Frank Belknap Long 02 Science Fiction MEGAPACK: 22 Classic Stories by Frank Belknap Long

Author:Frank Belknap Long [Long, Frank Belknap]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy, science fiction, sci-fi, pulp, Short Stories, astounding
ISBN: 9781479423187
Google: 3UMEDQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B01LVZ6WEB
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 2016-09-08T23:00:00+00:00

WOMAN OUT OF TIME

Originally published in Astonishing Stories, August 1940.

Craig couldn’t understand it at all. The girl’s eyes were deep-set and as cold as ice. But otherwise there was nothing distinctive about her. Her complexion was sallow; her features just run of the mill. She was wearing a simple print dress which stereotyped her figure, giving it an angular and countrified look.

On her back was a little square sign which read: “Ardsley’s is an absolutely different cigarette.” She wasn’t clever or a jitterbug, and she didn’t move with grace. She just walked up and down a long platform, handing out cigarettes to the men in the crowd.

Yet all about her men watched her, their eyes shining, their jaw muscles tense. Craig knew what was going on inside their minds because he felt that way about her himself. He wanted to bow down and worship her. He wanted to kneel and kiss her little pacing feet.

It was Craig’s first visit to the World’s Fair, and he felt like a boy again. Craig wasn’t a young man exactly. His hair was thinning a little on top and he had a fortyish look. In addition, he strongly disapproved of men who spoke to young ladies without an introduction. He wasn’t prudish or straight-laced, but his code of behavior was that of a gentleman.

He waited until she stopped pacing before he spoke to her. She was stooping at the edge of the platform, distributing samples of the absolutely different cigarette, when he caught her eye.

“It’s a nice evening, isn’t it?” he said.

Her reaction was one of cold disdain. She displayed no resentment, but her chill stare was so devastating to his dignity that he trembled and turned pale.

A woman beside him giggled. No wonder. He was losing his mind. He had forgotten that there were men in the crowd half his age, trimly set-up young fellows with thirty-two waistlines.

He was stunned when she said: “Yeah, it’s nice out. But I don’t get to see much of the fair.”

For an instant he blinked up at her incredulously, a slow flush spreading over his face. But like most timid men he had a bold side to his nature. When good fortune charged at him he usually managed to take it by the horns.

He did so now, without sidestepping. She would be free an hour before the exhibits closed? Swell. You could cram a lot of sightseeing into an hour, if you rode in the trackless trolley and concentrated on the high spots.

“I’ll meet you at nine-thirty in front of the perisphere,” she promised. “Don’t be late.”

He spent the next two hours wandering around in a daze. There was something about her—

When you looked at her the air cooled. Something seemed to swirl away and you were standing with her in the cool of the evening, listening to music that never was on sea or land. There was a shimmering too. All about you a pale green shimmering of something translucent that flowed.

Time seemed to stand still when you looked into her eyes.

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