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    Special Delivery
    Special Delivery
    Special Delivery
    Ebook59 pages35 minutes

    Special Delivery

    By William Ashman and Damon Francis Knight

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    Special Delivery

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      Book preview

      Special Delivery - William Ashman

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Special Delivery, by Damon Francis Knight

      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: Special Delivery

      Author: Damon Francis Knight

      Illustrator: Ashman

      Release Date: April 16, 2010 [EBook #32011]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECIAL DELIVERY ***

      Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      Transcriber's Note:

      This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction April 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

      Special Delivery

      By DAMON KNIGHT

      Illustrated by ASHMAN

      All Len had to hear was the old gag: We've never lost a father yet. His child was not even born and it was thoroughly unbearable!

      en and Moira Connington lived in a rented cottage with a small yard, a smaller garden, and too many fir trees. The lawn, which Len seldom had time to mow, was full of weeds, and the garden was overgrown with blackberry brambles. The house itself was clean and smelled better than most city apartments, and Moira kept geraniums in the windows.

      However, it was dark on account of the firs. Approaching the door one late spring afternoon, Len tripped on an unnoticed flagstone and scattered examination papers all the way to the porch.

      When he picked himself up, Moira was giggling in the doorway. That was funny.

      The hell it was, said Len. I banged my nose. He picked up his Chemistry B papers in a stiff silence. A red drop fell on the last one. "Damn it!"

      Moira held the screen door for him, looking contrite and faintly surprised. She followed him into the bathroom. Len, I didn't mean to laugh. Does it hurt much?

      No, said Len, staring fiercely at his scraped nose in the mirror. It was throbbing like a gong.

      That's good. It was the funniest thing—I mean funny-peculiar, she clarified hastily.

      en stared at her; the whites of her eyes were showing: Is there anything the matter with you? he demanded.

      I don't know, she said on a rising note. Nothing like that ever happened to me before. I didn't think it was funny at all. I was worried about you, and I didn't know I was going to laugh— She laughed again, a trifle nervously. Maybe I'm cracking up.

      Moira was a dark-haired young woman with a placid, friendly disposition. Len had met her in his senior year at Columbia, with—looking at

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