New Folks' Home: And Other Stories (The Complete Short Fiction of Clifford D. Simak Book 6) Read Online Free Page B

and the desk and the empty book shelves. But now the shelves were no longer empty. They fairly bulged with books and the kind of books that he would have chosen if he had put them there himself—a law library that would have been the envy of any practicing attorney, and with a special section that he first took to be a joke.
    But when he looked at the phone directory, it had seemed somewhat less a joke.
    For it was no such directory as any man had ever seen before. It listed names and numbers, but the addresses ranged the galaxy!
    Besur, Yar, Mekbuda V–FE 6-8731
    Beten, Varmo, Polaris III–GR 7-3214
    Beto, Elm, Rasalgethi IX–ST 1-9186
    Star names, he thought, and the planet numbers. They could be nothing else.
    And if it were a joke, it was pointless and expensive.
    Star names listed in the pages of the directory and those other star names upon the books in that special section in the study!
    The obvious conclusion, he told himself, rather plaintively, was too outrageous to be given even slight consideration. It was outrageous and ridiculous and it made no sense and he would not entertain it. There must be other answers and the one he did not like to think about was that he’d gone insane.
    There might be a way, he thought, that it could be settled.
    He flipped the directory closed and then opened the front cover and there it was: TELEPHONE SERVICE CALLS. He lifted the receiver and dialed for INFORMATION.
    There were two ringing sounds and then a voice said:
    “Good evening, Dr. Gray. We are glad you called. We hope everything’s all right. There isn’t any trouble?”
    “You know my name,” said Gray. “How do you know my name?”
    “Sir,” said Information, “it is a point of pride with us that we know the name of each of our subscribers.”
    “But I’m not a subscriber. I’m only—”
    “Oh, but you are,” insisted Information. “As soon as you took possession of the house—”
    “Possession! I did not—”
    “But, Dr. Gray, we thought you knew. We should have told you at the start. We are very sorry. The house, you see, is yours.”
    “No,” Gray said, weakly, “I did not understand.”
    “Yours,” said Information, “so long as you may need it, so long as you may want to keep it. The house and everything that’s in it. Plus all the services, naturally, that you may require.”
    “But it can’t be mine,” said Gray. “I have done nothing that would make it mine. How can I own a house for which I’ve given nothing?”
    “There might be,” said Information, “certain services that, from time to time, you might be willing to perform. Nothing strenuous, of course, and not required, you understand. If you would be willing to perform them, we would be the ones who would stand in debt. But the house is yours no matter what you may elect to do.”
    “Services?” asked Gray. “There are few services, I am afraid, that I could perform.”
    “It does not really matter,” Information told him. “We are very glad you called. Call us again any time you wish.”
    The connection clicked and he was left, standing foolishly with the receiver in his hand.
    He put it back into the cradle and went to the living room, sitting in the chair he’d sat in when he’d found his way into the house the night before.
    While he’d been busy in the hall with the telephone, someone—or something, or some strange procedure—had laid wood in the fireplace and had lit it and the brass wood carrier that stood beside the hearth was filled with other wood against the need of it.
    He watched the fire creeping up the logs, flickering as it climbed, with the cold wind outside growling in the chimney.
    An Old Folks’ Home, he thought.
    For if he’d heard aright, that was what it was.
    And a better one, by far, than the one he had planned to enter.
    There was no reason in the world why anyone should give this house to him. He had done nothing he could think of that entitled him to have it.
    An Old Folks’ Home,