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The Calm Man, by Frank Belknap Long
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Calm Man, by Frank Belknap Long This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Calm Man
Author: Frank Belknap Long
Release Date: April 21, 2009 [EBook #28583]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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Dip the pen of a Frank Belknap Long into a bottle of ink and the result is always bound to be a scintillating piece of brilliant imaginative science fiction. And he's done it again in the tortured story of Sally.
the calm man
by ... Frank Belknap Long
Sally watched the molten gold glow in the sky. Then knew she would not see her son and her husband ever again on Earth.
Sally Anders had never really thought of herself as a wallflower. A girl could be shy, couldn't she, and still be pretty enough to attract and hold men?
Only this morning she had drawn an admiring look from the milkman and a wolf cry from Jimmy on the corner, with his newspapers and shiny new bike. What if the milkman was crowding sixty and wore thick-lensed glasses? What if Jimmy was only seventeen?
A male was a male, and a glance was a glance. Why, if I just primp a little more, Sally told herself, I'll be irresistible.
Hair ribbons and perfume, a mirror tilted at just the