Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION he and Mab would be etern- ally alone. They had come back, intent on raising a family which would ultimately repopulate the globe, but their union had not been fruitful. Years had rolled by, and he had eventually fallen victim to a morbid obsession. He had read somewhere that man is not fitted to bear the burden of immortality and that, faced with a sempiternal succession of days and nights, boredom would _ ultimately drive him mad. And he had believed that this was true. He had been terrified by the thought of inevitable mad- ness. Neither Mab nor him- self, he had decided, should succumb to such a fate. Any- thing was preferable to that. Even—and it seemed the only remedy—their simultaneous annihilation in the reasonably near future. He remembered taking some action—couldn’t recall it clearly—— “Mab!” he yelled suddenly. He jumped up, sweating. *“Mab!” He ran in the direction of the temple, crash- ing through the undergrowth, 98 disregarding the low branches which whipped and bloodied his face. ““Mab!” When he found her, she was waiting at the ruined temple, sitting on a broken stone pillar. Flinging himself at her feet, he held her hand, beyond utterance of words. He closed his eyes, letting re- assurance seep into his over- wrought mind. Then the scream was re- peated, almost in his ear, and he jumped up, shaking with fright. “What the devil——” “Silly boy!’ Mab smiled reproachfully. “It’s only Nebuchadnezzar. See!” She raised a brown arm on which perched a beady-eyed green bird. ‘‘Nebby!” she admon- ished it severely. ““You mustn’t make that horrid noise!” The bird blinked wickedly, gabbling and shuffling down her arm. Then it turned a baleful glare on Jud. “The parrot!” gasped Jud, remembering. “Bottoms up!” said Nebu- chadnezzar. “Pretty Polly! Pretty Polly!” Jud relaxed. Memories came comiclooks.corn