Argosy: The Short Story Magazine — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PE ap et ET Pp a on Me eng Cr Ree ee Pere tee se eae ee o- oe ~~ 106 JOHN WYNDHAM I did my best, but at her age there was the difficulty that the words had to be simple, too. After an hour I had made very little head- way, and she was becoming too bored to try to understand. “‘ All right,” I said, despairingly. ‘‘ Let’s play a game. You shut your eyes. Keep them shut, and pretend you’re looking down a deep, deep well. Nothing but dark. Don’t think of anything but how dark it is, and how far, far away the bottom of the well is.” “Yes,” she agreed, eyelids tightly clenched. I thought a rabbit for her, and made it twitch its nose. She chuckled. Well, that was one good thing; at least, she could receive. I thought a puppy, some chickens, and a horse and cart, in quick succession. She opened her eyes, and looked bewildered. ‘‘ Where are they?” she asked, looking round for them. “They were think-things,”’ I told her. ‘“‘ Now I'll shut my eyes, too. We'll both look down the dark well and think of nothing but how dark it is. ‘Then you make a picture of a think-thing at the bottom of the well so that I can see it.” I played my part conscientiously and opened my mind to its most sensitive. ‘That was a mistake: there was a flash and a glare and a general feeling that I had been struck by a thunderbolt. I staggered in a mental daze, with no idea what her picture had been. The others came in, protesting. I tried to explain. “Well, you be careful. Don’t let her do that again. I damn near put an axe through my foot,” came aggrievedly from Michael. ** T’ve scalded myself on the kettle,’’ from Katherine. *‘Tjll her. Soothe her down somehow,” advised Rosalind. *‘ And warn us next time, before she tries.”’ When I had pulled myself together: ‘‘ Make,” I told Petra, “make a little think-picture this time, a really little one ever so far away, in soft pretty colours, and do it slowly and gently, as if you were making it out of cobwebs.” Petra nodded, and closed her eyes again. ** Look out! ”? I warned the others, and waited, wishing it were the kind of thing one could dodge. It was not much worse than a minor explosion this time. I was even able to catch the shape of it. *“ A fish!” I told her, “‘ a fish with a droopy tail.” She chuckled delightedly. “Undoubtedly a fish,’ came from Michael. ‘‘ You’re doing fine. All you want now is to get her down to about one per cent of that power before she burns our brains out.”’ The next afternoon we had another session. It was a rather violent and exhausting business, but Petra was beginning to get some idea of forming thought-shapes. The main trouble was to keep the power down: when she became excited one was almost stunned by the impact. The others complained they could get no work done while it went on; it was like trying to ignore sudden hammer-bangs inside one’s head. ‘Towards the end I said to Petra, ‘“ Now I’m going to tell Rosalind to send you a think- picture. Shut your eyes like before. Ready? ”’ comiclooks.comnn