EQMM 1994-03 by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Author:Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine [Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

A Fool and His Money

by William Bankier

© 1994 by William Bankier

A new short story by William Bankier

William Bankier has held a variety of part time jobs since retiring from a career in advertising to devote more time to writing fiction. His previous occupations provided seeds for several earlier EQMM stories; in this new L.A. story, he writes of something very close to him indeed, for Mr. Bankier and his wife are currently managers of an L.A. apartment complex…

❖

It began with pain between the eyes, sharp as a knife going in. Ken Rose could taste the red wine he had been drinking, but everything else was agony. He closed his eyes and waited for the misery to stop. When it did, he said, “That was a doozie.”

“What was?” Zora was working the crossword puzzle from the Sunday Times.

“Felt like I was stabbed in the head.”

“Has it stopped?”

“Thank the Lord.”

“It’s residual pain. You were severely injured when your head went through that windshield.”

There was a splash of wine left. Ken drank it and put the empty glass out of reach. He felt hungry; he should have eaten an hour ago.

Now a strange thing happened. Zora was suddenly at the front door of the apartment. She opened it and took one step outside. Then she came back in and closed the door, saying, “The weatherman is crazy. It isn’t going to rain.”

Ken blinked. Zora was where she had been, tucked up on the sofa with her knees beneath her, printing letters in empty squares. But a few moments later, his wife broke her concentration. She got up and went to the door, opened it, and took one step outside. Then she came back in and closed the door. “The weatherman is crazy,” she said. “It isn’t going to rain.”

Ken said, “That’s incredible. A minute ago, I saw you do exactly that.”

“What?”

“While you were still sitting on the sofa. I saw you at the door, saying what you just said about rain. Then you got up and did it.”

“It happens.”

“I saw the future.”

“You had an episode of déjà vu. It’s not unusual. Like a crossed wire in your brain. What you’re seeing or hearing gets fed through a memory circuit, so it feels like a memory.”

“This was different,” Ken insisted. “I saw it happen. Then there was a pause. Then it happened.”

Zora observed her husband’s once-handsome face. It was not that the accident had left him looking horrible. But his eyelids now hung heavy. And one comer of his mouth drooped. The face that had caught her attention six years ago across the mall now looked stupid. Ken Rose still had all his marbles. But he looked as if he needed his address pinned to his jacket.

“Are you cracking up?” Zora asked.

“I’m all right.”

“That would be all I need. For you to go batty on me.”

Weeks went by before there was another episode. This time, Ken was alone. Zora was around the corner at the Alpha Beta market, working a shift at the checkout aisles.

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