YOUNG MAN FROM ELSEWHEN By SYLVIA JACOBS _One thing the old man was sure of--there were far fewer things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in his philosophy--till today._ [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, March 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] A redcap was pushing a wheelchair through the station, under a ceiling so lofty that the place seemed empty, though hundreds of people were milling around, preparing to board the early trains. The old man in the wheelchair had a blanket over his knees, in spite of July heat in Los Angeles. Beside him walked a smartly dressed middle-aged woman, slimmed by diet and with her steel-gray hair looking as if she'd just stepped out of a beauty parlor. She kept up a steady stream of admonitions. "Now, Papa," she was saying, "don't forget to take your medicine at lunchtime. Keep your chair out of the aisle--people have to walk there. And whatever you do, don't go to the club car for a drink--you know it's bad for your arthritis. The doctor said not more than three cigars a day. And if Edna isn't at the station to meet you, just wait, do you hear? It's a long drive from her house and she may be late." "Hell's fire!" the old man protested. "I was taking trains before you were born! How my boy Will stands--" He broke off to ogle a Mexican girl, a ripe sixteen, who was walking in the same direction, ahead of them. "Papa! Act your age!" his daughter-in-law said under her breath. "Like they say, a woman's as old as she looks, but a man ain't old till he quits looking," he replied absently. The redcap grinned. The little señorita, not knowing who was watching her but quite sure someone was, paused to put a dime in a Coke machine. The wheelchair entourage passed her and the old man craned his neck, looking backward, determined not to miss anything. The girl sat down on a bench to drink her Coke. If I were only fifty years younger, the old man thought, I'd buy a Coke, too, and sit down beside her.... "Papa!" his son's wife cried. "You'll fall out of your chair! Why do you always have to embarrass me like this?" But the insistent voice could not interrupt the old man's pleasant daydream of conquest. He had turned off his hearing aid. * * * * * The redcap stopped alongside the third car of the San-Francisco-bound streamliner and signaled another redcap who was unloading a baggage truck. The other came over to help and two pairs of strong young arms lifted the old man, wheelchair and all, smoothly onto the platform of the car. His daughter-in-law did not board the train. She stood waving, calling after the old man, "So long, Papa! Have a nice visit with Edna and remember what I told you!"