The Calm Man Read online

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  _Dip the pen of a Frank Belknap Long into a bottle of ink and the result is always bound to be a scintillating piece of brilliant imaginative science fiction. And he's done it again in the tortured story of Sally._

  the calm man

  _by ... Frank Belknap Long_

  Sally watched the molten gold glow in the sky. Then knew she would not see her son and her husband ever again on Earth.

  Sally Anders had never really thought of herself as a wallflower. A girlcould be shy, couldn't she, and still be pretty enough to attract andhold men?

  Only this morning she had drawn an admiring look from the milkman and awolf cry from Jimmy on the corner, with his newspapers and shiny newbike. What if the milkman was crowding sixty and wore thick-lensedglasses? What if Jimmy was only seventeen?

  A male was a male, and a glance was a glance. Why, if I just primp alittle more, Sally told herself, I'll be irresistible.

  Hair ribbons and perfume, a mirror tilted at just the right angle, aninvitation to a party on the dresser--what more did a girl need?

  "Dinner, Sally!" came echoing up from the kitchen. "Do you want to belate, child?"

  Sally had no intention of being late. Tonight she'd see him across acrowded room and her heart would skip a beat. He'd look at her andsmile, and come straight toward her with his shoulders squared.

  There was always one night in a girl's life that stands above all othernights. One night when the moon shone bright and clear and the clock onthe wall went _tick tock, tick tock, tick tock_. One night when eachtick said, "You're beautiful! Really beautiful!"

  Giving her hair a final pat Sally smiled at herself in the mirror.

  In the bathroom the water was still running and the perfumed bath soapstill spread its aromatic sweet odor through the room. Sally went intothe bathroom and turned off the tap before going downstairs to thekitchen.

  "My girl looks radiant tonight!" Uncle Ben said, smiling at her over hiscorned beef and cabbage.

  Sally blushed and lowered her eyes.

  "Ben, you're making her nervous," Sally's mother said, laughing.

  Sally looked up and met her uncle's stare, her eyes defiant. "I'm notbad-looking whatever you may think," she said.

  "Oh, now, Sally," Uncle Ben protested. "No sense in getting on a highhorse. Tonight you may find a man who just won't be able to resist you."

  "Maybe I will and maybe I won't," Sally said. "You'd be surprised if Idid, wouldn't you?"

  It was Uncle Ben's turn to lower his eyes.

  "I'll tell the world you've inherited your mother's looks, Sally," hesaid. "But a man has to pride himself on something. My defects ofcharacter are pretty bad. But no one has ever accused me of dishonesty."

  Sally folded her napkin and rose stiffly from the table.

  "Good night, Uncle," she said.

  When Sally arrived at the party every foot of floor space was taken upby dancing couples and the reception room was so crowded that, as eachnew guest was announced, a little ripple of displeasure went through themen in midnight blue and the women in Nile green and lavender.

  For a moment Sally did not move, just stood staring at the dancingcouples, half-hidden by one of the potted palms that framed the sides ofthe long room.

  Moonlight silvered her hair and touched her white throat and arms with acaress so gentle that simply by closing her eyes she could fancy herselfalready in his arms.

  Moonlight from tall windows flooding down, turning the dancing guestsinto pirouetting ghosts in diaphanous blue and green, scarlet and gold.

  _Close your eyes, Sally, close them tight! Now open them! That's it ...Slowly, slowly ..._

  He came out of nothingness into the light and was right beside hersuddenly.

  He was tall, but not too tall. His face was tanned mahogany brown, andhis eyes were clear and very bright. And he stood there looking at hersteadily until her mouth opened and a little gasp flew out.

  He took her into his arms without a word and they started to dance ...

  They were still dancing when he asked her to be his wife.

  "You'll marry me, of course," he said. "We haven't too much time. Theyears go by so swiftly, like great white birds at sea."

  They were very close when he asked her, but he made no attempt to kissher. They went right on dancing and while he waited for her answer hetalked about the moon ...

  "When the lights go out and the music stops the moon will remain," hesaid. "It raises tides on the Earth, it inflames the minds and hearts ofmen. There are cyclic rhythms which would set a stone to dreaming anddesiring on such a night as this."

  He stopped dancing abruptly and looked at her with calm assurance.

  "You _will_ marry me, won't you?" he asked. "Allowing for a reasonablemargin of error I seriously doubt if I could be happy with any of theseother women. I was attracted to you the instant I saw you."

  A girl who has never been asked before, who has drawn only one lone wolfcry from a newsboy could hardly be expected to resist such an offer.

  _Don't resist, Sally. He's strong and tall and extremely good-looking.He knows what he wants and makes up his mind quickly. Surely a man soresolute must make enough money to support a wife._

  "Yes," Sally breathed, snuggling close to him. "Oh, yes!"

  She paused a moment, then said, "You may kiss me now if you wish, mydarling."

  He straightened and frowned a little, and looked away quickly. "That canwait," he said.

  * * * * *

  They were married a week later and went to live on an elm-shaded streetjust five blocks from where Sally was born. The cottage was small, whiteand attractively decorated inside and out. But Sally changed thecurtains, as all women must, and bought some new furniture on theinstallment plan.

  The neighbors were friendly folk who knew her husband as Mr. James Rand,an energetic young insurance broker who would certainly carve a widerswath for himself in his chosen profession now that he had so charming awife.

  Ten months later the first baby came.

  Lying beneath cool white sheets in the hospital Sally looked at theother women and felt so deliriously happy she wanted to cry. It was abeautiful baby and it cuddled close to her heart, its smallness amiracle in itself.

  The other husbands came in and sat beside their wives, holding on tightto their happiness. There were flowers and smiles, whispers thatexplored bright new worlds of tenderness and rejoicing.

  Out in the corridor the husbands congratulated one another and came insmelling of cigar smoke.

  "Have a cigar! That's right. Eight pounds at birth. That's unusual,isn't it? Brightest kid you ever saw. Knew his old man right off."

  He was beside her suddenly, standing straight and still in shadows.

  "Oh, darling," she whispered. "Why did you wait? It's been three wholedays."

  "Three days?" he asked, leaning forward to stare down at his son."Really! It didn't seem that long."

  "Where were you? You didn't even phone!"

  "Sometimes it's difficult to phone," he said slowly, as if measuring hiswords. "You have given me a son. That pleases me very much."

  A coldness touched her heart and a despair took hold of her. "It pleasesyou! Is that all you can say? You stand there looking at me as if I werea--a patient ..."

  "A patient?" His expression grew quizzical. "Just what do you mean,Sally?"

  "You said you were pleased. If a patient is ill her doctor hopes thatshe will get well. He is pleased when she does. If a woman has a baby adoctor will say, 'I'm so pleased. The baby is doing fine. You don't haveto worry about him. I've put him on the scales and he's a bouncing,healthy boy.
'"

  "Medicine is a sane and wise profession," Sally's husband said. "When Ilook at my son that is exactly what I would say to the mother of my son.He is healthy and strong. You have pleased me, Sally."

  He bent as he spoke and picked Sally's son up. He held the infant in thecrook of his arm, smiling down at it.

  "A healthy male child," he said. "His hair will come in thick and black.Soon he will speak, will know that I am his father."

  He ran his palm over the baby's smooth head, opened its mouth gentlywith his forefinger and looked inside.

  Sally rose on one elbow, her tormented eyes searching his face.

  "He's your child, your son!" she sobbed. "A woman has a child and