| Show moe was smart hy by RICHARD 11 II WILKINSON 0 Ai aiache acae deryke ha W HEN moe Asp aspinwall inwald was four teen he fie set down on paper the details of his first hunting trip and mailed the narrative to a sporting magazine the magi magazine zine print edthe yarn and sent moe a jackknife in payment moe was elated he stated then and there that he was going goffig to make writing his career admitting that tor for years he had cherished such an ambition the youngsters friends were amused not in their wildest imaginings could they picture moe as a successful writer to begin with his penmanship was atrocious his hai spelling was worse and his adolescent use of the english language not without serious flaws ten years passed and it appeared that moes prognosticating friends had known whereof they spoke moe write any more stories or it if lie he did they never saw the printers ink the friends help feeling a little triumphant and smug about it they had predicted that moes boasts were nothing but hot air and it flattered their vanity tol discover scover they were right and because moe seemed undaunted and continued to boast they chided him a lot how about it moe say when are you going to get the chance to read that masterpiece of yours but moe seemed wholly unabashed 1 I written it yet hed answer seriously but im working all the time develop Deve lorl ing na my natural talent be foolish onroe to send a lot of trash to the magazines that I 1 knew salable injure my reputation im smart too smart to do that you just watch the friends grinned and looked amused and agreed to watch and then abruptly shortly after moe had passed his twenty fifth birthday their watching eyes began tf t bulge for the midweek mid week fiction magazine recognized as the leader in its field one day published a short story by a new writer dark days was the name of the yarn and its author was moe aspinwall Asp inwald the magazine spoke of him as a literary find they advertised the story widely gambled their reputation on its success but it much of a gamble for dark days proved to be eve everything grything that the magazine predicted it swept the country like wild ure fire it was reprinted adorea a dozen times even reproduced in small book form and sold by th the ahod thousands hollywood bought the screen rights and dramatized the yarn moe aspinwall Asp inwald much affected by his success as his friends expected instead of gloating ho he me merely rely grinned amiably why sure he said 1 I know knew what would happen I 1 waited till I 1 had developed myself all im smart V but it turned out that moe as smart as he thought the friends who in truth were envious of his success were given an opportunity to obe become come smug once more mor incredulous from the first many of them predicted that dark days was only a flash in the pan which appeared to be right moe nt keep it up or at least the editor of midweek week fiction asked for more stories and the youth wrote them but the editor of midweek mid week fiction shook tits his head doubtfully it would hurt your reputation if we published these mr Asp aspinwall Inwald and ours too this stuff sault is good but it ft up to dark days the readers of midweek mid week fiction expect more of you and moe went home and wrote some more but obviously hed shot his bolt within the next six months ho he managed to sell two more stories to two other magazines on the strength ot of the success of dark days ll 11 but they were Infer inferior lor and the readers of the other magazines objected so strenuously that the editors told moe hed better take a long rest for his own good yes it appeared that moe had shot his bolt ile he was like r comet that had it dared ared across the sky burri burn ec brightly and died he tried other magazines and tried midweek mid week fiction tio n again but they all turned him down indeed midweek mid week fiction had 1 ost lost interest in him they haa hac become concerned with a new find a youth named clay hereford who like moe had attracted attention ln to himself by submitting for his first fir sf story one of extraordinary merit whereas V cereas herefords Here fords stuff was inferior to dark days the new author possessed the ability to maintain his quality and this meant that moe Asp aspinwall inwald had the skids under him for sure few 0 of moes friends friend s were sympathetic they had predicted that moe would come to this end and they were selfishly glad because it had happened moe aloe was a boaster maybe this would teach him a lesson do wm him some good but moe didat change chang e and he ha mind their gloating ile he continued to tell them what a great writer lie he was that he was smart it bothered him a little because they know his secret but at the same time he know knew that sometime find it out and he could watt wait lie he was use used d to waiting and it gave him a lot of satisfaction to think of how they d look when they discovered that thereal the real name of clay hereford was moe aspin wold wald oh moe was smart all right |
