The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Prize for Edie, by Jesse Franklin Bone

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Title: A Prize for Edie

Author: Jesse Franklin Bone

Release Date: August 16, 2008 [EBook #26332]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRIZE FOR EDIE ***

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A PRIZE ... FOR EDIE

By J. F. BONE

Illustrated by Schoenherr

[Illustration]

_The Committee had, unquestionably, made a mistake. There
was no doubt that Edie had achieved the long-sought cancer
cure ... but awarding the Nobel Prize was, nonetheless, a
mistake ..._

The letter from America arrived too late. The Committee had regarded
acceptance as a foregone conclusion, for no one since Boris Pasternak
had turned down a Nobel Prize. So when Professor Doctor Nels Christianson
opened the letter, there was not the slightest fear on his part, or on that
of his fellow committeemen, Dr. Eric Carlstrom and Dr. Sven Eklund, that
the letter would be anything other than the usual routine acceptance.

"At last we learn the identity of this great research worker," Christianson
murmured as he scanned the closely typed sheets. Carlstrom and Eklund
waited impatiently, wondering at the peculiar expression that fixed itself
on Christianson's face. Fine beads of sweat appeared on the professor's
high narrow forehead as he laid the letter down. "Well," he said heavily,
"now we know."

"Know what?" Eklund demanded. "What does it say? Does she accept?"

"She accepts," Christianson said in a peculiar half-strangled tone as he
passed the letter to Eklund. "See for yourself."

Eklund's reaction was different. His face was a mottled reddish white as
he finished the letter and handed it across the table to Carlstrom. "Why,"
he demanded of no one in particular, "did this have to happen to us?"

"It was bound to happen sometime," Carlstrom said. "It's just our
misfortune that it happened to us." He chuckled as he passed the letter
back to Christianson. "At least this year the presentation should be an
event worth remembering."