ses of the vault he had pulled from inside his coat the
pocket size magazine.

He had just started a picture article cheerfully entitled "The New
Weapons and What They'll Do To YOU", when all the noise in the world
crashed in upon his ear-drums. It seemed to be inside of him and
outside of him all at once. Then the concrete floor was rising up at
him and the ceiling came slanting down toward him, and for a fleeting
second Henry thought of a story he had started to read once called
"The Pit and The Pendulum". He regretted in that insane moment that he
had never had time to finish that story to see how it came out. Then
all was darkness and quiet and unconsciousness.

* * * * *

When Henry came to, he knew that something was desperately wrong with
the Eastside Bank & Trust. The heavy steel door of the vault was
buckled and twisted and the floor tilted up at a dizzy angle, while
the ceiling dipped crazily toward it. Henry gingerly got to his feet,
moving arms and legs experimentally. Assured that nothing was broken,
he tenderly raised a hand to his eyes. His precious glasses were
intact, thank God! He would never have been able to find his way out
of the shattered vault without them.

He made a mental note to write Dr. Torrance to have a spare pair made
and mailed to him. Blasted nuisance not having his prescription on
file locally, but Henry trusted no-one but Dr. Torrance to grind those
thick lenses into his own complicated prescription. Henry removed the
heavy glasses from his face. Instantly the room dissolved into a
neutral blur. Henry saw a pink splash that he knew was his hand, and a
white blob come up to meet the pink as he withdrew his pocket
handkerchief and carefully dusted the lenses. As he replaced the
glasses, they slipped down on the bridge of his nose a little. He had
been meaning to have them tightened for some time.

He suddenly realized, without the realization actually entering his
conscious thoughts, that something momentous had happened, something
worse than the boiler blowing up, something worse than a gas main
exploding, something worse than anything that had ever happened
before. He felt that way because it was so quiet. There was no whine
of sirens, no shouting, no running, just an ominous and all pervading
silence.

* * * * *

Henry walked across the slanting floor. Slipping and stumbling on the
uneven surface, he made his way