The Project Gutenberg EBook of Say "Hello" for Me, by Frank W. Coggins

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Title: Say "Hello" for Me

Author: Frank W. Coggins

Release Date: November 1, 2009 [EBook #30382]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_Twenty years is a long time to live in anticipation. At least,
Professor Pettibone thought so--until the twenty years were up._

_Say "Hello" for Me_

By FRANK W. COGGINS

This was to be _the day_, but of course Professor Pettibone had no way
of knowing it. He arose, as he had been doing for the previous twenty
years, donned the tattered remnants of his space suit, and went out into
the open. He stood erect, bronzed, magnificent, faced distant Earth, and
recited:

"Good morning, bright sunshine,
We're glad you are here.
You make the world happy,
And bring us good cheer."

It was something he had heard as a child and, isolated here on Mars, he
had remembered it and used it to keep from losing his power of speech.

The ritual finished, he walked to the edge of the nearest canal, and
gathered a bushel or so of dried Martian moss. He returned and began
polishing the shiny exterior of the wrecked space ship. It had to really
glitter if it was to be an effective beacon in guiding the rescue ship.

Professor Pettibone knew--had known for years--that a ship would come.
It was just a matter of time, and as the years slipped by, his faith
diminished not a whit.

With his task half completed, he glanced up at the sun and quickened the
polishing. It was a long walk to the place the berry bushes grew, and if
he arrived too late, the sun would have dried out the night's crop of
fragile berries and he would wait until the morrow for nourishment.

But on this day, he was fated to arrive at the bush area not at all,
because an alien sound from above again drew the Professor's eyes from
his work, and he knew that _the day_ had arrived.

The ship was three times as large as any he had ever visualized, and its
futuristic design