... Stories From Everywhere TWO little toddlers were unable to resist the temptation to explore the newly-built air raid shelter. Just as they disappeared inside a policeman came along. Who's inside there? he asked sternly. For a few moments there was a tense silence. Then, when he repeated the question, there came a reply in a shrill, nervous little voice: Hardly anybody, mister. rT1HE house had ...

... SLEEPING DRAUGHT By FRANK KING DOCTOR MICHAEL KENT was back at work again after six months in hospital. Six months, during five of which his life had hung on the slenderest of threads, while anxious colleagues fought a desperate battle against death. Michael Kent knew that it would have been better if they had lost that battle, if the thread had snapped. He was young yet-- only just forty. He ...

... By JOHN COLLIER DOCTOR, said Major Sinclair, most certainly we must have you with us for Christmas. He shall be back, said Mrs. Carpenter. I promise you. It 's by no means certain, said Dr. Carpenter. I should love it, of course. After all, said Mr. Hewitt, these lectures are only for three months. Anything may happen, said Dr. Carpenter. Yes. It is quite true, said Mrs. Bates. ...

... Stories From Everywhere ROBINSON had died and gone below. Hardly had he settled down when a hearty hand slapped him on the back, and into his ears boomed the familiar voice of a persistent traveller who had pestered him on earth. Well, Mr. Robinson, said the traveller, I'm here for that appointment. What appointment? I certainly don't remember making it. You don't mean to tell me you've ...

... It 1 1! It L E ARB SQUEAK Stories from Everywhere PUT out that light up there, shouted the warden. A head came cautiously out of an upstairs window. What do you want? came a voice. It's an air raid warning, the warden told her. Well, put it through the letter-box. I can't come down now. A man who wrote a weekly column for a newspaper had a brother-in-law who arrived for a weekend visit and ...

... THE young man had just proposed to the most beau tiful girl in the world. She had accepted him, and so now he stepped into a fashionable jewellery store to buy an engagement ring. He examined various rings, and finally picked up a beautiful diamond affair that suited his fancy. What 's the price of this he inquired. That, replied the assistant, is ^350. The young man's eyes popped. He ...

... Stories From Everywhere THE stage was occupied by an illusionist. I now come to my greatest sensation, he told his audience, and without another word he opened a big black box, from which there was no other apparent outlet, put a woman in it, and shut down the lid. When he opened the box again after a few passes with his hands, there was nothing inside but a couple of white rabbits. After ...

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... b3hL a the stricken heart. fi JfiMl US By CHARLES BIRKIN. FROM what she could see through the halo round the head of St. John the Baptist, the sky appeared to be clearing. Throughout the early morning a depressing drizzle had fallen, which, while realising the aptitude of a weeping heaven for a funeral, Elizabeth Penvill had found distinctly untimely, for owing to ...

... A FIGHTER PILOTS SHOULDN'T DREAM. aJs* U^-IS By WING SLIP. (BEING OUR SHORT STORY.>* THE two Polish pilots jumped into the dug-out. Spirodvy laughed tensely: I 'm glad we are not mere clay pigeons this time, to be shot out of the sky! Steel fragments sang past above their heads. Zbroutch ducked. We 'll have to fall back. Lieutenant Joseph Rabotsky ignored the swooping Heinkels. This third ...

... Stories From Everywhere HOW'S business, Sam? a negro asked a friend. Lawdy, man, business am sho' good. Ah s bought a mule fo ten dollars, swapped it lo a bicycle, swapped dat fo' a mangle, swapped de mangle fo' a bedstead, an' Ah sold de bedstead fo' ten dollars. But, protested the Inend, yo am t made nothin' on the turnover. No, dat's right, admitted Sam, but look at de business Ah's ...

... ASBNSB OF VALUE.* By BEATRICE KANE. LYTTON WARD sat at his desk with hands clasped on a spot less blotting-pad and eyes narrowed in concentration. Experience had taught him that two or three quiet minutes at the beginning of the day could save many half-hours of wasted effort later, and after all, time was money; particularly his time, which was well paid for by a Government that had employed ...