The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Trap, by Betsy Curtis

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Title: The Trap

Author: Betsy Curtis

Release Date: June 6, 2010 [EBook #32718]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction August 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

the TRAP

By BETSY CURTIS

_She had her mind made up--the one way they'd make her young
again was over her dead body!_

* * * * *

Old Miss Barbara Noble twitched aside the edge of the white scrim
curtain to get a better look at the young man coming down the street.
He might be the one.

The young man bent a little under the weight of the battered black
suitcase as he crossed Maple and started up Prospect on Miss Noble's
side. She could see him set the case down on the wide porch of the
Raney house and wipe his forehead with a handkerchief. Then she lost
sight of him as he advanced to the door. He could be a visitor to the
Raney's, but they were out of town on vacation. He could be a
salesman.

Miss Barbara shifted her rocker to the other side of the window where
she could watch without having to disturb the curtain. This
second-floor sitting room made an excellent lookout. She quickly
scanned the street in the other direction, but there was no sign of
movement in the hot sunlight. She settled down to watch the black
suitcase sitting uncommunicatively at the edge of the porch.

It must have been all of two minutes before the young man appeared
from under the over-hanging roof and picked up the case. A persistent
fellow. He went down to the sidewalk and approached her own house,
came up on her own front doorstep, tried to set the case down on the
narrow stoop, couldn't, straightened up and rang the bell. A raucous
buzz filled the sitting room.