Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 66 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

SLEEVE OF CARE Just leaves home for work and never gets there. Why? Damn it, why?” “There must be some reason.” “Is there?’ Sam scowled at the smouldering tip of his cigarette. ““I wish I knew what it was then. I’ve checked with the police and they know nothing of him. That rules out accident, amnesia, mental breakdown and fear of dis- covery for embezzlement. For thirty years Jud Johnson has lived like a machine, and up to ten days ago there was no reason to suspect that he wouldn’t end his life the same way. The end of his cigarette sent sparks showering from the edge of the fireplace as he flipped it towards the cold grate. “I’ve checked every lead I can think of. I’ve fitted in the gaps and built up what the man was like—and still it doesn’t make sense.” “You're trying too hard,” said Madge quietly. ‘““How can you hope to know him after a day?” 57 “IT know my trade, Madge.” Sam fumbled for a fresh cigarette, knowing that he was smoking too much and feeling too tired to worry about it. ““Give me a swindler or a man with secrets, and I can spot them and track them down. There’s a pattern, a sort of cause-and-effect about it, but Jud doesn’t fit in at all.”’ He snapped his lighter, swore when it didn’t work, and took the match Madge silently offered. *“‘“A man who has been ground down by a possessive wife. A man who still can find it within himself to dream. His reading proves that. Sheer escapism, the Utopias of Moore and Plato, the swashbuckling of Sabatini, the heroics of Homer, the future worlds of Wells and Clarke. He must have lived in a private hell, and yet probably thought that his life was normal and so didn’t dream of doing anything about it. A man who took no chances, gambled because he thought it would make him comiclooks.corn