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Read Ebook: End as a World by Wallace F L Floyd L Diehl Illustrator
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Ebook has 79 lines and 5691 words, and 2 pages
End as a World
Illustrated by DIEHL
Prophets aplenty foretold the end--but not one ever guessed just how it would come about!
Every paper said so in all the languages there were, I guess. I kept reading them, but didn't know what to believe. I know what I wanted to think, but that's different from actually knowing.
There was the usual news just after Labor Day. The Dodgers were winning or losing, I forget which, and UCLA was strong and was going to beat everybody they met that fall. An H-bomb had been tested in the Pacific, blowing another island off the map, just as if we had islands to spare. Ordinarily this was important, but now it wasn't. They put stuff like this in the back pages and hardly anybody reads it. There was only one thing on the front pages and it was all people talked about. All I talked about, anyway.
It began long before. I don't know how long because they didn't print that. But it began and there it was, right upon us that day. It was Saturday. Big things always seem to happen on Saturdays. I ate breakfast and got out early. I had the usual things to do, mowing the lawn, for instance. I didn't do it nor anything else and nobody said anything. There wasn't any use in mowing the lawn on a day like that.
I went out, remembering not to slam the door. It wasn't much, but it showed thoughtfulness. I went past the church and looked at the sign that was set diagonally at the corner so that it could be read from both streets. There it was in big letters, quoting from the papers: THIS IS THE DAY THE WORLD ENDS! Some smart reporter had thought it up and it seemed so true that that was the only way it was ever said. Me? I didn't know.
It was a bright day. People were out walking or just standing and looking at the sky. It was too early to look up. I went on. Paul Eberhard was sitting on the lawn when I came along. He tossed me the football and I caught it and tried to spin it on my finger. It didn't spin. It fell and flopped out with crazy bounces into the street. The milk truck stopped, while I got it out of the way. I tossed the football back to Paul. He put his hand on it and sat there.
"What'll we do?" he said.
I made a motion with my hands. "We can throw the ball around," I said.
"Naw," he said. "Maybe you've got some comic books."
"You've seen them all," I said. "You got some?"
"I gave them to Howie," he said, thoughtfully screwing the point of the ball into the center of a dandelion. "He said he was going to get some new ones though. Let's go see." He got up and tossed the ball toward the porch. It hit the railing and bounced back into the bushes. That's where he usually kept it.
"Paul," called his mother as we started out.
"Yeah?"
"Don't go far. I've got some things I want you to do."
"What?" he said patiently.
"Hauling trash out of the basement. Helping me move some of the potted plants around in front."
"Sure," he said. "I'll be back."
We went past another church on the way to Howie's. The sign was the same there. THIS IS THE DAY THE WORLD ENDS! They never said more than that. They wanted it to hang in our minds, something we couldn't quite touch, but we knew was there.
Paul jerked his head at the sign. "What do you think of it?"
"I don't know." I broke off a twig as we passed a tree. "What about you?"
"We got it coming." He looked at the sky.
"Yeah, but will we get it?"
He didn't answer that. "I wonder if it will be bright?"
"It is now."
"It might cloud over."
"It won't matter. It'll split the sky." That was one thing sure. Clouds or anything weren't going to stand in the way.
We went on and found Howie. Howie is a Negro, smaller than we are and twice as fast. He can throw a football farther and straighter than anyone else on the team. We pal around quite a bit, especially in the football season.
We sat down and began talking about it. "I'm wondering if it will really come," said Paul. We all squinted up.
"Where'll the President watch it from?" I said. "He should have a good view from the White House."
"No better than us right here," said Howie.
"What about Australia? Will they see it there?" I said.
"They'll see it all over."
"Africa, too? And what about the Eskimos?"
"It doesn't matter whether they actually see it or not. It will come to everyone at the same time."
I didn't see how it could, but I didn't feel like an argument. That's what they were saying on TV and you can't talk back to that.
"Everybody," said Howie. "Not just in this town, but all over. Wherever there are people. Even where they're not."
"You read that," said Paul.
"Sure," said Howie. "You lent me the comic books. It's even in them."
We didn't say much after that. I kept thinking of the man who made the H-bomb. I bet he felt silly and spiteful, blowing up an island. Somebody might have wanted to live on it, if he'd just left it there. He must have felt mean and low when something really big like this came along.
We talked on for a while, but we'd talked it out long ago. There was really nothing new we could say. Every so often we'd look up at the sky, but it wasn't going to come until it got here.
Finally we drifted apart. There wasn't anything left to do. We walked home with Howie and then I went with Paul, leaving him to come back to my house. I looked at the lawn and without thinking about it got busy and mowed it. I surprised myself.
"Sit still," said Ma. "It will happen without your help. It's going to be all right."
"Think so?" I said. She would have told me anything to keep me quiet. She gets nervous when I fidget.
"I think so," she said, giving me my allowance. It was early for that. Usually I didn't get it until after supper. "Why don't you run uptown and watch it from there?"
"Maybe I will," I said, dabbling my hands in the water at the sink. "Are you going to go?"
"Of course I'm not. Why should I get into that mob? I can watch it just as well from here."
Sure she could. But it was not the same. Everybody I knew was going to be there. I changed shirts before I left. I took a rag and wiped the dust from my shoes. I wasn't trying to be fussy or dressed up or anything. I just thought I should do it.
There was shade and sun on the streets and a few big clouds in the sky.
A car slowed up and stopped beside me. The window rolled down and Jack Goodwin leaned toward me. "Going uptown?"
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