Zero Hour by Bradbury Ray

Author:Bradbury, Ray [Bradbury, Ray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Planet Stories
Published: 1947-10-08T05:00:00+00:00

AT FOUR O’CLOCK the audio-visor buzzed. Mrs. Morris flipped the tab. “Hello, Helen!” she said, in welcome.

“Hello, Mary. How are things in New York?”

“Fine, how are things in Scranton? You look tired.”

“So do you. The children. Underfoot,” said Helen.

Mrs. Morris sighed, “My Mink, too. The super Invasion.”

Helen laughed. “Are your kids playing that game, too?”

“Lord, yes. Tomorrow it’ll be geometrical jacks and motorized hopscotch. Were we this bad when we were kids in ’48?”

“Worse. Japs and Nazis. Don’t know how my parents put up with me. Tomboy.”

“Parents learn to shut their ears.”

A silence.

“What’s wrong, Mary?” asked Helen. Mrs. Morris’ eyes were half-closed; her tongue slid slowly, thoughtfully over her lower lip. “Eh,” She jerked. “Oh, nothing. Just thought about that. Shutting ears and such. Never mind. Where were we?”

“My boy Tim’s got a crush on some guy named—Drill, I think it was.”

“Must be a new password. Mink likes him, too.”

“Didn’t know it got as far as New York. Word of mouth, I imagine. Looks like a scrap drive. I talked to Josephine and she said her kids—that’s in Boston —are wild on this new game. It’s sweeping the country.”

At this moment, Mink trotted into the kitchen to gulp a glass of water. Mrs. Morris turned. “How’re things going?”

“Almost finished,” said Mink.

“Swell,” said Mrs. Morris. “What’s that?”

“A yo-yo,” said Mink. “Watch.”

She flung the yo-yo down its string. Reaching the end it—

It vanished.

“See?” said Mink. “Ope!” Dibbling her finger she made the yo-yo reappear and zip up the string.

“Do that again,” said her mother. “Can’t. Zero hour’s five o’clock! ’Bye.” Mink exited, zipping her yo-yo.

On the audio-visor, Helen laughed. “Tim brought one of those yo-yo’s in this morning, but when I got curious he said he wouldn’t show it to me, and when I tried to work it, finally, it wouldn’t work.” “You’re not impressionable” said Mrs. Morris.

“What?”

“Never mind. Something I thought of. Can I help you, Helen?”

“I wanted to get that black-and-white cake recipe—”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.