Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

SLEEVE OF CARE None. A joint savings ac- count with her as the finan- cial manager doling out a strict budget for newspapers, cigarettes, lunches and fares. No money. And yet the man had dis- appeared. Sam thinned his lips as he stared down at his notes. An ageing, apparently normal man. One of millions. Colour- less, insignificant, in fair health and mental stability, had left for work as he had done a thousand times before. Had walked from his neat, mort- gaged, semi-detached house in a respectable suburb—and vanished. And his wife wanted him back. He stared at her, lounging back in his chair and studying her with impersonal eyes. Young once, obviously. At- tractive once, perhaps. No children. No personality. A woman for whom a man had turned himself into a work- horse. Going to work, coming home, going to work, coming home, forcing himself into a 49 mould, a rigid routine, a complete negation of all he had ever wanted or hoped to be. For how long? ““We’ve been married for thirty years,’ she said with quiet pride. “Jud was a little wild when I first met him, but he settled down well and turned out to be a good hus- band.” She dabbed at her washed-out eyes. “I can’t understand what could have happened to him.” ‘Perhaps...’ Sam hesitated, knowing how ridiculous the question would seem to her. “Perhaps your husband wanted to disappear? I...” ““Nonsense!’’ Anger glowed for a moment in her faded eyes. ‘““We were happy, with a nice home and a steady job. Why should he want to run away and leave it all behind?” A hundred reasons, Sam thought grimly. A younger woman, perhaps, or one not so eager to obey the conven- tions. Vibrant flesh and a transistory youth again, in- stead of the cold, regulated dispensation of frigid favours. comiclooks.corn