Read Online The Edge of Tomorrow by Howard Fast - Free Book Online

returned. She picked up the phone again, but said nothing.
    â€œWell?”
    She sighed and admitted that she had gone to the closet.
    â€œAnd you saw it there?”
    â€œYour gray suit?”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGray herringbone. My one gray suit. I have brown, blue and Oxford. I have two sport jackets and three pairs of flannel trousers. But only one gray suit—gray herringbone. Right?”
    â€œGray herringbone,” she said weakly. “But maybe you bought another?”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œHow should I know why? You like gray herringbone, I suppose.”
    â€œNo, I didn’t buy another. I give you my word of honor. Alice, I love you. We have been married twelve years. I’m a solid character as such things go. Not flighty. Not even romantic, as you have remarked.”
    â€œYou are romantic enough,” she said flatly.
    â€œYou know what I mean. I did not buy another gray suit. It is the same gray suit.”
    â€œIn two places at the same time?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œOh?”
    There was a long, long pause then, until finally I said, “Now will you do as I say, even if it makes no sense?”
    She paused and sighed again. “Yes.”
    â€œGood. It is now two-fifteen. Shortly before three o’clock, Professor Dunbar will call and tell you some rubbish about his cat and then ask for me. Tell him to go to hell. Then get a cab down here to the Waldorf. I’m in Room 1121.”
    â€œBob,” she said uncertainly, “just that way—go to hell? He is the head of your department.”
    â€œWell, not in so many words. Do it your own way. Then come straight here. Yes—one thing more. If you see me anywhere, ignore me. Do you understand—no matter what. Ignore me. Don’t talk to me.”
    â€œOh? Yes—of course. If I see you anywhere, I ignore you. And if I see you, you’ll be wearing the gray herringbone?”
    â€œYes,” I said. “And will you do as I say?”
    â€œOh, yes—yes. Of course.”
    And strangely enough, she did. There are wives and wives; I like mine. I sat in that room (the least expensive, eight dollars a day) and waited and tried to think about something no one should ever have to think about, and at exactly 3:20, there was a knock at the door, and I opened it, and there was Alice. She was a little pale, a little shaken, but still very nice to look at and standing and walking on her own feet.
    I kissed her, and she returned the kiss, but told me it was only because I had the blue suit on. Not a chance with the gray suit, she said; and then asked me seriously whether we could be dreaming?
    â€œNot both of us,” I said. “Either you or me. But this isn’t a dream. Why do you ask? Did you see me?”
    She nodded. “Let me sit down first.” She sat down and looked at me with a curious smile on her face.
    â€œYou did see me?” I asked.
    â€œOh, yes—yes, I saw you.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œOn the corner of 58th Street.”
    â€œDid I see you?”
    â€œNo, I don’t think so. I was in a cab. But not in the singular, either. You would have to say, ‘Did we see you?’ There were three of you.”
    â€œAll in gray herringbone?”
    â€œEvery one of you.”
    I had a bottle of brandy, and I poured a tot for each of us, and I drank mine down and then so did Alice. Then she asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was taking my pulse.
    â€œYou would think the rooms would be nicer than this in the Waldorf,” she said, “even for eight dollars a day. If I was hiding, I wouldn’t hide in the Waldorf. I’d go downtown to a flophouse, like they do in the stories, for fifty cents a day. How is your pulse?”
    â€œEighty. I’m not hiding.”
    â€œEighty is good, isn’t it?”
    â€œIt’s all right. It’s normal,” I pointed out. “We’re both normal.