The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Big Tomorrow, by Paul Lohrman

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Title: The Big Tomorrow

Author: Paul Lohrman

Illustrator: Sanford Kossin

Release Date: September 8, 2009 [EBook #29931]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Illustrator: Sanford Kossin]

THE
BIG TOMORROW

BY PAUL LOHRMAN

_There are certain rare individuals in this world who seem bereft of
all common sense. These are the people who set their eyes upon an
objective and immediately all intelligence, logic, good advice,
unsolvable problems, and insurmountable obstacles go completely by
the boards. The characters we refer to are obviously just plain
stupid. What they want to do, just can't be done. The objectives
they have in mind are unachievable and anyone with an ounce of
brains can tell them so and give them good reasons. They are usually
pretty sad cases and often land in the funny house. But then again,
some of them go out and discover new worlds._

He hadn't gotten any work done that morning. He'd spent most of the time
pacing the floor of his small back office, and the rest of it at the
window--hands clasped behind his somewhat bowed back--staring up into
the cloudless sky.

At ten-forty, the intercom buzzed. He snapped the switch.

"Yes?"

"I've got those figures, Mr. Lake. We have nine--"

"Maybe you'd better come in and tell me personally, Lucy."

"All right, Mr. Lake."

The intercom snapped off and a few moments later a girl entered the
office--if the prim little wisp that was Lucy Crane could be so
generously classified.

Joshua Lake stared at the elongated bun of black hair on the top of her
head as she came toward his desk. There was an odd streak of rich
imagination in Joshua Lake and he always felt Lucy Crane's bun was a
symbol of disapproval. "Sit down, Lucy. You use up too much energy."

"I try to do my job, Mr. Lake."

"You do that--and more. What are the figures, Lucy?"

"We're in des