The Weegil

Evelyn E. Smith

• Éditeur: Start Publishing LLC
• Année: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781649741813
• Sujet: Literature
• Sous-sujet: Science Fiction

Nobody knew where the weegil came from, why it came or what it was made for. It was just a piece of furniture in the room—until one day something unusual happened. Evelyn E. Smith is best known as the author of the Miss Melville mysteries. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote dozens of science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in magazines such as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy, Super Science Fiction, and Fantastic Universe. Her stories were witty, well written, often humorous, and always unforgettable.

Nobody knew where the weegil came from, why it came or what it was made for. It was just a piece of furniture in the room—until one day something unusual happened.

The phone rang. Ellie ran to answer it, as she always did, welcoming this break in the monotony of her day. She skidded a little on the polished floor and murmured a word which she hoped her small, sharp-eared daughter would not catch.

Finally she got her hands on the receiver, “Mrs. Kinnan?” a male voice asked pleasantly. Undoubtedly he was going to try to sell her something.

“That’s right,” she agreed.

“This is the Abermuddy Quiz Show,” he said—or something like that; he spoke so rapidly she couldn’t quite catch the name of the program. “If you can answer this question correctly, you will win a valuable prize: “Where are the United States?”

“Why—er—” she hesitated, feeling foolish—“why, in North America. The Western Hemisphere. Is that what you mean?”

“Con-gratulations, Mrs. Kinnan,” he replied warmly. “That is the right answer. Tomorrow morning you will receive your weegil.”

“...And then he hung up before I could say anything,” Ellie concluded, hanging her husband’s coat in the closet.

Nick smiled. “It’s a gag, hon,” he said, rumpling the blonde curls that had spent all day in pins awaiting release on his arrival. “Tomorrow somebody’ll come to sell you some kind of an electrical appliance or maybe want to take your picture. Don’t you give anybody a cent, chicken. Tell ‘em I pay all the bills.” He kissed her on the tip of her nose.

“Yes, Nick,” Ellie promised sadly. She’d been looking forward to her weegil. She hadn’t been able to understand quite what the man said, but she’d hoped a weegil would prove to be a washing machine. Or maybe a television set.

Naturally, she knew enough not to show her disappointment to Nick, but Sugarplum was less discreet. “Yarrr!” she shrieked. “I want a weegil. You promised we were going to have a weegil, Mom!”

Ellie could feel the hot redness rising in her face; she had always been bothered by a tendency to blush. Nick, she knew, thought it a charming, feminine trait. Now he looked at her with a tolerant grin. “You really fell for it, hug? You and the kid. Didn’t it even occur to you that, if it was on the level, the question was too easy?”

Everyone knew, she thought, that they asked ridiculously easy questions on those quiz programs just to trap you. But she wasn’t going to start an argument.

Nick made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Women!” he said. “Suckers!...But they’re such cute little critters you can’t help l...