The Year's Top Tales of Space and Time 2 by Allan Kaster

Author:Allan Kaster [Kaster, Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AudioText
Published: 2022-09-16T05:00:00+00:00

Jesse was weary, but he took the stairs two at a time to complete the ascent more quickly. If he let himself grow sluggish, he just found himself resting on every landing, and the whole business lasted three times as long as it needed to.

When he entered the apartment, the only light was the glow from the wood stove; Felicia stood beside it, ladling broth over a simmering stew.

“That smells good,” Jesse told her. In fact, it smelled so glorious that he was ready to swoon from a mixture of hunger and gratitude.

“I’m going to have to leave as soon as I’ve eaten,” Felicia said. “They want me back at the workshop for a second shift.”

“You should have said no.”

“And lose the job completely?”

She lit a lamp before serving the food, which struck Jesse as an odd extravagance until he saw a copy of the New York Sun laid out on the table.

“Something here you want to show me?” he guessed.

“I don’t know if it will amuse you, or make you angry,” she said. “But I didn’t want you to learn about it indirectly.”

Jesse skimmed the front page, but failed to detect anything of interest. “Where is it?”

“Page six. Third column, halfway down.”

He found the piece and read it aloud. “‘The Vermont Phoenix reports that several witnesses in the town of Haverhill, NH, have spoken of their encounters with a recently deceased railway worker, Mr. Jesse Sloss. While known in life as a restrained and taciturn young man, Mr. Sloss was observed post-mortem acting wildly, brazenly and licentiously, causing a nuisance to many citizens, who were forced to drive him away with whatever implements lay to hand. His grave remains empty, but townsfolk believe their firm actions have succeeded in discouraging further visitations.’”

“No mention of sulfurous breath?” Felicia joked.

“I must not have left things as tidy as I thought at the cemetery,” Jesse concluded glumly. Or there’d been some subsidence after he was gone that filled in the coffin and left a hollow above it, prompting some busybody to investigate further.

“It’s not worth fretting over,” Felicia said. “With no portrait, and no one here knowing you as Sloss, I can’t see it causing any trouble.”

“Except that everyone in Haverhill will harbor suspicions about you now, wondering if you’re in cahoots with a corpse. And you can’t lie to your parents forever.”

“I never lied to them,” she insisted. “I’ve just omitted a few details from my letters.”

“They’re going to want to visit here, eventually.”

“Not if I visit them first,” Felicia retorted. “I’ve made it plain that I’d have no room to accommodate them, that my job keeps me busy, and that there’s nothing at all pleasant they could do to pass their time here.”

Jesse could see that he was beginning to annoy her, so he let the matter drop. When they sat down to eat, he confined his remarks to compliments about the meal.

“Sarah’s been told to come into the workshop, too,” Felicia said. “Would you be able to watch her son while she’s away? He’s been poorly, and she doesn’t want him left alone.

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