John Blythe Michel

“ I pointed disdainfully with my cigarette at the stocks of books in their cases along the walls, "are a drop in a vast bucket."
They looked down at me disapprovingly.
"No," they said. "It is not in the rules."
I was happy until they told me why they were going to all the trouble of acquainting themselves with the psychology of earth-men. I blew-up.
"You fools!" I cried, screaming with laughter. "What could you do with the planet? Enslave it? The rich have done that already. Dissect a billion bodies? Go to our hospitals. They do it every day. Dig for diamonds? Shall I make you some?" ”

“ I lit a cigarette and put one arm under my neck.
"I have been moving. I apologize. What do you want?"
"Books." A dozen mouths formed the word.
I became irritated.
"I am grateful for everything you have done," I stated, "Yes, even the bad things, like taking my girl away and making a damn slave out of me. I have always wanted comfort and now I've got it. But couldn't you get your books at the public libraries? They have three and a half million at the 42nd St. branch. Think of it! Books on every subject, books covering all the phases of earth life. ”

“ The faces were inhuman, distorted, elongated, squashed, some nauseating, others merely enough to make one squeamish. And the glow which backgrounded the whole scene took away a lot of the mystery. They had hands and feet—plainly seen—and they didn't float. ”

“ The game started out very early in the evening and I lost heavily according to plan. The progress of the game left me poorer and poorer. I watched their faces carefully as it went on. Slowly they were becoming enthusiastic, acquiring the instinct of the true poker player which is to continue through dawn and beyond. Their faces became radiant, eagerly each one waited for the next hand to begin. ”

“ The other joined and I tossed the required money to the center of the table. Presently everyone dropped out of the game except the opener and myself. He bet a sum equivalent to what I had left. I let this pass and then suddenly raised.
"The earth and its people," I said.
"What's that?" They all looked at me with startled glances, noses wagging.
"I said I raise you the earth and its people. I can do this. I I think you will find it in the rules."
The goblins consulted together while I kept my hand carefully.
Finally they turned to me as one. ”

“ I got them interested in poker. They were a funny lot as you may have guessed and, suspecting nothing, enjoyed the game. We used real money as stakes, which was somewhat silly because as soon as one of them was cleaned out (which was almost always due to my own cleverness) he would merely materialize a newly printed, freshly wrapped stack of bills and continue playing. ”

“ There was only one direction in which to move—forward. And up I went. First the swankier apartment, then still another and still another. Finally I bought a large residence on Riverside Drive and made it my castle. Theirs, too. The stacks of books grew to overwhelming proportions. They flowed out of the cases onto the floors everywhere. ”

“ I roared on: "Perhaps you are hungry for green cheese. Go to the moon. I guarantee it to be fresh and untouched by the hand of man."
A dozen heedless fingers turned over page 242 of Oswald Spengler's "Decline of the West" and twenty-four eyes began reading the top of page 243. ”