_It was a wonderful plan, a boon to humanity.
And solving the parking problem would make a fortune
for Slim and me. But when the secret got out ..._
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Future combined with Science Fiction Stories May-June 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
I could have taken that three hundred dollars and gone to school for a
year, by washing dishes two hours a night. I had worked for that money,
too; shocking wheat for twelve hours a day in the August sun is no
vacation. But Slim Coleman convinced me that we could run that three
hundred into enough to take us both for four years.
I hadn't even had time to get a haircut--and I did want a haircut; now
it was pretty shaggy.
But Slim, diplomat that he is, didn't even seem to notice my hair.
"I've got a real deal," he said, and his deep eyes were shining with
enthusiasm. "Have you got any money?"
"Some," I said cautiously.
"It takes three hundred. Have you got that much?"
I had intended to say no, but Slim has a way of fixing his deep, somber
eyes on you that gives ineffable dignity even to a touch. "Okay," I
said hopelessly. "What's the bite?"
"Well, you see, it's like this." We went into a drug store and ordered
cokes, and Slim characteristically insisted on paying for them when he
probably couldn't have bought a package of cigarettes. I let him pay,
too. I had three hundred and one dollars, and I had no intention of
parting with a nickel of it--except a dollar for a haircut.
"I was using the brain-finder and I ran across the owner of this unused
garage in the Loop. His name is Richard LaBombard and he's got a lot of
parking lots through the Loop, and you know what he's doing?"
I saw the waitress stare at me. I swallowed and tried to listen to
Slim. "No."
Slim was staring at the waitress. "He loads them up with used cars
every day so those who are hunting a parking place can't get in," he
said absently. "You know what he wants?"
"Well, no." I never could figure those things, but Slim could see the
angles a mile away. He was always good at that.
"He's made an application for a permit to build a parking ramp that
will cover a solid block down in the middle of the Loop. Now, if he can
build a place to park eight or ten thousand cars, naturally that one
spot is going to be the best business spot in the city. And Richard
LaBombard holds leases or options on half the store space around that
block. He stands to make millions."
"Where does my three hundred come in?"
Slim ignored the acidulousness in my voice. "Well, as I say, I followed
him with the brain-finder and found him holding hands with the mayor's
wife at a skating rink--and the next day I--ah--persuaded him to give
me an option to lease this building on the edge of the Loop."
"You mean you blackmailed him."
"That's a harsh word. I prefer _persuaded_ myself. After all, he
wouldn't want something like that to come up just when he's finagling
for that permit, would he? Anyway, I paid five dollars for the option."
"That's unusual. You've got some of your own money in this deal."
Like a gentleman, Slim ignored that thrust. "Tomorrow is the first.
I've got to raise two hundred and fifty for a month's rent. We'll need
fifty more for deposits on light, heat, and power. We'll make a million
within a month. We split fifty-fifty."
"How do you make the million?"
* * * * *
Slim looked around. Nobody was near; he leaned close and whispered.
"This is the invention of the century. We can solve the parking problem
of the entire city. You know how it is--you can't even get into a
parking lot after ten a.m. Lots of businesses are threatening to put
branches out in the suburbs."
"Yes?"
"The parking problem must be solved if the city is to survive," Slim
said dramatically.
"Okay, but how can you make any more out of an old building than
anybody else?"
He whispered again. "I can create a magnetic field that will slow
electrons down to almost zero velocity. A car will shrink to about four
inches long." He stared at me intently. "Do you see what that will
mean?"
I sighed. "I'm afraid I do. If it works, you can pack a million cars in
a space that ordinarily would hold about a thousand." I tried to stop
my enthusiasm, but it was too late. The idea was taking hold. "And that
garage is right across the street from Newton's, the biggest department
store in the city."
"The parking problem was intensified last week when they abolished
parking on the street so the afternoon traffic could get through. Boy,
this is the spot for us!" Slim said.
"Will it take all of three hundred dollars?" I asked Slim.