Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

48 with. He went out grinning, thanking us all for an entertaining evening and they were all griping, all except Doc who sat there, his close-set eyes glittering behind the thick spectacles. “Imagine him taking me for thirty bucks,” he said, making his smile that wasn’t one. “Imagine.” “He knows people, he knows cards, he knows women,’ I said. ““You’re - not gonna brainwrite that boy.” He gave me his ugly twitch. ““Want to bet?” he said. I bet him five. I went home humming ““Roamin’ Free As The Breeze.”” Sunday night is the deadest night of all in Benton. I rolled in early and had sawed a pretty fair amount of wood when the emergency teletalker began to screech by the bedside. I was up and putting on clothes before I could remember who I was but I snapped out of it in a rush when I saw the pinched face of Doc Roydan on the screen. ‘“You’d better come scootin’,” he said. “There’s been a crime. Tony Holland’s shack out on the edge of the hollow.” My heart sank. “Tony Holland!” ““Somebody’s got to keep an eye on our citizens if the police force can’t,” said Doc. _ It's a good thing I was out this way.” I got over there fast. Tony Holland would be called a town character in most places, but actually he’s just another oldish man with no family and no particular skills who does odd jobs around the town. There isn’t a thing wrong with him except one or two little peculiarities like the way he handles money and the way he cottons up to Doc Roydan. He lives in a house on the edge of town which I refuse to call a shack. It needs a coat of paint; so do plenty of other houses in town. It’s a little run-down, but I don’t always cut my grass either. But ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION the thing that bothered me was that Tony Holland is a hypochondriac. At his age he thinks he has all kinds of mental troubles—and he keeps going back to Doc Roydan to get brain- written. Like some men spend money on liquor, he spent his on getting Doc’s services, and he’s been two or three operations in arrears for the last ten years. Likewise Doc is always dropping by there to check up on his most steady customer and lap up some of the praise Tony dishes out to him. Tony thinks Doc invented the sun. I found him lying on his bed with a big gash on his-head. Doc was pacing the floor looking serious. Tony began yelling as soon as I came in. “They got away with three hundred and two dollars and eleven cents,’’ he said. ‘““They bashed me on the head and stole all my savings.” “Somebody who’s been watching this place,”’: said Doc. “Somebody who’s sneaked in here and gone over the place at his leisure, way I figure Re My nerves began to twang a little. “Yesterday my money was. all right,” moaned Tony. “Today I got a hundred dollars back on a loan from my brother in Ellenstown. I was going to add it to what I had and put it in the bank tomorrow. I was counting it, standing over there and suddenly I knew there was somebody in the room. On account of my senses being real clear after that last brainwriting of Doc’s. And just then I got hit with a club, or some kind of blunt instru- ment.” ““Now don’t tell me it was a passing tramp,” said Doc, his eyes narrowly on me. “Since PEOnWaTIDE there aren’t any tramps.”’ “I didn’t say anything,” I said, looking at Tony’s wound. It was a nasty one, all right. And don’t say it was anyone in comiclbooks.c© nl