Carter Hagen gulped the drink and allowed his feathers to smooth down.
As he set down his glass, Sam leaned back and said, "Now that that's
over, let's get on with it. Tell me--what did you think of my will?"
The attorney flushed. It was no use trying to fool Chipfellow. He was a
master at that damned thought business. "I--I did look at it. I couldn't
resist the temptation. The envelope was so easily opened."
Sam was regarding him keenly but without anger. "I know you're a crook,
Hagen, but no more so than most people. So don't sit there cringing."
"This will is--well, amazing, and getting an advance look didn't help me
a bit unless--" Hagen looked up hopefully. "--unless you're willing to
give me a slight clue--"
"I'll give you nothing. You take your chances along with the rest."
Hagen sighed. "As to the will itself, all I can say is that it's bound
to cause a sensation."
"I think so too," Sam said, his eyes turning a trifle sad. "It's too bad
a man has to die just at the most interesting point of his life."
"You'll live for years, Mr. Chipfellow. You're in fine condition."
"Cut it out. You're itching for me to shuffle off so you can get a crack
at what I'm leaving behind."
"Why, Mr.--"
"Shut up and have another drink."
* * * * *
Carter Hagen did not have long to wait as life-times go. Eighteen months
later, Sam Chipfellow dropped dead while walking in his garden. The news
was broadcast immediately but the stir it caused was nothing to the
worldwide reaction that came a few days later.
This was after all the relatives, all those who thought they had a faint
chance of proving themselves relatives, and representatives of the
press, radio, and video, gathered in the late Sam Chipfellow's mansion
to hear the reading of the will. Carter Hagen, seeking to control his
excitement, stood before a microphone installed for the benefit of those
who couldn't get in.
He said, "This is the last will and testament of Samuel Chipfellow,
deceased. As his lawyer, it becomes my duty to--"
An angry murmur went up from those assembled. Exclamations of
impatience. "Come on! Get on with it. Quit making a speech and read the
will, we can't wait all day!"
"Quiet, please, and give me your closest attention. I will read slowly
so all may hear. This is Mr. Chipfellow's last testament:
"_I, Samuel B. Chipfellow, have made a great deal of money during my
active years. The time now comes when I must decide what will become of
it after my death. I have made my decision, but I remain in the peculiar
position of still not knowing what will become of it. Frankly, I'm of
the opinion that no one will ever benefit from it--that it will remain
in the place I have secreted it until the end of time._"
A murmur went up from the crowd.
"A treasure hunt!" someone cried. "I wonder if they'll distribute maps!"
Carter Hagen raised his hand. "Please! Let's have a little more order or
the reading will not continue."
The room quieted and Hagen's droning voice was again raised:
"_This place consists of a vault I have had erected upon my grounds.
This vault, I assure you, is burglar-proof, weather-proof,
cyclone-proof, tornado-proof, bomb-proof. Time will have no effect upon
its walls. It could conceivably be thrown free in some great volcanic
upheaval but even then the contents would remain inaccessible._
"_There is only one way the vault can be opened. Its lock is sensitized
to respond to a thought. That's what I said--a thought. I have selected
a single, definite, clear-cut thought to which the combination will
respond._
"_There is a stone bench in front of the vault door and I decree that
any person who wishes, may sit down on this bench and direct his or her
thought at the door. If it is the correct one, the door will open and
the person causing this to happen shall then be the possessor of all my
worldly wealth which lies inside._
"_Because of the number of persons who will no doubt wish to try their
luck, I decree further that each shall be given thirty seconds in which
to project their thought. A force of six men shall be hired to supervise
the operation and handle the crowds in the neighborhood of the vault. A
trust fund has been already set up to pay this group. The balance of my
wealth lies awaiting the lucky thinker in the vault--all save this
estate itself, an item of trifling value in comparison to the rest,
which I bequeath to the State with the stipulation that the other terms
of the will are rigidly carried out._
"_And so, good luck to everyone in the world. May one of you succeed in
opening my vault--although I doubt it. Samuel B. Chipfellow. P.S. The
thought-throwing shall begin one week after the reading of the will. I
add this as a precaution to keep everyone from rushing to the vault
after this will is read. You might kill each other in the stampede. S.
B. C._"
There was a rush regardless. Reporters knocked each other down getting
to the battery of phones set up to carry the news around the world. And
Sam Chipfellow's will pushed all else off the video screens and the
front pages.
* * * * *
During the following weeks, millions were made through the sale of
Chipfellow's thought to the gullible. Great commercial activity began in
the area surrounding the estate as arrangements were made to accommodate
the hundreds of thousands who were heading in that direction.
A line began forming immediately at the gate to Chipfellow's Folly and a
brisk market got under way in positions therein. The going figure of the
first hundred positions was in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars.
A man three thousand thoughts away was offered a thousand dollars two
days before the week was up, and on the last day, the woman at the head
of the line sold her position for eighteen thousand dollars.
There were many learned roundtables and discussions as to the nature of
Chipfellow's thought. The majority leaned to the belief that it would be
scientific in nature because Chipfellow was the world's greatest
scientist.
This appeared to give scientifically trained brains the edge and those
fortunate in this respect spent long hours learning what they could of
Chipfellow's life, trying to divine his performance in the realm of
thought.
So intense was the interest created that scarcely anyone paid attention
to the activities of Chipfellow's closer relatives. They sued to break
the will but met with defeat. The verdict was rendered speedily, after
which the judge who made the ruling declared a recess and bought the
eleven thousandth position in line for five hundred dollars.
On the morning of the appointed day, the gates were opened and the line
moved toward the vault. The first man took his seat on the bench. A
stopwatch clicked. A great silence settled over the watchers. This
lasted for thirty seconds after which the watch clicked again. The man
got up from the bench eighteen thousand dollars poorer.
The vault had not opened.
Nor did it open the next day, the next, nor the next. A week passed, a
month, six months. And at the end of that time it was estimated that
more than twenty-five thousand people had tried their luck and failed.
Each failure was greeted with a public sigh of relief--relief from both
those who were waiting for a turn and those who were getting rich from
the commercial enterprises abutting upon the Chipfellow estate.
There was a motel, a hotel, a few night clubs, a lot of restaurants, a
hastily constructed bus terminal, an airport and several turned into
parking lots at a dollar a head.
The line was a permanent thing and it was soon necessary to build a
cement walk because the ever-present hopeful were standing in a ditch a
foot deep.
There also continued to be an active business in positions, a group of
professional standers having sprung up, each with an assistant to bring
food and coffee and keep track of the ever fluctuating market in
positions.
And still no one opened Chipfellow's vault.
It was conceded that the big endowment funds had the inside track
because they had the money to hire the best brains in the world; men who
were almost as able scientifically as had been Chipfellow himself but
unfortunately hadn't made as much money. The monied interests also had
access to the robot calculators that turned out far more plausible
thoughts than there were positions in the line.
A year passed. The vault remained locked.
* * * * *
By that time the number of those who had tried and failed, and were
naturally disgruntled, was large enough to be heard, so a rumor got
about that the whole thing was a vast hoax--a mean joke perpetrated upon
the helpless public by a lousy old crook who hadn't any money in the
first place.
Vituperative editorials were written--by editors who had stood in line
and thrown futile thoughts at the great door. These editorials were
vigorously rebutted by editors and columnists who as yet had not had a
chance to try for the jackpot.
One senator, who had tried and missed, introduced a law making it
illegal to sit on a stone bench and hurl a thought at a door.
There were enough congressional failures to pass the law. It went to the
Supreme Court, but was tossed out because they said you couldn't pass a
law prohibiting a man from thinking.
And still the vault remained closed.
Until Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, farm people impoverished by reverses, spent
their last ten dollars for two thoughts and waited out the hours and the
days in line. Their daughter Susan, aged nine, waited with them,
passing the time by telling her doll fairy tales and wondering what the
world looked like to a bird flying high up over a tree top. Susan was
glad when her mother and father reached the bench because then they all
could go home and see how her pet rabbit was doing.
Mr. Wilson hurled his thought and moved on with drooping shoulders. Mrs.
Wilson threw hers and was told to leave the bench. The guard looked at
Susan. "Your turn," he said.
"But I haven't got any thought," Susan said. "I just want to go home."
This made no sense to the guard. The line was being held up. People were
grumbling. The guard said, "All right, but that was silly. You could
have sold your position for good money. Run along with your mother and
father."
Susan started away. Then she looked at the vault which certainly
resembled a mausoleum and said, "Wait--I have too got a little thought,"
and she popped onto the bench.
The guard frowned and snapped his stop watch.
Susan screwed her eyes tight shut. She tried to see an angel with big
white wings like she sometimes saw in her dreams and she also tried to
visualize a white-haired, jolly-faced little man as she considered Mr.
Chipfellow to be. Her lips moved soundlessly as she said,
_Dear God and all the angels--please have pity on poor Mr. Chipfellow
for dying and please make him happy in heaven._
Then Susan got off the bench quickly to run after her mother and father
who had not waited.
There was the sound of metal grinding upon metal and the great door was
swinging open.