[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Fantastic October 1956.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
He was a plump fellow in about the approximate dimensions of a penguin,
and as stiffly dressed. Since I'd been an insurance investigator last
week but had become a private detective this, and since he was my first
potential case, I was needless to say interested.
"It's my wife," he said.
"Your wife," I repeated, searching for but not finding some of the
sharp P.I. dialogue I'd read in the books by Chandler, Evans, Marlowe
and others.
"You see, we're tourists from another planet. My name is Xlptl."