Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Subconsciousness -- Fiction
In the face of such heated self-righteousness, the young man could
hardly doubt her statement. Obviously, he was being tormented by the
picture of himself, continuing, armless, through the remainder of his
life. "I'm sorry," he said contritely, apparently forgetting that, in
view of the excellent nurse's quarters just upstairs, the indignant
girl had chosen a rather singular place to dress.
"You should be," Toffee replied icily. "If it happens again, I'll
report you." And without waiting for an answer, she started regally
from the room.
"Button that dress!" Marc yelled inadvertently.
"Button your lip," Toffee replied composedly, disappearing around the
edge of the door.
Marc wished desperately that he could go after her. There was no
telling what she might do. He only knew that, having Toffee back, was
merely a matter of traveling the shortest road to utter confusion
at the highest rate of speed. He shivered at the thought of what
doubtlessly lay ahead.
* * * * *
As Marc swung out of the hospital door, the last brilliant rays of a
dying sun almost blinded him for a moment, and he didn't see Toffee,
at first, sitting there on the steps, chin in hand, and looking very
much like a completely thoughtless rendition of "The Thinker."
"What kept you so long?" she asked irritably.
"I had to sign some papers," Marc explained. "It's too bad that no
one got the license number on the car that hit me. It would have...."
Suddenly, he stopped, and stared at Toffee, mouth agape. The white
uniform that he had last seen her in had miraculously been replaced,
in part, by a black evening gown, that had obviously seen hell at the
ruthless hand of its cutter. It had hardly a back to call its own,
and as for the front, instead of covering Toffee's amazing figure, it
seemed merely to draw a heavy black line around it for emphasis.
A look of pain came into Marc's eyes. "Where did you get _that_?" he
asked weakly.
Toffee motioned vaguely across the street. "At that store over there,"
she answered serenely. "I charged it to you."
Marc groaned. "What was the matter with the uniform? I thought it was
very neat."
"Wasn't it, though?" Toffee replied disdainfully. "It's no wonder all
the people in the hospital are sick. It's enough to make anyone ill,
just having to look at a woman all trussed up in one of those starch
ridden atrocities." She pivoted on the steps, and a shimmering black
cloud moved gracefully above her lovely legs. "Isn't it a dream?"
"Yes," Marc said emphatically. "A perfect nightmare. You look like
something that should be raided and hauled off to headquarters. Why,
if Julie...." A sudden chill lodged itself in his spine. "Holy Smoke!
Let's get out of here!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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