The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stopover, by William Gerken

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Title: Stopover

Author: William Gerken

Release Date: March 30, 2009 [EBook #28450]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_What will the world be like, the day after Tomorrow, for the lonely
ones who will have talents that others will half fear, half envy?
William Gerken describes this strange world in which young and old
will have to find new values and pursue new dreams, as they search
for the answer...._

stopover

_by WILLIAM GERKEN_

When he opened the door to the shed that day, and saw
the axe suspended in mid-air, he understood what was wrong.

He had been living with us for a week before I found out he was a
Lifter. Even the discovery was an accident. I had started for the store,
but then remembered a chore I wanted him to do. I heard the sounds of
wood-chopping coming from the shed, so I went behind the house to the
small wooden structure. I must have gasped or something, because he
turned around to look at me, dropping the axe he had poised over a block
of wood as he turned. Only he hadn't been holding the axe; it had been
hanging in mid-air without support.

The first time I saw him was when he knocked on my door. I don't think
I'll ever forget how he looked--tall and thin, old clothes and older
shoes, an unruly mop of blond hair. It was only when I looked at his
face that I realized that he was more than a mere boy of eighteen or
nineteen. The tired lines around his mouth, the sad, mature look in his
eyes, the stoop already evident in his young shoulders; he had been
forced to mature too quickly, and seemed to have knowledge a boy his
age had no right to be burdened with.

"I--I was wondering if I might get a bite to eat, sir," he said.

I grinned. No matter how he looked, he was no different from anyone else
his age where food was concerned. "Sure; come on in and rest a spell," I
told him. "Marty, can you fix a plate of something? We've got a guest."
Mart