e so
surprised to find out the truth? After all, we never saw it before. All
we knew--or thought we knew--was what they told us. The moon, the other
side of the world, a distant city ... or even the next town. How do we
really know what's there ... unless we go and see for ourselves? Does a
goldfish in his bowl know what the ocean is like?"

"Where did they come from, those Gels? How much of the world have they
undermined? What about Wavly? Is it a golem country too? The Duke ...
and all the people I knew?"

"I don't know, Dhuva. I've been wondering about the people in Casperton.
Like Doc Welch. I used to see him in the street with his little black
bag. I always thought it was full of pills and scalpels; but maybe it
really had zebra's tails and toad's eyes in it. Maybe he's really a
magician on his way to cast spells against demons. Maybe the people I
used to see hurrying to catch the bus every morning weren't really going
to the office. Maybe they go down into caves and chip away at the
foundations of things. Maybe they go up on rooftops and put on
rainbow-colored robes and fly away. I used to pass by a bank in
Casperton: a big grey stone building with little curtains over the
bottom half of the windows. I never go in there. I don't have anything
to do in a bank. I've always thought it was full of bankers, banking ...
Now I don't know. It could be anything ..."

"That's why I'm afraid," Dhuva said. "It could be anything."

"Things aren't really any different than they were," said Brett, "...
except that now we know." He turned the big car out across the field
toward Casperton.

"I don't know what we'll find when we get back. Aunt Haicey, Pretty-Lee
... But there's only one way to find out."

The moon rose as the car bumped westward, raising a trail of dust
against the luminous sky of evening.

THE END

[Illustration]

"The body shifted, rotating stiffly, then tilted upright.

"The sun struck through the amber shape that flowed down to form itself
into the crested wave."

see IT COULD BE ANYTHING

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ January 1963.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of Project Gutenberg's It Could Be Anything, by John Keith Laumer

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOO