Lumber and Other Tales

By Bret Nelson

Decades after his death in 1896, Professor Marchworth's "Emotion Resonator" would be called "The Cabinet of Sorrows" as it was exhibited through a series of London sideshows. A poster preserved in the London Museum of Curiosities bills the cabinet as "an object cured in anguish, stained in grief, and varnished with madness," a far cry from the Oxford Psychiatrist's intended legacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Encyclopocalypse Publications
• Release date: Oct 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201536183

Book preview

Contents

Lumber

Dirt

Silver

Lumber

Thompson peered out the pub’s window. He was trying to be subtle as he surveyed the man outside but the whiskey made that difficult.

Still there? asked Stevens.

Yeah, he’s still there. Thompson continued his study through the glass. It has to be him. He’s just standing there, next to that Hansom Cab what brung him. Been half an hour now, the lamplighter’s been by.

Could be some one else...

Bah! Look at those fine shoes, that blue bowler hat. And a Hansom Cab in this neighborhood? No, that’s him for certain. I’m going out.

You’re mad!

Could be. Or he might turn me into a madman. But for a gold guinea I’ll take a chance!

Thompson stepped out into the chill air of Greenfield Road. The smell from the packing district was particularly foul tonight. He knew to watch where he stepped on this street. When he looked up, he was surprised to see the man in the blue hat smiling at him. Good evening sir, he said, tipping the hat.

Thompson studied the man. You. You’re him, ain’t you?

Him?

You’re that professor. With the box. And the coins.

Yes, I am him.

Thompson got right to his business. Well, I hear tell you’ve got this box...

Cabinet.

Cabinet, then. And you hire folk to just, be in it?

"Yes. It’s called the ‘Emotion Resonator.’ There is a velvet seat inside. I will ask you a series of questions about how you feel before you go in and how you feel after you come out. If you sit in