Page:Weird Tales Volume 45 Number 3 (1953-07).djvu/52

 won, and all he said was, "Rotten luck, Sam." No, I know who my enemies are, that is not what confuses me. Sometimes my wife is one of them as her eyes quietly question and oppose me. There are things she will not say but I know at last that she is really against me. Perhaps I am overly sensitive but there are times when I see the hostile faces in a crowd I feel the old bewilderment. Why are they all against me? All my life I have kept my business practices clean, my marriage pure. The only honest conclusion I can arrive at is that they are trying to make me in their own image: corrupt and evil. Yes, evil, that must be it. They are evil, I am good and evil has triumphed. My business is gone, my wife is beginning to stare endlessly at me at supper time. How contemptuous she is! But I shall preserve my soul against them all-with the help of God we may eventually win. If only I knew the source of evil on earth, which has malignantly spread to nearly all the people and is fishing for me at this very moment. If only I could be shown the way out of this dark pit. I stand ready to fight but I have no equipment and I do not know how to get it. I must have some way of expressing myself.

April 17:

A miracle! It must have been a miracle! All last night I prayed for it and now it is mine. I must be cautious, though, or others will detect my new powers. Today I walked all over town: in the offices, stores, bars and on street corners; anywhere people will gather. I was going slowly, taking it easy; allowing my new talents to assert themselves. And I looked into hundreds of faces. Immediately I found the evil. The confusion is gone. God has allowed me to look beyond the flesh and bone into the recesses of the brain. There I saw in every head a dark shadow that slithered about the brain. And when they talked the shadow hovered about the tongue and lies came out. "Oh, I can't go out with you tonight, George. I have some extra work at the office." And George said, "Well, all right, Doris; I'll bet you work pretty hard." Lies! All lies! But I can fight it now and I need not fear my enemies. I did make somewhat of an error, though. In my enthusiasm I told my wife everything (except the fact that I have super X-ray eyes). She looked incredulous for a moment then her face softened into almost a kindliness, reminiscent of the Kate I once knew. "Sam, this has been a strain on you, dear. You'd better get some rest." She walked over to where I was sitting, expecting me to kiss her. I saw the shadow gliding around her head; that slippery black evanscence. "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight,"she said.

"Lies, lies," I said. But I couldn't expect her to understand; my powers were too much for anyone to grasp. She stared at me in the same way as before except that she bit her lower lip. "Sam, I don't know about you. You'd better get some rest." Kate isn't really so bad; her shadow is not as large and ugly as some I have seen. But it is there, small or large: the enemy.

I brushed her aside and went into the next room. At supper she did not speak a single word but I was quick to notice the cunning glances she stole at me; all the contempt was back. I do not think she believes my powers which is so much the better for me. But I must be more careful in the future.

April 20:

I am getting doser to it. I now believe the source of it is in this city. Thus far I have not found anyone whom I can work with, whose brain and soul is uncontaminated—except my own. Today I thought I had found the source of it. He had the largest shadow of anyone I have yet encountered. As I wanted to study the thing, I opened the conversation seeking to detain him. He was outwardly genial, but from my observations the really evil ones are always engaging personalities. "This one is on me," I told him.

"Well, sir, I thank you," he said. But his smile didn't fool me now; the shadow was in full possession of that utterance. As he sipped I noticed he eyed me almost casually with the hard glint of his pupils, trying to figure me out. I knew he was afraid of me. "Got to run now—appointment, you know," he said, not even daring to face me. He pushed back his stool and left hurriedly.