The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dream Town, by Henry Slesar

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Title: Dream Town

Author: Henry Slesar

Release Date: June 21, 2009 [EBook #29193]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_Henry Slesar, young New York advertising executive and by now no
longer a new-comer to either this magazine or to this field,
describes a strange little town that you, yourself, may blunder into
one of these evenings. But, if you do, beware--beware of the
Knights!_

dream
town

_by ... HENRY SLESAR_

The woman in the doorway looked so harmless. Who
was to tell she had some rather startling interests?

The woman in the doorway looked like Mom in the homier political
cartoons. She was plump, apple-cheeked, white-haired. She wore a fussy,
old-fashioned nightgown, and was busily clutching a worn house-robe
around her expansive middle. She blinked at Sol Becker's rain-flattened
hair and hang-dog expression, and said: "What is it? What do you want?"

"I'm sorry--" Sol's voice was pained. "The man in the diner said
you might put me up. I had my car stolen: a hitchhiker; going to
Salinas ..." He was puffing.

"Hitchhiker? I don't understand." She clucked at the sight of the pool
of water he was creating in her foyer. "Well, come inside, for heaven's
sake. You're soaking!"

"Thanks," Sol said gratefully.

With the door firmly shut behind him, the warm interior of the little
house covered him like a blanket. He shivered, and let the warmth seep
over him. "I'm terribly sorry. I know how late it is." He looked at his
watch, but the face was too misty to make out the hour.

"Must be nearly three," the woman sniffed. "You couldn't have come at a
worse time. I was just on my way to court--"

The words slid by him. "If I could just stay overnight. Until the
morning. I could call some friends in San Fernando. I'm very susceptible
to head colds," he added inanely.

"Well, take those shoes off, first," the woman grumbled. "You can
undress in the parlor,