The Food of the Gods by H G Wells
Author:H G Wells [Wells, H G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-16T09:28:45+00:00
V.
âTut, tut!â said the Vicar to his breakfast thingsâthe day after the coming of Mrs. Skinner. âTut, tut! whatâs this?â and poised his glasses at his paper with a general air of remonstrance.
âGiant wasps! Whatâs the world coming to? American journalists, I suppose! Hang these Novelties! Giant gooseberries are good enough for me.
âNonsense!â said the Vicar, and drank off his coffee at a gulp, eyes steadfast on the paper, and smacked his lips incredulously.
âBosh!â said the Vicar, rejecting the hint altogether.
But the next day there was more of it, and the light came.
Not all at once, however. When he went for his constitutional that day he was still chuckling at the absurd story his paper would have had him believe. Wasps indeedâkilling a dog! Incidentally as he passed by the site of that first crop of puff-balls he remarked that the grass was growing very rank there, but he did not connect that in any way with the matter of his amusement. âWe should certainly have heard something of it,â he said; âWhitstable canât be twenty miles from here.â
Beyond he found another puff-ball, one of the second crop, rising like a rocâs egg out of the abnormally coarsened turf.
The thing came upon him in a flash.
He did not take his usual round that morning. Instead he turned aside by the second stile and came round to the Caddlesâ cottage. âWhereâs that baby?â he demanded, and at the sight of it, âGoodness me!â
He went up the village blessing his heart, and met the doctor full tilt coming down. He grasped his arm. âWhat does this mean?â he said. âHave you seen the paper these last few days?â
The doctor said he had.
âWell, whatâs the matter with that child? Whatâs the matter with everythingâwasps, puff-balls, babies, eh? Whatâs making them grow so big? This is most unexpected. In Kent too! If it was America nowââ
âItâs a little difficult to say just what it is,â said the doctor. âSo far as I can grasp the symptomsââ
âYes?â
âItâs HypertrophyâGeneral Hypertrophy.â
âHypertrophy?â
âYes. Generalâaffecting all the bodily structuresâall the organism. I may say that in my own mind, between ourselves, Iâm very nearly convinced itâs thatâ¦. But one has to be careful.â
âAh,â said the Vicar, a good deal relieved to find the doctor equal to the situation. âBut how is it itâs breaking out in this fashion, all over the place?â
âThat again,â said the doctor, âis difficult to say.â
âUrshot. Here. Itâs a pretty clear case of spreading.â
âYes,â said the doctor. âYes. I think so. It has a strong resemblance at any rate to some sort of epidemic. Probably Epidemic Hypertrophy will meet the case.â
âEpidemic!â said the Vicar. âYou donât mean itâs contagious?â
The doctor smiled gently and rubbed one hand against the other. âThat I couldnât say,â he said.
âButâ-!â cried the Vicar, round-eyed. âIf itâs catchingâitâit affects us!â
He made a stride up the road and turned about.
âIâve just been there,â he cried. âHadnât I betterâ-? Iâll go home at once and have a bath and fumigate my clothes.â
The doctor regarded his retreating back for a moment, and then turned about and went towards his own houseâ¦.
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