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    Sugar Plum
    Sugar Plum
    Sugar Plum
    Ebook59 pages34 minutes

    Sugar Plum

    By Reginald Bretnor

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 15, 2013
    Sugar Plum

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      Book preview

      Sugar Plum - Reginald Bretnor

      The Project Gutenberg eBook, Sugar Plum, by Reginald Bretnor, Illustrated by Ashman

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Sugar Plum

      Author: Reginald Bretnor

      Release Date: May 5, 2010 [eBook #32266]

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

      ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUGAR PLUM***

      E-text prepared by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan,

      and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

      (http://www.pgdp.net)

      Transcriber's Note:

      This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction, November, 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

      Sugar Plum

      By R. BRETNOR

      Illustrated by ASHMAN

      If not for two items, this would be a funny story—the Atomic Age brought back the 1925 vogue, and inhibition is not shatter-proof.

      On a clear spring evening in 2189, Charles Edward Button came home half an hour late for his supper, tossed his hat to the robot butler who came out from behind the DoItAll, and announced that he had just bought a planet.

      His wife, Betty, was looking small and long-suffering on a plastic reproduction of a Victorian love-seat, and her cousin Aurelia, a large, handsome woman, was standing behind her protectively.

      Of course, he informed them, "it's not a big planet. But what a bargain! With real oceans, and two moons, and—"

      Real estate, real estate, real estate! Cousin Aurelia's tart voice cut him off in mid-sentence. "You know what's come of every one of your investments. Call the man right now and tell him you want your money back!"

      I'm afraid it's too late. Charles avoided her eye. I bought it up at a tax-auction and—well, the government never refunds.

      "I thought so. A planet nobody wants. Probably all run down, with swamps and deserts, and in some dreadful, shabby district where the neighbors have squirmy tentacles, or eyes on stalks, or big, nasty beaks!"

      It isn't at all. It's in a good neighborhood—only two systems away from the Inchcapes' new summer planet. A little remote, but that means more privacy. He took a catalogue out of his pocket. 'Parcel 71,' he read. 'Sugar Plum, a Class IV planet'—that means it's like Earth, only bigger—'claimed 8/12/85 by Space Captain Alexander Burgee, under Planetary Homestead Act of 2147 (amended.)' And here's his description of the place where he landed: 'Neat as a pin, fine climate, full of critters and fish, quite uninhabited.' He was lost in Deep Space, poor fellow. That's why they sold it.

      Betty smiled faintly. "The Inchcapes call their planet Bide-A-Wee.

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