Show r rp p 1 I 1 4 e t St GEO GE F. F TS o RELEASE I CHAPTER I IThe IThe The giant moths of those those damp amp black ghosts ghosts and and the smell of sour honey which were so trivial as facts but so vital to Zorie Zone Coreys Corey's i fears were among the things that w made it hard for her to put a proper le valuation on the events themselves There here were moments of terror which when she awoke in the night she could now contemplate with amused detachment And there were moments of lesser danger which even ven in retrospect could bring a scream into her throat l Perhaps Paul Duncan could have explained all of it in his clever analytical way Some of it he did try to explain because in his jealous jealous jeal jeal- ous us heart he adored her And som i of it was better left unexplained and even unremembered It might have hastened her recovery if she could have wiped from her memory that night in Pacific mid-Pacific when she fell down and down through endless blackness with that soft terrifying whisper in her ears ears Ah nah Ah Ah- Ah nahl nah And she could have well forgotten too the scented jasmine-scented dawn when she stood beside a stunted tree three thousand feet above the green and purple depths of the tropical canyon with an automatic pistol kicking in her hand although it would always seem that it had happened not to her Fier but to an unbelievable girl who had stepped out of her just long enough to attempt murder Yet all of it fitted into the one bright romantic pattern of intrigue and adventure which she would always always always al al- al- al ways cherish even unimportant trifles tri tri- fles the fles-the the quarreling of the minah birds just at dusk and again just at dawn lawn the annoying habit Grandfather Grande Grand Grand- J e father Duncan had of saying You understand understand understand-hm hm and the metallic luster Juster of moonlight on palm fronds leaping in the wind trade-wind the gleam in Pierre Savoyard's eyes whenever he be ate meat and the pride that Amber the girl from Martinique took in herself and the strange urbanity urbanity urbanity ur ur- ur- ur of the man who called himself himself himself him him- self Winthrop Lanning Her memory of the rest of that ordeal ordeal ordeal or or- deal was vague But she was never vague about Stephen Decatur Duncan with his languid manner his mocking blueey blueeyes blue blueeyes ey eyes s and his treachery Probing about in her mind on 1 these sleepless nights in a blacked- blacked out room on an island at war she saw herself on that dismal afternoon afternoon afternoon after after- noon in early December in a drowsy little university town sitting at her desk and wishing among other things that she was not so meek She was privately very certain that her wishing had started it and that every step she took that day was an unerring step in the direction of her destiny From her typewriter desk in the English Department Zorie Zone Corey could look out across the small campus campus campus cam cam- pus and over some of the rooftops of this town in which she had grown up and of which she was now she told r herself a helpless victim She had just uttered the fraudulent wish so often voiced by youth when it is overcome by a sense of frustration she she wished shed she'd never been born She then uttered three wishes all related in a row She wished she wasn't so meek She wished she had courage She wished shed she'd had the gumption to tell the wife of her distinguished distinguished dis- dis 1 employer to jump in I dis-I the river My dear Miss Corey Mrs Folsome Folsome Folsome Fol- Fol some in her gushing way had said over over the telephone a few minutes previously would you mind terribly terribly terribly terri terri- bly distributing the invitations for formy formy formy my tea next week They really should go out tonight and I think its it's so much nicer having them delivered delivered delivered ered by hand dont don't you And Professor Pro Pro- Professor fessor says youre you're so dependable So will you drop around for them when youre you're through Id love to Mrs Folsome Zone Zorie Corey had said in her melodious young voice instead of any number of appropriate things she might have said She might have mentioned that she didn't possess a car that it was going to rain that she was terribly rushed She might have suggested that Mrs Folsome neatly affix a I two-cent two stamp in the upper right- right hand corner of each of the envelopes envelopes enve enve- lopes and drop them in one of the green receptacles that an seeing all-seeing government has placed at numerous street corners for the convenience of its citizens 1 Why Zorie Zone Corey rebelliously muttered dont you deliver them with your own hand you old tightwad tightwad tight tight- wad Zorie Zone Corey wished she was a war nurse Then she wished she lived in California But anywhere would do Anywhere but Ellery ton Professor says youre you're so dependable depend depend- able And well he might Professor sor Bowdoin J. J Folsome was head of or the English Department Zorie Zone Corey Corey Corey Cor Cor- ey was his h time half time lf-time secretary and his hiR notion of the hours that a halftime halftime half half- time secretary should keep was from noon sharp until she slid from her chair with exhaustion The half-day half I was supposed to end at five but she often worked until thirty six thirty six nine sometimes midnight She expertly estimated that the work work work-he he had piled on her desk would keep her occupied until seven After that she must deliver his wife's invitations There would beabout beabout be beabout about thirty of them and the addresses addresses addresses ad ad- dresses would be scattered all aU over town And she had a date tonight with Paul Duncan Paul did not like tobe tobe to tobe be kept waiting Next to cleanliness with Paul came punctuality She gave herself the brief luxury of contemplating in a private archive archive archive ar ar- ar- ar chive of her mind her fiances fiance's lean I looking good-looking face his clear gray- gray green eyes his strong slender hands She loved Pauls Paul's hands They were clever and nervous and yet they were very masculine Paul had a brilliant mind and his understanding of human foibles his amusing way of pricking the bubbles of vanity and conceit and hypocrisy was a source of delight to Zorie Zone Paul was an instructor of gy And he was much too good for this small midwestern university She would she decided knock of off a at t five At six she was still typing in her fast efficient way At thirty six-thirty she called Pauls Paul's boarding He i 4 l r N Gr yi y r ir i a af f 4 iJ As she looked at the wishing Buddha Buddha Buddha Bud Bud- dha a curious thing happened It began to glow wasn't home The voice that answered answered answered an an- didn't know when he would return At seven Zorie Zone called again Paul she was told had dined out He was probably in the library doing research on his dissertation At twenty seven-twenty-eight she finished the last of her typing and laid her afternoons afternoon's production in neat piles on Professor Folsome's desk She would be late for her date with Paul and he would tell teU her again that the trait he admired most in the wives of the men he knew was punctuality ty One of the troubles with being meek of always saying yes and never never never nev nev- er no to a request Zorie Zone reflected is that youre you're always getting yourself yourself yourself your your- self into hot water She paused and looked about the gloomy office with its littered desk its overflowing wastebasket the pamphlets and catalogs and books scattered and stacked about all about all so typical of Professor ProCessor Folsome's un un- un- un tidiness At the back of the desk a confusion confusion confusion con con- fusion of books memoranda pens pencils and bottles and pots of ot ink of various colors was presided over overby overby overby by a gilded iron cast-iron Buddha about eight inches high Most of the gilt was gone He was fat benign and rusty A student from the Siam the son of a prince prince had had given the Buddha Buddha Bud Bud- dha to Professor ProCessor Folsome It was the sallow Siamese had mentioned with a drolly disparaging air a wishing Buddha from Crom a jungle temple near a a genuine jungle wishing Buddha Zorie Zone Corey was a sensible girland girland girl and she took no stock k in heathen idols or any ny of the nonsense you hear about them but as she looked at the wishing Buddha a curious thing happened It began to glow The explanation of this phenomenon non was prosaic and simple but Zorie Zone wasn't instantly aware of oC that The glow was greenish and ghostly and it seemed seamed to come on as if the jungle Buddha were trying to call her attention to himself and his rep rep- What had happened was that the I shifting clouds above the Fenwick Body Plant had glowed brightly for fora a moment in the glare from the floodlights which surrounded the buildings one buildings one of the measures being being being be be- ing taken to discourage saboteurs saboteurs- and this gl glow w had let the curving surfaces of the Siamese Buddha catch and momentarily hold a ghostly ghost ghost- ly gleam Even his eyes seemed to glimmer I wish Zorie Zone Corey began impetuously and hesitated Then she made her wish She wished she could be whisked to a leisurely landof landof land landof of palms and jade-green jade seas of strange flowers with intoxicating scents of birds that left bright flames in their wake and of delightful delightful delightful de de- people too gallant to take advantage advantage ad ad- vantage of her meekness She next wished that Paul Duncan was therewith therewith there therewith with her Then she wished that she would lose her meekness That made a total of three wishes and three wishes were according to tradition the correct number There should be of course some sort of ritual She bent down quickly quick quick- ly and kissed the iron cast-iron jungle Buddha three times on the brow one kiss for each wish He tasted dusty and rusty She stepped back and gazed somewhat somewhat somewhat some some- what defiantly at the Buddha who no longer glowed but sat there in inthe inthe inthe the Jungle of a fusty old English professors professor's desk a dark lump in inthe inthe inthe the darkness as if in glowing once he had spent his magic force and would never glow again Zorie Zone waited and a curious tingling went along her spine Nothing noteworthy happened Zorie Zone Corey did not find herself speeding through the night on a Persian Persian Persian Per Per- sian rug nor did she feel one degree degree de de- degree de- de gree less meek The telephone in her cubicle began began began be be- gan to ring She ran down the hall with her heart racing out of all proportion to the amount of exercise exercise exercise exer exer- cise she was giving it As she ran she pictured the man who was calling calling calling call call- ing her and the man was curiously enough not Paul Duncan He was wasa a total stranger He was tall taU bronzed and shouldered big-shouldered with merry eyes and curly hair and a abig abig abig big easy smile and a lazy romantic way about him He would say to her in a deep resonant cheery voice Miss Corey Corey Corey Cor Cor- ey I have just been authorized to offer you an opportunity to leave El El- at once and take a very interesting in interesting in- in interesting journey But the voice that responded to her breathless hello was neither deep resonant nor cheery My dear it said with just a hint of severity I thought you'd be over for these invitations ages ago Had you forgotten No I hadn't forgotten Zone Zorie answered in her melodiously meek voice Im just leaving It was an December night rainy and warm warm the the kind of night that might be transformed by bya a sudden north wind into a glitter of ice-clad ice trees and telephone wires As she started along the campus with her head bowed as if in shame against the drizzle she indulged instill in instill instill still another wish She wished she had had the courage to ask her Aunt Hannah for her coupe for a couple of hours Zorie Zone went up on the wide porch of the big old fashioned gray house where the lived A colored colored colored col col- col- col ored maid answered the doorbell and brought Zorie Zone the stack of invitations invitations invitations in a cellophane wrapper Zorie Zone was on the point of asking her if she could borrow an umbrella but the door was quickly closed and she decided against pressing the button again for the maid had looked cross She examined the invitations under under under un un- der the porch light They were addressed addressed addressed ad ad- dressed in Mrs Folsome's spidery handwriting The addresses were faculty wives and a few of the more prominent townswomen There was no envelope addressed to Zorie Zone Cor Cor- ey She went down the steps and into the rain Less than one hundred feet from the front porch on the corner was a telephone pole poleto to which was affixed a street light The street light clearly illuminated two objects a mailbox and a large trash basket on the side of which was a stencilled sign Zone Zorie stopped Two temptations were tugging at her The first was to buy thirty two-cent two stamps and mail the invitations The other temptation temptation temp temp- tation appealed strongly to the renegade renegade renegade rene rene- gade in her but it was as spurious as her wish that shed she'd never been born Thinking of the malicious gossip that flew fiew around at these faculty teas she gazed at the sign on the trash basket KEEP YOUR TOWN TO CLEAN USE THIS 1 How Id I'd love to she murmured Across the street was a taxicab with the meter ticking She was toof too f reoccupied preoccupied to notice it Yet she would remember every other detail of that night of that moment the sound of it the look of it the smell of it the feel of it all the little things that make a great moment so real in the afterthought the rattle of the rain on the tree rn 11 nc ne rv |