FUZZY HEAD

By FRANK BELKNAP LONG

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Thrilling Wonder Stories December 1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

We arrived in the golden autumn. We drove up through the russet leaves to the great house and descended lightly to the dew-drenched earth.

Celia darted on ahead of me, her pale body a diaphanous flowing. I moved more slowly, my thoughts like muted chimes as I pondered the meaning of what had happened within the high, dark walls of the house.

For the first time on Earth a human child had been born who could summon us! He was eight years old now, but wise beyond his years and he had summoned us deliberately across space. He had sat, hunched and shivering, in his own small room, staring up at the far-flung constellations. Then, abruptly, he had thrown out his arms and called to us.

Celia could scarcely believe it even now. She had always wanted a child of her own, but we had despaired of ever finding one.

Then this call, this unbelievable summons! A sudden warmth and beauty, a child's laughter rippling through space. Spanning aeons, crossing dark barriers, as miraculous as the birth of a sun in utter blackness.

Celia had turned, and was staring back at me. She was shivering. Swiftly I darted to her side and took her burning hands in mine.

"Do not be afraid," I said. "He needs us as much as we need him. Like calls to like, you know!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. He used the Illth formula!

"But how did he get out of his space? How did he know we would come if he called?" Celia's body was burning brightly now. Her eyes were veiled and her lips had opened like the petals of a flower.

"The very different ones would know," I said. "Johnny was never quite human and now—"

"Now he's ready?"

"Yes!"

The little boy turned and looked at his mother. He had a strangely peaked face, the forehead inclined to broadness, the eyes wide and piercing and very blue.

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