own world, and vaguely he recalled having
left his room, gone down to the street, and boarded the
trolley--during the time he had followed Lima, in his hallucination.
It seemed that he had a definite destination then, but now he could
not recall what it had been.
His attention was drawn to the outside by the flickering of lights
that flashed in through the bus windows. Bennett looked out and saw
that he was in the Pleasure Section of the city, traveling through the
Street of Carnivals. He watched the fronts of the amusement buildings
pass before him and he read their advertisements listlessly.
Suddenly one sign seemed to spring out from all the others:
LIMA
MYSTIC OF THE MIND
He left the trolley at the next corner and made his way through the
crowd to the brightly lit carnival building.
Inside, he found a chair and seated himself. The show's act appeared
about half over. It was pretty evidently charlatan stuff, Bennett
decided, but the black-hooded mystic on the stage held his attention.
She was a tall woman, with a slender figure and fair flesh. She was
poised, or perhaps it was indifference to the crowd.
A runner went through the audience touching articles of clothing or
ornaments, and the woman without hesitation named each one he touched.
The act was slightly different from most Bennett had seen in that the
runner said nothing, merely touching the articles to be named.
The next portion of the show consisted of a mind-reading act. Bennett
expected the usual routine of writing a question on paper, which would
be sealed in an envelope and placed in a container on the stage.
He was surprised when the runner returned to the crowd and asked for
volunteers for thought-reading.
A short man with a bright yellow necktie raised his hand. The runner
made his way through the crowd to the man and touched him on the
shoulder before turning back to the mystic. He still said nothing.
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