Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “Thought maybe you weren’t used to the money.” He smiled. “I always handle money carefully. Don’t like to see it go so fast.” *“Who does?” But she watched him from the back of the room. At school she had always been told that her worst failing was her habit of sticking to first impressions even when they were wrong. He’s a foreigner, she thought. He didn’t look foreign, and he talked good English, but she was certain about him. He was a young man, not much taller than herself and of heavy build. He wore black rimmed glasses. She noted the way he ate his food; correctly, a little too correctly. What was he doing in this kind of hash-joint, for that matter? He wasn’t their usual line of trade. She was not a girl of great imagination. If she had been the problem would not have engaged her so much. An imaginative outlook would have provided half a dozen good and sufficient stories to account for the small details that were wrong. Jenny v.as conscious only that they were wrong. Pretending to read a magazine, she watched him covertly. He called her over when he had finished. “‘Another coffee, please.” She brought it and took the money from him. She was turning to go back, when he spoke to her, softly: “Wait.” “Yee Tt’ “You were watching me while I was eating. Why?” “Watching you? Why should I watch you? I’ve been reading a magazine.” He glanced round the restaurant. There were three or four people, in addition to himself. They weren’t paying any attention, as far as she could judge. “You can’t talk in a place like this. What time do you finish?” “Ten o’clock. And I go straight home.” “T’d like to walk you home tonight. No, honest, it’s all on a 44 comiclooks.com