Farnsworth looked at me thoughtfully. Then he sort of cocked his head
to one side and asked, "What do you suppose will happen when those
pieces thaw?"
I stared at him. I began to think of a thousand tiny slivers whizzing
around erratically, richocheting off buildings, in downtown San
Francisco and in twenty counties, and no matter what they hit, moving
and accelerating as long as there was any heat in the air to give them
energy.
And then I saw a tool shed, on the other side of the pasture from us.
But Farnsworth was ahead of me, waddling along, puffing. He got the
shovels out and handed one to me.
We didn't say a word, neither of us, for hours. It takes a long time
to fill a hole twenty feet deep--especially when you're shoveling
very, very carefully and packing down the dirt very, very hard.
--WALTER S. TEVIS
+----------------------------------------------------+
|Transcriber's Note: |
| |
|The spelling of "richochet" has been retained as in |
|the original. |
| |
|This etext was produced from Galaxy February 1958. |
|Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that|
|the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. |
+----------------------------------------------------+