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He turned to his
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son. "How far off are them stars?"
"Hundreds of millions of miles," replied Sonny, without turning his head.
Air hissed scornfully in between the old man's teeth.
"You're crazy boy," he said. "It can't be nothing like that."
"Look in the almanac if you don't believe me,"
said Sonny.
"Huh!" said George; but he turned and went across to the kitchen shelf where
the current issue of the almanac stood beside Betty's cookbooks.
"I just wish we could do something for it," said
Betty.
"I guess we could put him on a pillow or some-
thing," said Sonny
Betty turned and went out of the room. Behind
Sonny, the old man's feet shuffled across the kitchen floor.
"1 can't find it in here. Sonny," he said. pushing the almanac into his son's
hands. "Where do you find figures like that?"
Sonny took it, ran through the index and turned to the almanac's interior.
"Here you are," he said. " 'The Planets and the
E GUBLING Dow 63
Solar System. Name of planet Mercury approxi-
mate distance from Earth in millions of miles
maximum one thirty-six.' That's a hundred and thirty-six million miles.
'Minimum, fifty ' That's fifty million and so on. And the planets ain't stars.
Stars are much further off. Read it for yourself, there. Maybe it came from a
planet, maybe a star."
He handed the book back to the old man, who took it numbly and stared at the
open page.
"That can't be right," he said. "That just can't be right. Couldn't anything
come that far. Why, do you know how far a million miles is, Sonny?"
"If they figure we can do it one of these days, no reason this couldn't have,"
said Sonny.
Betty came back with the pillow.
"Lift it real gentiy, Sonny," she said. Sonny lifted.
She slid the pillow underneath the creature. It shiv-
ered, but said nothing-
"All that way " the old man was mumbling- "What for?"
"Maybe," said Betty, hesitantly, "it came to tell us something."
"Tell us what?" demanded George, turning to her.
"I don't know. But the way it says E Gub whatever it is over and over again "
"Sonny," George turned to his son, "do you guess that's it?"
"Don't know," said Sonny, gazing at the now quiet creature.
"E " it said. "Gubling Dow."
"I'm going to call that FBI office again," said Sonny.
"Maybe I could meet them halfway or some such thing."
He went into the living room; and they heard him speaking to the operator.
George turned to Betty.
"Girl " he said, in a low voice. "Girl, I'm not as young as 1 used to be.
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but
64 Gordon R. Dicksun it's hard for me all these new things. And I
don't know about this. I just don't know."
She came over to him and took his hand, sympa-
thetically.
"You don't like it either," he said, looking up at her. "I know you don't like
it, either."
She stroked his shoulder, reassuringly.
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"Hush, Dad," she said. But her voice trembled a little. "Hush. I was scared at
first, too- But now I'm just sorry for it. being hurt and all."
"What's it trying to say to us?" said the old man.
"I can't talk to him. He don't listen to me anymore.
But you know how I feel, girl. I worked for my uncle thirty years before I got
this place- I tried to build it into something permanent over forty years
here. And now that I got it, the world seems to be going to pieces all around
me. You understand me, girl. I
don't mean to be ornery and cranky all the time. I
just don't feel right with things anymore."
"Hush, Dad," she said. "We know."
"You do," he answered. "But does he? He's alt one piece, that boy. All one
tight little package. Can't nobody tei! what he thinks or feels or sees. Most
of the time I think he don't care. I care. You care." He looked up at the girl
suddenly with a strange expres-
sion on his lined face. "I know and I bet he don't even. You're expecting,
ain't you?"
"Shhh!" said the girl. But this time there was an urgency to her hushing. "I
don't know I mean, I'm not sure. I want to see the doctor first before I say
anything. I was going today in town, but I didn't get the chance."
"You see?" mumbled George. "You and a child in you. And me "
"E .. ." said the creature, slowly and heavily, "Gubling . . . Doooow."
The last word drew out like a disk on a record
E GUBLING Dow 65
player slowing down. They both looked over at the creature where it lav still.
"And it," said George.
Sonny came back into the kitchen, walking fast, as he always did, on his toes.
"Man's already left," he announced. "How is he?"
He bent over the creature. He shook his head. The area around the crease had
darkened and enlarged and the colors that played over the surface of the
sphere seemed to have slowed.
"Betty," he said, straightening up. "Let's have some coffee. That man ought to
be here in an hour. City's unty tortv miles away."
"If he doesn't get lost," put in George.
Sunny looked at his father. "He won't," he said, shortly.
Betty went to the stove and picked up the coffee pot. The coffee in it was
old. She poured it out and put tresh water on. Then she came back and sat down
at the table.
They sat now, all three of them, for Sonny had taken a seat at the table, top;
and his lather was seated across from him. Sonny looked up at the old man.
"You tired. Dad?" he said. "No sense vou're staying up unless you want to."
"I'm waiting," said George.
A silence fell between them. After a while, the coffee pot began to sing above
the burner and Betty got up to turn the current off. Still none of them said
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