Shock Treatment Read Online Free Page B

me with a young fellow in a smart city suit who was a stranger to me.
    It was too late to duck out of sight, so I waved to Jefferson, making out I was glad to see him.
    “I want you to meet Matt Lawson,” he said. “Mr Lawson, this is Terry Regan who I was telling you about.”
    Lawson thrust out his hand. He looked just out of college and as bright and as sharp as they come.
    I shook hands with him.
    “Mr Regan,” he said, “I understand from Sheriff Jefferson you look after all the TV sets in the district.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t say all of them, but I certainly look after most of them.”
    Jefferson said, “I’ll leave you two gentlemen to discuss your business. I promised Doc I’d give him a game of checkers.”
    He shook hands with Lawson, told me he expected me to look him up soon, and then walked over to his office.
    Lawson said, “I’ll cut it short, Mr Regan, as you’re in a hurry. I’m from the National Fidelity, and I’m selling TV insurance. I was wondering if you would give me a list of your clients. It would save me a lot of leg work. I don’t expect you to give me the list for nothing. I suggest I pay you a quarter of my commission on any sale I make.”
    Although I wasn’t in the mood to talk business right then, I wasn’t so stupid not to see the advantage of such a proposition.
    “What kind of insurance are you selling?” I asked.
    “The usual: coverage for the tube, all maintenance charges and spares. All I want is the names and addresses of people owning sets in the district.”
    “Well, okay. I have my address book in the truck. I’ll lend it to you. You make a copy of it and give the book to the Sheriff. I’ll pick it up when next I’m in town.”
    He said he would do that.
    As I searched for the address book, I said, “I didn’t know the National Fidelity did TV insurance. I thought they only handled life policies.”
    “We cover the whole insurance field. Of course our biggest business is in life.”
    I gave him the address book and then shook hands with him and drove back to my cabin.
    I had collected the various spares for Delaney’s super-set, and I started work on the set during the afternoon.
    I worked on it for two reasons: because I had never been given the chance to build a real super-set before, and it did my pride good to tackle such a job, but also, and much, much more important, because I knew instinctively that Gilda had meant what she had said, and this super-set would give me a legitimate excuse to go up to Blue Jay cabin and spend some time there installing the set, and while I was there I would be able to see her.
    So I worked on the set, my ears cocked for the telephone bell to ring which didn’t ring, waiting for her to change her mind and knowing she wouldn’t change her mind, and feeling as bad as a man can feel who is fatally in love with a woman, wanting her every moment of the day and knowing he isn’t going to have her.
    And as I worked on the set, I became more and more aware that the one obstacle standing between Gilda and myself was an elderly man who sat day after day in a wheel chair, a helpless cripple, who was no use to himself nor to anyone else.
     
    II
     
    The following day I drove down to Los Angeles to select wood for the cabinet I was going to build for Delaney’s super-set. I discussed with the cabinet maker how I wanted the wood cut and he promised to have it ready in an hour.
    With an hour to kill, I wandered the streets, shop window gazing. I came upon a jeweller’s shop, and, in the window, I saw a blue and silver powder compact. It attracted my attention because the blue in it exactly matched the colour of Gilda’s eyes.
    I went in and bought it.
    I told the salesman to put Gilda’s name on the inside lid and he did it while I waited.
    When I got back to my cabin, I went to the telephone, picked up the receiver and called Blue Jay cabin.
    The sound of her voice as she said “Yes? Hello?” set my heart thumping.
    “Will