[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
to be Pilgrim. Yes, a long and bony figure really a familiar one in these
parts with dark hair and a darkly bearded face that showed as little more than
a mass of shadows above the sheets.
Stupidly, without any real intention of doing so, Jerry took one more step
closer to the bed, and then another. He stood looking down at that shadowed
face for what seemed to him a long time. He began to feel a cold sensation in
the pit of his stomach but the feeling, like everything else, was too remote
to be of any real importance. Then the figure on the bed stirred lightly, as
if in sleep, and Jerry turned away from it hastily and stumbled back into his
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...spaar/Fred%20Saberhage
n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (54 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact own room.
He had one thought: if it were only wine that had befuddled him, what he had
seen just now ought to have shocked him sober. So what had overcome him was
more than wine. And that meant
The last thing he saw clearly was the white bed from which he had arisen,
swinging up to claim him, with finality this time.
FIVE
Coming back to life was a slow, gradual, and painful process.
Jerry's head was throbbing with what felt like the patriarch of all hangovers.
To make matters worse, at some time during the night someone had stolen his
soft white bed, substituting for it a bag of some coarse, malodorous fabric
that crackled each time he moved as if it were stuffed with very crisp and
durable dried leaves.
Somewhere outside the barricade of his eyelids, light had reappeared. It was
daylight, he supposed. But that was no cause for rejoicing. He was in no hurry
to behold what daylight might reveal.
In fact he was rather afraid to find out. He couldn't really remember what had
happened to him last night.
He had been through a job interview, of sorts.
Oh, he remembered that much, all right. He, Jerry Flint, the graduate student
from the big city, had driven down to Springfield to talk to some people about
a job, and had made a total and utter ass of himself. That much he could
remember with bitter clarity, though a great many of the details were still
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
mercifully obscure.
And then just at the end of the evening, before he had passed out
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n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (55 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact totally, he had looked in the bed in the
next room of the converted farmhouse, and thought that he saw
Jerry groaned. With eyes still shut, he extended a leg to find the edge of the
bed. He needed a bathroom, and the need was going to become urgent very soon.
His exploring foot could locate no edge, and in another moment or two Jerry
had realized that this was because there was no bed. By now one of his eyelids
had come unglued and opened, and with this advantage he could see that he was
indeed lying on the floor. An unfamiliar floor. Between him and its
rough-hewn, unfinished planks there was only the thickness the thinness,
rather of a stained mattress that really did crackle with his every movement,
as if it contained cornhusks.
It seemed that the folk of the Pilgrim Foundation were blessed with an
exquisite sense of humor, as well as pots of money. Not only a cornhusk
mattress, but they had also changed Jerry's clothes for him. He was now
wearing some kind of handmade gray shirt it felt like good linen and shapeless
trousers that looked somewhat the worse for having been rolled in dust and
leaves. Over his shirt he had on an embroidered vest, that came down past his
waist.
There were stockings unfamiliar ones on his feet, and a kind of enlarged bow
tie loosely looped around his collar.
In a far corner of the room, which was barren of all furniture except the
mattress, stood a pair of leather boots. The heels were too low for cowboy
boots, but they were high-topped and laceless. Beside them, resting on some
kind of brownish folded garment, was a high stovepipe hat of approximately the
same color. A shapeless bag the
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...spaar/Fred%20Saberhage
n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (56 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact size of a small suitcase, made of cloth
fabric except for its two cord carrying handles, rested beside the clothing.
This was the same size and shape as the room in which Jerry had fallen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
to be Pilgrim. Yes, a long and bony figure really a familiar one in these
parts with dark hair and a darkly bearded face that showed as little more than
a mass of shadows above the sheets.
Stupidly, without any real intention of doing so, Jerry took one more step
closer to the bed, and then another. He stood looking down at that shadowed
face for what seemed to him a long time. He began to feel a cold sensation in
the pit of his stomach but the feeling, like everything else, was too remote
to be of any real importance. Then the figure on the bed stirred lightly, as
if in sleep, and Jerry turned away from it hastily and stumbled back into his
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...spaar/Fred%20Saberhage
n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (54 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact own room.
He had one thought: if it were only wine that had befuddled him, what he had
seen just now ought to have shocked him sober. So what had overcome him was
more than wine. And that meant
The last thing he saw clearly was the white bed from which he had arisen,
swinging up to claim him, with finality this time.
FIVE
Coming back to life was a slow, gradual, and painful process.
Jerry's head was throbbing with what felt like the patriarch of all hangovers.
To make matters worse, at some time during the night someone had stolen his
soft white bed, substituting for it a bag of some coarse, malodorous fabric
that crackled each time he moved as if it were stuffed with very crisp and
durable dried leaves.
Somewhere outside the barricade of his eyelids, light had reappeared. It was
daylight, he supposed. But that was no cause for rejoicing. He was in no hurry
to behold what daylight might reveal.
In fact he was rather afraid to find out. He couldn't really remember what had
happened to him last night.
He had been through a job interview, of sorts.
Oh, he remembered that much, all right. He, Jerry Flint, the graduate student
from the big city, had driven down to Springfield to talk to some people about
a job, and had made a total and utter ass of himself. That much he could
remember with bitter clarity, though a great many of the details were still
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
mercifully obscure.
And then just at the end of the evening, before he had passed out
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...spaar/Fred%20Saberhage
n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (55 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact totally, he had looked in the bed in the
next room of the converted farmhouse, and thought that he saw
Jerry groaned. With eyes still shut, he extended a leg to find the edge of the
bed. He needed a bathroom, and the need was going to become urgent very soon.
His exploring foot could locate no edge, and in another moment or two Jerry
had realized that this was because there was no bed. By now one of his eyelids
had come unglued and opened, and with this advantage he could see that he was
indeed lying on the floor. An unfamiliar floor. Between him and its
rough-hewn, unfinished planks there was only the thickness the thinness,
rather of a stained mattress that really did crackle with his every movement,
as if it contained cornhusks.
It seemed that the folk of the Pilgrim Foundation were blessed with an
exquisite sense of humor, as well as pots of money. Not only a cornhusk
mattress, but they had also changed Jerry's clothes for him. He was now
wearing some kind of handmade gray shirt it felt like good linen and shapeless
trousers that looked somewhat the worse for having been rolled in dust and
leaves. Over his shirt he had on an embroidered vest, that came down past his
waist.
There were stockings unfamiliar ones on his feet, and a kind of enlarged bow
tie loosely looped around his collar.
In a far corner of the room, which was barren of all furniture except the
mattress, stood a pair of leather boots. The heels were too low for cowboy
boots, but they were high-topped and laceless. Beside them, resting on some
kind of brownish folded garment, was a high stovepipe hat of approximately the
same color. A shapeless bag the
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswi...spaar/Fred%20Saberhage
n%20-%20After%20the%20Fact.html (56 of 258)22-2-2006 0:47:57
Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact size of a small suitcase, made of cloth
fabric except for its two cord carrying handles, rested beside the clothing.
This was the same size and shape as the room in which Jerry had fallen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]