The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK ®. Darrell Schweitzer

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      The B.M. Bower Megapack

      The Max Brand Megapack

      The Buffalo Bill Megapack

      The Cowboy Megapack

      The Zane Grey Megapack

      The Western Megapack

      The Second Western Megapack

      The Wizard of Oz Megapack

      YOUNG ADULT

      The Boys’ Adventure Megapack

      The Dan Carter, Cub Scout Megapack

      The Doll Story Megapack

      The G.A. Henty Megapack

      The Girl Detectives Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Pinocchio Megapack

      The Rover Boys Megapack

      The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Megapack

      The Tom Swift Megapack

      AUTHOR MEGAPACKS

      The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

      The Edward Bellamy Megapack

      The E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Second E.F. Benson Megapack

      The Algernon Blackwood Megapack

      The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack

      The B.M. Bower Megapack

      The Max Brand Megapack

      The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack

      The Fredric Brown Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      The Ray Cummings Megapack

      The Guy de Maupassant Megapack

      The Philip K. Dick Megapack

      The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

      The Randall Garrett Megapack

      The C.J. Henderson Megapack

      The Second Randall Garrett Megapack

      The Anna Katharine Green Megapack

      The Zane Grey Megapack

      The Edmond Hamilton Megapack

      The Dashiell Hammett Megapack

      The M.R. James Megapack

      The Selma Lagerlof Megapack

      The Murray Leinster Megapack

      The Second Murray Leinster Megapack

      The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack

      The Talbot Mundy Megapack

      The Andre Norton Megapack

      The H. Beam Piper Megapack

      The Mack Reynolds Megapack

      The Rafael Sabatini Megapack

      The Saki Megapack

      The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack

      The Robert Sheckley Megapack

      OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY

      The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)

      The Wildside Book of Fantasy

      The Wildside Book of Science Fiction

      Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries

      TRANSIENTS

      I remember—

      I remember a rowhouse in West Philadelphia where the stained wooden paneling and reproduction antique furniture and the fire in the fireplace on a dark November evening all conspired to produce the pleasant, if incongruous, atmosphere of an Olde Countrie Inne. I remember sitting by that fire so many times in a padded chair, listening to the flames crackling, and the sounds of my wife preparing dinner in the kitchen at the back of the house.

      I remember my wife, too. Her name was Martina, but at times it seems I have only one image of her remaining: that of her bringing me my slippers and the newspaper as I sit in that chair by the fireplace after a long day’s work. That isn’t right. It makes her seem more like a faithful dog than a person, but she really did do those things, from her own sense of routine, infusing order into the world around her. I remember the repeated things. Most of the rest melts away, like mist before the sun.

      I remember, finally, the pair of slippers she brought me on a particular, foul November evening. They were made of brown leather, with white fur around the edges, and were very worn.

      I held them up.

      “But these aren’t mine.”

      She shrugged. “Whose are they then? It’s your feet that have been going in them all this time.”

      “All what time?”

      Now she looked at me strangely. “Since the summer before last, when we got them at that Indian place in Maine. Don’t you remember?”

      I put the slippers on. They certainly felt as if I’d been wearing them since the summer before last. I retreated into making a joke about it.

      “Ah, yes, the Squash-a-ma-quoddy Indians. How could I forget?”

      She didn’t laugh. She just said, “Alan, your brain is going soft,” and went into the kitchen to resume her cooking, leaving me sitting there, staring down at the slippers. Now there is little terror in a pair of slippers, but I felt a touch of unease just then, like that first, subtle, downward jolt when the elevator cable begins to fray.

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