Freudian Slip

Franklin Abel

Description

Though it has fallen out of favor in recent years, Freudian psychoanalysis was all the rage in the mid-twentieth century, and science-fiction scribe Franklin Abel puts it to entertaining use as a plot device in this cheeky short story. In one fell swoop, the physical components of the Earth have disappeared, and the task of setting things right falls onto the shoulders of an unlikely hero.

Sujets

• Science fiction

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776533510
• Langue: English

Extrait

FREUDIAN SLIP
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FRANKLIN ABEL
 
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Freudian Slip First published in 1952 Epub ISBN 978-1-77653-351-0 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77653-352-7 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Freudian Slip
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Things are exactly what they seem? Life is real? Life is earnest? Well, that depends.
*
On the day the Earth vanished, Herman Raye was earnestly fishing fortrout, hip-deep in a mountain stream in upstate New York.
Herman was a tall, serious, sensitive, healthy, well-muscled young manwith an outsize jaw and a brush of red-brown hair. He wore spectaclesto correct a slight hyperopia, and they had heavy black rims becausehe knew his patients expected it. In his off hours, he was fond ofbooks with titles like Personality and the Behavior Disorders , Self-esteem and Sexuality in Women , Juvenile Totem and Taboo: Astudy of adolescent culture-groups , and A New Theory of EconomicCycles ; but he also liked baseball, beer and bebop.
This day, the last of Herman's vacation, was a perfect specimen: sunnyand still, the sky dotted with antiseptic tufts of cloud. The troutwere biting. Herman had two in his creel, and was casting into theshallow pool across the stream in the confident hope of gettinganother, when the Universe gave one horrible sliding lurch.
Herman braced himself instinctively, shock pounding through his body,and looked down at the pebbly stream-bed under his feet.
It wasn't there.
He was standing, to all appearances, in three feet of clear water withsheer, black nothing under it: nothing, the abysmal color of amoonless night, pierced by the diamond points of a half-dozenincredible stars.
He had only that single glimpse; then he found himself gazing acrossat the pool under the far bank, whose waters reflected the tranquilimagery of trees. He raised his casting rod, swung it back over hisshoulder, brought it forward again with a practiced flick of hiswrist, and watched the lure drop.
Within the range of his vision now, everything was entirely normal;nevertheless, Herman wanted very much to stop fishing and look down tosee if that horrifying void was still there. He couldn't do it.
Doggedly, he tried again and again. The result was always the same. Itwas exactly as if he were a man who had made up his mind to flinghimself over a cliff, or break a window and snatch a loaf of bread, orsay in a loud voice to an important person at a party, "I think youstink." Determination was followed by effort, by ghastly, sweating,heart-stopping fear, by relief as he gave up and did something else.
All right , he thought finally, there's no point going on with it . Data established: hallucination, compulsion, inhibition. Where dowe go from here?
The obvious first hypothesis was that he was insane. Herman consideredthat briefly, and left the question open. Three or four selectedpsychoanalyst jokes paraded through his mind, led by the classic,"You're fine, how am I?"
There was this much truth, he thought, in the popular belief that allanaly