LESSON FOR TODAY

By Joel Nydahl

With the world destroyed around them, Helen
wondered why she and Robbie were still left alive.
There must be a reason--and of course, there was....

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
May 1953
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]


    "_While we remain in our invisible space-ship, the inhabitants of
    this world cannot see us. Prepare to take notes now in preparation
    for your final exam on the subject Alien Creatures and Their Actions
    in Given Situations. Notice below us the female of the dominant
    Species. She is with her child...._"

Clutching Robbie in her arms and holding him tight, Helen Thompson
sat down wearily on the ground. The cold and dampness was all around
her, boring through the thin cotton dress she wore. Her flesh was cold
and her dark brown hair hung in ringlets over her forehead. She wore
no shoes. She had lost them miles back, near the ruins at the edge of
Chicago. Her feet were blistered and bleeding, numb now from the cold
of early morning.

Carefully she put her sleeping child on the ground for a moment as she
rubbed her feet trying to restore circulation. Slowly feeling came back
and then she flinched as pain shot up her legs.

She picked up the child and started again, heading westward.

    "_See the way she tries to protect her young, cradling it in her
    arms, shielding it from the coldness with her own body._"

Now the sun was higher in the sky. The cold was gone now. But still
there was something surrounding her, enclosing her, almost like a
prison wall. Yet she could not see it.

_Radiation!_

Radiation from the long exploded bombs. It poisoned the air. It killed
all vegetation. It killed all the animals. All except the two of them,
the woman and her child. It had spared them. Not because it wanted to,
but because it had to. Vaguely she remembered....

       *       *       *       *       *

She and Robbie had been sitting in a Chicago park when the first
bomb dropped. It fell quite near them, about three miles away. She
remembered the bright blinding flash. Above them the branch of a tree
cracked. It fell to a point twenty feet over their heads. Then it
stopped. It was as if some force held it back. The force, whatever it
was, also held back the heat. But it didn't stop her from fainting in
terror.

When she regained consciousness, the burned and broken city lay all
around them. Buildings were fused together. Everywhere was destruction.
Everywhere except around she and Robbie. There, the grass was green and
flowers grew. At the edge where the green ended and the black began,
there was a pile of rubbish piled up _as if leaning against something_.
She picked up a stick nearby and threw it. It reached the point where
the green stopped and then it too stopped, _in the middle of the air_.
Finally it fell to the ground.

She arose and walked over to where the stick lay. She extended her hand
a few feet in front of her, and touched something. Something tangible,
yet she could not see it. And no matter how hard she pushed, she could
not extend her hand beyond a given point.

_A dome was covering them and protecting them!_

For weeks she and Robbie stayed under the dome while the wind took some
of the radiation away. Each morning, when they awoke, a package of food
lay by their side. Strange food, food they had never tasted or seen
before. _Alien food._

_They had been spared by--what?_

The puzzling thoughts spun in her mind. _Why_ were they being spared?
_Who_ was sparing them?

Then one day, weeks after the bombs dropped, the dome disappeared. She
could not see it disappear, but she knew that it was gone for the pile
of ash that had leaned against it fell to the ground.

Then she started out with but one thought in mind. _I must find
Johnny!_ Across country she went, through small towns filled with death.

She walked, with Robbie stumbling along at her side, his small face
wide with wonder and fear. Her heart ached as she looked into his
staring eyes, while an occasional whimper left his lips. "... mommy,
where's Daddy? Where is he, mommy?"

She gripped his hand tighter and continued to walk, each mile a numb
and crazy nightmare.

    "_Now take note of the setting the aliens are in. It took careful
    planning for our scientists to devastate the planet's surface as
    you now witness._"

It was late afternoon when Helen stopped to rest by a seared oak tree.
Robbie had been walking beside her. Suddenly he turned and looked up at
her. "Mommy, why are we walking so far? I'm tired of walking. I don't
want to walk any more. Where is daddy?"

"Hush, dear. We're going to find daddy." She knew they would never find
him ... alive. But something made her keep going. Something inside
wouldn't let her turn back. _She had to know...._

"We've got to find daddy so he'll make everything right again, don't
we?"

She hesitated before answering. "Yes--yes that's it. We've got to find
daddy so he can help us--and make everything right again!"

"Oh."

"Go to sleep, Robbie. You've got to rest."

"But I'm hungry."

"Sleep, dear. We'll eat ... later." She kissed him, sat on the ground
beside him and rocked his head in her weary arms.

    "_For those of you students who do not understand the languages of
    this planet, I'll interpret. She was trying to comfort her young
    one, telling him that his father was going to make everything right
    again when they found him. While inwardly she knew they would never
    find him alive. Primitive peoples often react to disasters in this
    way, making themselves and others around them believe things that
    are not true._"

Slowly Helen opened her eyes. She sat up slowly, taking in the scene
around her. She sat that way for a moment, thinking, her mind far from
there, somewhere in southern France where her aunt and uncle were. She
wondered if--

"Robbie," she whispered. She nudged his shoulder gently, trying to
awaken him. Finally his eyes opened. He smiled wistfully.

"Get up, dear. We've got to be going now."

"I'm hungry."

"I know. So am I. We'll find something to eat pretty soon. You will
have to wait."

"But--" Tears came to his eyes. One ran down his dirty cheek, making a
rivulet.

"Please Robbie," she pleaded. "Don't cry. Remember what daddy always
said, 'A smile blocks up the tears.'" He smiled weakly. "Now buck up,"
she added.

She took his hand and they started walking.

    "_Reading her mind, I see that she is more concerned over her
    child's welfare than her own. This is very unusual in primitive
    races._"

They entered a small town. Down the main street they walked. The town
was deserted, but showed no sign of being bombed or burned. In the
street, numerous automobiles were parked. But she saw no people....

They entered a restaurant. Inside, the tables and chairs were in good
order except for a half inch of dust and a few dirty dishes. She
inspected the kitchen and found what she had been looking for. Canned
food.

"Robbie," she called. "Where are you?"

She walked back to the door of the kitchen and looked into the
restaurant. Robbie was not there.... Then she saw him through the
restaurant windows, standing on the street outside. She called
"Robbie--I've found some food!"

Robbie turned, his small face twisted with hunger. He started back
toward the door.

She returned to the kitchen and looked for a can opener.

    "_We will drop down a few hundred feet and pick up the young one
    with our magnetic-force-field. We shall examine him._"

One moment Robbie was standing at the restaurant door, and the next
he was floating upward in the middle of the air. There was a strange
sensation in his stomach. He was scared. He started to cry.

    "_Notice the noise he makes with his mouth. This is not a form of
    communication, but rather he is using a primitive form of expressing
    his thoughts, which is called crying. Reading his mind, I find only
    confusion and fear. He wonders where he is, but knows that he
    doesn't like it._

    "_Another interesting fact about these aliens is that they feel
    pain. It is hard to understand and even harder to explain. But I
    will try. We are aware of touching something or somebody only as a
    sensation on the skin. These people have more than that. Now watch.
    As I cut the skin of this young one slightly, notice that he jerks
    and screams louder. He is feeling pain. It is a strong sensation
    that leaves a sharp impression on the brain. That does not fully
    explain it, but it is the best I can do along with this
    demonstration._"

"Oh, good God! Robbie! What happened, honey. What happened?" Then she
saw the blood dripping on the floor. "_Robbie_, your arm!"

Then he was in her arms, sobbing hysterically. "I--I ... they took me,
and cut me--and ..." but he could go no further.

Carefully, she laid him on a table and examined his arm. The bleeding
had subsided some. She took a clean wet cloth and wiped off the blood.
Then she bandaged it.

Robbie had stopped sobbing now, but the tears were still coming. She
tried to get the story of what had happened to him, but what she did
hear, she didn't believe.

After he finished she said, "Now, Robbie, I can't believe that you were
lifted into the air by a space-ship, tied to a table and cut in the arm
by some monster!"

"But Mommy, that's what happened. Honest! And when I was laying on the
table I heard them talking. But I couldn't understand what they were
saying!"

A grimness filled her as he spoke. And then a terrible horror spread
through her. She remembered the Chicago park, when the bombs fell--how
they alone seemed to be spared death.... _Was it possible?..._

She grabbed Robbie into her arms and dashed up the street away from the
restaurant. She saw a car standing by the curb and ran to it. There
were keys in the ignition. She put Robbie on the front seat and got
in. As the motor coughed into life she meshed gears and sped out of
the town. One thing buzzed in her mind. _Peoria--that's where Johnny
is--oh, Johnny--help us!_

    "_The conveyance in which you now see them is called an automobile.
    It is propelled by a liquid fuel, gasoline, in an internal
    combustion engine. We purposely had the automobile left there for
    them._"

She drove through the industrial section of Peoria. She knew she was
near the factory where Johnny worked. She started looking for the
building, thinking how unfair it was for Johnny to have taken a job
so far from Chicago. But her heart lifted as she thought about her
husband. _Johnny--Johnny, we're here!_

There! To her left. There it was! She stopped the car, took Robbie's
hand and ran toward the building.

"Mommy, is this where daddy is? Is he here?" Robbie's voice trembled.

She nodded her head as they ran. "Yes, Robbie--daddy's here!"

She reached the building. The door was open and they stepped inside.

She was breathless now. Johnny--so close.... She led Robbie to the
stairs and her knees shook as they went up. "Johnny! Johnny!" she
called, her voice close to hysteria.

But there was only silence.

She ran down the hall on the second floor, pulling Robbie with her,
heard him sobbing. Then she saw the door and the gold letters on it.
JOHN THOMPSON.

"Robbie, stay here." She hesitated. Her hands were cold and clammy. She
was trembling.

She shoved open the door.

She screamed.

There on the floor lay a body. It had once been a man. Now there was
only a skeleton of bleached white bones. Then she saw _it_. On the ring
finger of his right hand. A gold ring with silver letters on black
onyx. Johnny's....

Then she was running and screaming. Screaming and running. Down the
stairs and out the door. Behind her Robbie followed, crying, terror in
his small eyes.

She collapsed on the ground, her body shaking with sobs. Robbie fell
beside her.

She put her arms around him, clutched his body to her. "Oh, Robbie,"
she cried. "You're the only thing I have left in the world. I love you.
Don't leave me. Don't ever leave me." She snuggled him closer to her.

Then she looked at his face. She gave a little cry in her throat. She
looked closer. Covering his skin were small red sores. What was it she
had once read in a book?--Something about radiation poisoning--red
sores appearing just before death--

"No, Robbie! Oh, no!"

He looked up at her, his eyes hot and feverish. He tried to talk but
the words bubbled on his lips.

She pressed him to her breast and rocked him, shaking her head. "No,
Robbie! Don't leave me!..."

She felt the beating of his heart against hers. Slower. His small body
twitched. Then grew silent.

... She sat there on the ground, holding the still form in her arms
long after the sun had set. The Moon shone down with a silver glow,
bathing the child's dead body in its soft light. It shone in the
woman's eyes too, glazed eyes, with a dead mind behind them....

    "_That concludes our lesson for today._"