BLEEDBACK
BY WINSTON MARKS
It was just a harmless, though amazing,
kid's toy that sold for less than a dollar.
Yet it plunged the entire nation into a
nightmare of mystery and chaos....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The thing is over now, but I can't see a Teddy bear or a set of blocksin a department store window without shuddering. I'm thankful I'm abachelor and have no children around to remind me of the utterly insanenightmare that a child's toy plunged our country into—the millions ofpeople who died in agony—the total disruption and near dissolution ofour nation.
And yet, as the United States tottered on the verge of completechaos, it was, ironically, another child's toy that saved us. Asimple, ordinary, every-day toy for tots stopped the "fever", haltedthe carnage that was tearing our flesh and eyes and viscera intoshreds. With most the scientists in the world working for an emergencysolution, they could come up with no better answer than a toy that'dbeen around for generations before the "Mystery i-Gun" was evenconceived.
Being a plain-clothesman, I have seen greed and impatience ruin manyindividual lives. If I could have guessed at the chain of events thatwould stem from my first contact with the younger Baxter brother, Iwould have put a bullet through his head in cold blood and cheerfullyfaced the gas chamber.
Instead I took off my hat and followed him through the substantial oldhouse to a moderately large room in the rear where, I'd been told, wewould find a body.
Leo Baxter was a little guy about five-foot six, like me but with abetter build. His size was important for a couple of reasons, onebeing that it was startling to say the least, when he pointed to thegiant on the floor and said, "My brother."
He caught my look and shrugged impatiently. "I know, I know, but thisis no time for Mutt and Jeff gags. Calvin has been murdered. Now getwith it, Lieutenant!" If Calvin was his brother, Leo's agitation wasunderstandable, but his voice had a flat note of practicality in itthat I didn't like.
As I looked down at the sprawled length of the big man on the tiledfloor, the Mutt and Jeff angle didn't fit at all. David and Goliathwas a better bet. This Goliath seemed also to have met his fate from ahole in the forehead. I say, "seemed," because it developed that CalvinBaxter was not yet quite dead.
"There's no pulse or breath," his brother said when I mentioned thiserror in his assumption.
"You're no doctor. Now call that ambulance like I told you. Jump!" Isaid.
He jumped. I made a quick examination, meanwhile, and when Leo cameback from the phone I pointed. "See, the blood. It's still coming out."
"Corpses bleed, don't they?"
"Not in spurts," I said. "The hole's tiny, but whatever's in theretouched an artery. See that?"
He looked and seemed convinced. "The ambulance will be here. Anythingelse I should do?"
"Yes. Nothing. Don't touch a thing in this room ... or did you already?"
"Just Calvin. I heard him fall, and when I came in he was on his face."
"Why did you ask for homicide when you called the police? Or let's p