boucher book oct28.pdf - Index of

516 Anthony Boucher and Miriam Allen deFord
it is only today that I have had occasion to test it—and that with an akkir from a
world of outer space. But you see it was granted to me.”
“But the third wish? What went wrong about the girl you loved? How did the
demon get out of really granting you that?”
“He didn’t … It was Jyk.”
“Oh.”
“I had thought my heart was broken when she spurned every advance I made.
Now of her own accord she came to me: she loved me wildly, as she always will. I
was in ecstasy. We were married at once. I was the happiest man on Xilmuch.
“How could I foresee that my own love would turn to loathing? But against
my will, it did: first she bored me, then she disgusted me, now I hate her with all
my heart.
“And she will be with me all my life. She will live exactly as long as I.”
“So that’s why—” Patrick exclaimed.
“Yes, that is why no knife, nor any other means, can ever rid me of her.
“I am ashamed that you saw that scene; it does not happen often. But can you
imagine what it must be like to have someone, someone you detest, pester you with
constant worship? Sometimes I think I shall go mad: nothing, nothing will ever offend
or alienate her, and she clings to me every minute. I know she is not sleeping
now; she will do whatever I tell her, but she is waiting for me right now with open
arms; if I did not go to her eventually, she would seek me out, wherever I might be.
And for fifty years there has been no akkir on Xilmuch but her and me!”
He paused, fighting for self-control.
“I don’t want you to think I am naturally cruel,” he went on in a calmer voice.
“If I had pity left for anyone but myself, I should pity her. But I need not; she is
happy just to be with me, however I treat her. Nearly always I can pretend patience.
It was only today, when your coming had so excited me—”
The scout averted his eyes. Quickly, to change the subject, he asked:
“But your fourth wish? Did the demon grant you that?”
“Is there not peace on Xilmuch?” asked Zoth simply.
The Terran was silent. Demons indeed! But this planet … the pattern …
“Yes,” his host went on, “the grosh knew. We akkir are not made by nature for
perpetual peace—or we were not so made fifty years ago. The animals also … There
is no animal on this planet now which fights with others for its mate, or kills others
for its food.
“And there is great and lasting and perpetual peace today on Xilmuch.”
Patrick said nothing. His host filled their glasses.
Finally the Terran broke the silence.
“Is there no way,” he said hesitantly, “by which, with the wisdom you have
acquired, you could use the fifth wish still at your disposal to undo some of the evil
the demon did you?”
You might wish, Patrick thought, to return your wife’s love once more, and salvage
that much out of the mess; but probably it’s too late for that now.
Zoth shook his head.
“Do you think I haven’t worn myself out trying to find some way? The truth is,
Patrick, I’ve been afraid to wish again—afraid he will twist that also to his own evil