The Sinful Ones by Fritz Leiber

Author:Fritz Leiber
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 0671835750
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1950-07-01T07:00:00+00:00

After they had slept together he found himself realizing that he had never felt so delightfully sober in his life, though granting that the picture might change a bit if he made a sudden movement. From where he lay he could see Jane in the mirror. She’d thrown on his dressing gown and was mixing drinks for them. A faucet gurgled briefly. Then she came back and he turned over and hitched himself up on an elbow.

“Here,” she said, handing him a glass.

He laughed. “I’m not sure what this will do to me. My mind’s in a delicate state.”

“Just a small one,” she said. “To us.”

“To us.” They clinked glasses. Following her example, he drained his. She sat down on the bed and looked at him.

“Hello, darling,” he said.

“Hello.”

“Feeling okay?”

“Wonderful.”

“Not worried about anything?”

“Of course not. What made you ask me that?”

“I don’t know. You look sort of sad.”

She smiled. “Isn’t it all right for love to make you sad?”

“I suppose so, in a way.”

“It makes you sad because when you’ve loved, you’re empty and your guard’s down. And you’re a little frightened because right there before you is the one you love, so tender and easily hurt, and his guard’s down, too.”

“But then joy ought to follow the sadness, before it’s even had a chance to get started.” And he touched her arm, tugged gently at the dressing gown, but she just stayed smiling at him, and after a while he took his hand away.

“You’re sure you’re not bothered about anything?” he queried.

“Oh, darling,” and it seemed to Carr that tears came into her eyes, making them bright, “this is the happiest night of my life. Whatever happens I want you to know that I love you utterly and completely.”

He sat up a little. “Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Of course not. But I wanted you to know.”

“Oh, sure.” He hitched himself around a bit as to face her. “But now that you’ve brought up the question of what’s going to happen to us, let’s talk about—”

He faltered. It seemed to him that a black haze had suddenly raced across the room. He rubbed his eyes. When he took his hand away, the room was swimming.

“I didn’t know I was that drunk,” he muttered. “I never thought that just one more drink—”

He looked quickly at Jane. She hadn’t moved. She still seemed to be smiling, very tenderly, almost pityingly. He turned his queerly heavy head toward the little table by the bed. With an effort he brought the brown blur into focus. The surface of the table was bare.

“The powders!” he said, and he had difficulty forming the words. “You put them in my drink.”

She didn’t answer.

“Damn you,” he said, pushing himself toward her smudged image, “you’ve got to—”

He felt her hands on his shoulders, pushing him back.

“You’ll be all right. You just need a little sleep.” Her voice seemed to come from the floor above. He tried to fight her, but he couldn’t lift his hands. The darkness was gaining fast.

“No I don’t,” he protested.

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