ion screen didn't shatter, which proved something or other.
The bottle didn't even reach the screen. It hit the black swirling
mass about navel high. It went in, sank in like slamming your fist
into a fat man's stomach. And then it rebounded and clattered on the
floor.

"Scream!" I said thickly. "You dirty black delusion--scream!"

"I _am_ screaming, Mr. Anders. That hurt terribly."

He sort of unfolded then, like unfolding a limp wool sweater in the
air. And from this unfolding, something came forth that could have
been somebody's old fashioned idea of what a rifle looked like. He
held it up in firing position, pointed at my head.

"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Anders. This is to convince you. A gun, yes, a
very old gun--a Brown Bess, they used to call it. I just took it from
the City Museum, where it was on display."

He had a nice point-blank sight on my forehead. Now he moved the gun,
aimed it off me, pointed, it across the room toward the open windows.

"Note the workmanship, Mr. Anders. Note the stock. Someone put a
little effort on the carving. Note the sentiment carved here."

The rum was working hard now. I could feel it climbing hand over hand
up from my knees.

"Let me read what it says, Mr. Anders--'_Deathe to ye Colonies_'. Note
the odd wording, the spelling. And now watch, Mr. Anders."

The gun came up a trifle, stiffened. There was a loud snapping sound,
a click of metal on metal--Flintlock. As all the ancient guns were.

And then came the roar. Wood across the room--the window
casing--splintered and flew wildly. Smoke and smell filled my senses.

He said, chuckling, "Let's call it the Abandonment Theory for lack of
a better name. This old Brown Bess hasn't been thought of
acquisitively for some years. It's been in the museum--abandoned.
T h e r e f o r e subject to the discarded junk pile as you yourself so
cleverly put it before. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Anders?"

Perfectly--oh, perfectly, Mr. Bioplast. The rum was going around my
eyes now. Going up and around and headed like an arrow for the hunk of
my brain that can't seem to hide fast enough.

I guess I made it to the bedroom but I wouldn't put any hard cash on
it. And I guess I passed out.

* * * * *

The morning was a bad one as all bad ones usually are. But no matter
how bad they get there's always the consoling thought that in a few
hours things will ease up. I hugged this thought through a needle
show