The Man Who Stopped at Nothing by Fairman Paul W

Author:Fairman, Paul W. [Fairman, Paul W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: NewBook, Humor, Science Fiction
Publisher: Fantastic Adventures
Published: 1951-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

THEY DIDN’T go to the Belford that night. For some reason, the luxury of the place failed to attract Dorn. He wondered why, and thus learned a lesson in psychology. It was too late, of course, to do him any good, but he learned it nonetheless. That luxury in itself lost a great deal of its attractiveness when he had no neighbors to envy him for being able to afford it.

They walked down the street and picked the first hotel they found; discovered a vacant room with twin beds on the fifth floor and turned in.

But hardly had they gotten to sleep, when they were awakened to discover the room was no longer vacant. A bellhop came in, left a suitcase, a young couple and a smile, and departed with a dollar bill.

Dorn sat up and looked them over. The girl, he decided, wasn’t bad. Of the young man, he forebore any opinion, feeling himself not qualified. He sought an opinion from Sally, feeling that she was—at least partially—qualified

“What do you think of him?”

Sally was also sitting up in bed hugging her knees to her bosom. “‘He’s nice.”

“I’ll make a bet with you.”

Sally stared with no reaction whatever at the passionate clinch into which the couple had gone. They had become deeply involved in this clinch not more than two and one half seconds after the bellhop had closed the door.

“What do you want to bet?”

“That there’s nothing whatever in that suitcase.”

-‘That’s absurd. Why would a married couple come to a hotel with an empty suitcase?”.

“To carry away their memories, possibly, but who said anything about their being—anyhow, I’ll bet you it’s empty.”

Dorn jumped from the bed and opened the suitcase. “I was wrong,” he said.

Sally craned her neck. “What’S in it?” .

“Bricks. Five bricks.”

“That’s amazing.”

Sally’s interest was centered upon the newcomers. She pointed with frank amazement. “Look. Look what he’s doing.” ‘

“What did you expect him to do?”

The interlude was ended when the girl broke away and ran-toward the bathroom door. Dorn took a—quick step in that direction. Then he stopped and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I think we’d better check out,” he said.

“Why? They won’t be in our way.”

“No, but—”

The young man walked toward Sally, sat down, and began removing his shoes.

“I think they’re going touse your bed,” Dorn observed. “I think we’d better leave.”’

Sally shrugged. “If you say so.”

Dorn reached for his own shoes. There was a wistfulness in his voice as he said, “It would be nice to stay, but, after all, one can’t take an unfair advantage just because one is in a position—anyway, let’s get out of here.”

They found another hotel, another vacant room. This one stayed vacant.

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.