Jack Sharkey

Name: The man who was pale
Author: Jack Sharkey

The man who was pale (1959)

Summary

“The man who was pale”, published in 1959, is a work by Jack Sharkey. It explores elements such as Tibbets, cellar and Vandor.

Quotes from The man who was pale (Jack Sharkey)

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ She had to fumble with a ring of keys before she found the one that opened the stiff metal padlock on the cellar door. "Haven't been down here in months," she said with a little laugh, flicking on the lightswitch, and preceding him down the stairs. He followed wordlessly past the heaped cartons of odd bits of junk, past the furnace—unused during the summer months—and to a small room (really hardly more than a bin) at the rear of the cellar.
Mrs. Tibbets reddened in embarrassment as she opened the crooked door of plain, unsanded boards. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Vandor set the box against the cellar wall and turned to her, his face white and angry. "Madam, that is my own personal business, if you don't mind!"
Mrs. Tibbets shrugged. "Well, I just saw a dribble of dirt coming out of it, and thought perhaps I could sweep it out for you—"
Vandor's face went—if anything—whiter. "No!" he roared, in an almost terrified voice. "I—I mean, that won't be necessary. It's supposed to be full of earth. I—I'm a sort of—of botanist. I grow things."
"Hmmph," Mrs. Tibbets sniffed. "You won't be able to grow anything but mushrooms, down here!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Instantly, reflecting from the inner walls and soil of the box, a bright, warm light came alive.
"It'll keep your mushrooms much warmer than you ever could!" she said, turning back to him. "It's a sunlamp!"
But, as she completed her turn, Vandor Thobal was not in evidence. His suit, cloak, and shoes were still there, however, sagging horribly into a viscous brown-and-green puddle on the floor of the room.
"Goodness!" said Mrs. Tibbets, leaping to her feet. "Now I am worried!" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ She was just snapping the padlock shut when Mrs. Leonetti entered the kitchen.
"Something is the matter, Meesus Teebuts?" asked her roomer, setting a bag of groceries on the table.
"Oh, just a new roomer," smiled Mrs. Tibbets. "I'm worried about him. He looks so sickly. I wonder if I should have rented him that room. Liable to catch his death of pneumonia."
"Pah. Always you worry too much," said Mrs. Leonetti. "If it's not the one thing, it's the other."
"But the cellar ..." said Mrs. Tibbets, with a little shiver. "It's so damp."
"He's-a live in the cellar?" ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Leonetti, in reply to a query of Mrs. Tibbets. "He's-a no got the right vitamins. I'm-a read in a medical story in a magazine. It's-a called a vitamin deficiency."
"Don't see how I can help him, then," sighed Mrs. Tibbets. "No way to get vitamins to the man if he doesn't eat his meals here."
She brooded and worried about the state of her roomer's health until she could think of nothing else. She rarely saw him. Only the few times she went down into the cellar to "get something" she "needed" from one of the cartons did she see him. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Tibbets, as Vandor Thobal sat up in the box. His hands arrested themselves in the process of brushing the soil from his cloak.
"What are you doing in here!?" he demanded.
"What are you doing there?" she countered, folding her arms.
Vandor swallowed, then seemed to think of something. "The mushrooms," he explained, rising to his awesome full height before her, the tiny clods of earth rolling off his cloak back into the box. "They—They need heat, you see. It's rather chilly here in the cellar at night, and so, I've taken to sleeping in there, hoping my body heat will suffice to help them grow." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Tibbets, at the foot of the stairs. "I'll wait until you go to work, and then I'll—"
"Please!" Vandor approached her, his hands spread wide in supplication. "I like everything just as it is!"
"Well, it's your room ..." she sighed, starting upstairs. "If there's anything I can do—"
"There is something," said Vandor. "Will you please replace the padlock on the door in your kitchen? I'll be using the cellar door, if you don't mind, as a sort of private entrance...."
Mrs. Tibbets hesitated, then thought of the five hundred dollar advance, and smiled. "Certainly. Do as you like, Mister Thobal. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Jack Sharkey, The man who was pale (1959)

“ Nothing like it."
"I s'pose not," said his landlady, starting out of his room. "I'll come down tomorrow and kind of straighten things up a little for you, while you're at work. The place certainly needs it."
"No!" he said, adding hastily, "I work nights. I usually sleep during the day." ”

Jack Sharkey

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Quotes from The man who was pale (Jack Sharkey)

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