THIS WAY TO THE EGRESS

BY ANDREW FETLER

He heard children's voices, but there couldn't be any children—not in that terrible place!

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

"In the middle of the night," the man said to the landlady over a soft-boiled egg and a slice of toast. "Right under my window." He leaned forward. "You know how children talk to themselves?"

"Was it the same voice you heard the first two nights?" Mrs. Tilton asked.

"I'm not sure now about the first night. Might have been another voice that first night."

"And now it was a child?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Tilton rose to get the coffee. "Are you quite sure?"

"You don't think I'm imagining?"

"We have no children," she said.

"A neighbor's, no doubt."

"There isn't a child in the whole village, Mr. Coat."

"That's what puzzles me. Don't you think we ought to report it?"

"I'll get your coffee," she said, and went into the kitchen.

"I didn't actually see the child," he called to her. "But I'm sure I heard the voice."

The woman brought the cup of coffee; she had poured it in the kitchen. The first two mornings, he remembered, she had set the coffee pot on the table.

"Aren't you having any?" he asked.

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