Deadlier than the Male (1942) by James Gunn

Author:James Gunn [Gunn, James]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Munsey's
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Helen arrived at the doctor's at five minutes past three. As she went up to the receptionist's desk in the front hall, she wondered if she should ask about Mrs. Krantz, or if that would be too obvious. But luck was with her. As she walked up to the desk the receptionist got a call from the doctor: “Just what did you say to Mrs. Krantz when you checked her appointment?”

“I didn't check any appointment with Mrs. Krantz.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes.”

Helen's expression, when the receptionist turned to her, was one of mild interest. “Oh,” she said, “is it that Mrs. Krantz that's up there now?”

“Yes.”

“Will she be long?”

“Well, I don't know, Mrs. Brent—”

“Can I see her come down if I wait in there? Will she come down these stairs?”

“Well, there are some people waiting already, Mrs. Brent.”

“I see.” Helen sounded as though she were disappointed. “Well, I'll wait around for a while anyway, just to take a chance.” The corner of the receptionist's desk that was toward the stairs was blocked from the woman's view. Helen quietly took the blue-and-white pin out of her bag and propped it up against an inkwell, so that nobody coming down the stairs could miss it. Then she went into the reception room and prepared to wait.

She did not pick up a magazine—she was too nervous to read—but she managed to sit very quietly, so that nothing would show on her face. Several people in the waiting room looked impressed by her. Beyond the receptionist's desk she could see the stairway down which Mrs. Krantz would come; she wondered suddenly if she would recognize the old woman when she saw her again.

There was quite a long wait before Helen heard something of a commotion upstairs. Suddenly an empty bottle flew down the stairs and broke on the banister at the bottom. The people in the reception room jumped, and even the receptionist looked startled. After a little more and louder commotion at the head of the .stairs, Mrs. Krantz appeared—Helen recognized her at once, after all —struggling with a muscular young man in white.

She jerked away when they reached the middle of the stairs. “Let me go,” she said, heavily melancholy, “I'll go quiet. The fun was over when you pulled me off.” She glowered down at the receptionist for a full half minute; Helen thought surely she had seen the pin.

But apparently not. Mrs. Krantz marched sturdily down the rest of the stairs and went up to the woman. She was standing directly in front of the pin. “And when's my next appointment?” she asked regally.

The receptionist blinked. “Wh—when would you like?”

“When I'm dead!” snarled Mrs. Krantz. “But that's an appointment you'll have to check. I might repent of my sins before I die, and go someplace unexpected, and then I wouldn't meet any of this crew in all eternity.” And she sailed out.

The twittering in the waiting room died down before Helen left. She sat and stared for quite a while, heavy with disappointment. Then she got up with a sigh and went to the desk.

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