Bud, drained of color, cried "Hurry that call, operator!"
His gun was on the door when Norma filled it. "Stop, Bud!"
His eyes dulled. Conflicting emotions ran jagged edges over his face.
One hand held the phone, the other the gun. Norma was afraid to fire
for fear she would miss. "I'll kill you if you try to stop me!" he
screamed. He could not place the person in the doorway. And then he
realized that it was the Devil cleverly disguised as his sister.
Norma stepped into the room, drawing closer. Her hand trembled
violently. Bud was perspiring.
"Bud," she said. Her voice choked. "He didn't mail ... he didn't mail
the ... package ... the ... the package." Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Get away! _Get away!_"
"He didn't mail it! No one need ... you're safe ... your secret.... Put
down the phone, Bud. Please, now. _Put down the phone!_"
Very clever nonsense, Bud thought, not believing it for a moment. What
package? There was no.... He must shoot this creature, now, before
she....
The operator said in his ear: "Here is your number, sir."
"Put me on!"
The Devil was nearer. It was too late, he thought. Norma thought: Now,
now, _now_.
Bud's hand whitened at the knuckles. His throat was dry. He was ready
to scream the Name. He did not see Herb's hand close on the weapon nor
see the muzzle elevate.
"Bud, Bud, Bud, please, please, Bud!" Norma said. The trigger of her
gun would not respond.
"Get away," Bud said. He opened his mouth. "Frank C----"
And Herb fired until the weapon was empty.
There was echoing silence, and then Bud fell.
Norma was upon the telephone, ripping it free from the wall.
Herb staggered erect. Blood covered his suit. It hurt to move. A broken
collar bone, he thought. Too high for the lungs.
He found Norma weeping hysterically in his arm. The other arm hung
limp, and he winced with pain as he drew her tight.
He choked and bent to her ear and said, "Yes, yes," and suddenly he
bent to kiss her tear stained lips, and he wanted to brush away the
hair from her face, but that arm refused to move. She trembled against
him, and he whispered, "Yes."
The sunlight came in the broad windows and slanted across Bud's face,
boyish and petulant still in death; the sun, moving toward noon, bathed
the whole awakening world with light, and far beyond it, in space but
not in time, lay other stars.
And Herb felt free. For the first time in his life. Here, on Earth....
It was a wonderful feeling.