Of Missing Persons (Details)
citation: Good Housekeeping, March 1955, 140(3):50-51, 144-146, 148-150
alias: None
teaser: Believe! Believe Now! There'll never be a second chance.
summary: As Charley Ewell walks down 42nd Street in the rain and wind, he rehearses what he's been told: behave like an ordinary traveler; hint about The Folder, but don't mention it directly. Charley wonders if an ordinary bank teller like him will be permitted to see The Folder.
In a modernized but outdated office building, Charley enters the Acme offices,
finding a man behind the counter, speaking on the telephone. Unable to contain
himself, Charley tells the man, I'd like to — to
get away.
The man shows Charley travel brochures, but Charley says he's looking for
a permanent place where he can settle down for the rest of his life. When
pressed for details, Charley says he wants to escape from
worry. And fear. And the things I read in my newspapers. From loneliness. … From
selling my days just to stay alive. … From the world.
After studying Charley's face, the man asks questions about Charley's character. Smiling, the man shows Charley a folder, he claims, was printed as an amusement.
The folder describes Verna, and a place there named The Colony. It looks like any other travel brochure, but has much more realistic pictures. To Charley, Verna looks the way America did when it was new. People in the brochure look as though they like their work, and are not pressured. People seem happy there.
Charley asks the travel agent what people in the brochure did. The man explains
they work at whatever they want to do. It's like the early
pioneering communities … but without the drudgery,
he adds.
Who are you?
Charley asks the man. The agent implies
he is from Verna, a planet like Earth. He explains how the light years of
distance from Earth can be traveled indirectly in short times, not by crossing
space, but by avoiding it.
The agent tells Charley people from Earth have been moving to Verna for a long time, at least from the time of the Civil War. Ambrose Bierce was a notable emigrant.
Knowing he must immediately decide if he will go, or forever remain on Earth, Charley purchases a one way ticket, good for that day only.
At the Acme Depot, he joins other passengers, who then board an old bus. Charley dozes on and off for several hours as they drive south, eventually stopping outside a barn.
The passengers exit into the barn where the bus driver tells them to sit with their tickets ready. The driver closes the door, and Charley hears the bus drive off.
Sitting silently in the dark barn, Charley begins to fear they've been tricked; their money taken, and left far from the city to find their ways home. He forces the barn door open, running out to call the police.
When he turns to call the others, he sees intense light streaming through cracks in the barn's walls, and images of another place. Then it's gone, and Charley's alone in the cold and rain-swept night.
Charley is back, disliking his job as a bank teller. His ticket to Verna is no longer valid. When he returns to the Acme Travel Bureau, he's refunded his fare, money the agent claims, Charley left on the counter.
words: 6,105
genre: None
similar: Such Interesting Neighbors
people: Charley Ewell, travel agent, Ambrose Bierce, Judge Crater
places: New York, NY: Acme Travel Bureau, West 42nd Street, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Acme Depot, Long Island; Verna: The Colony
comments: Forthcoming