The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont Read Free Book Online

halls and through the rooms of the great house in the forest.
    And then it left, frightened and alone.
    ----

Introduction to THE VANISHING AMERICAN
(by John Tomerlin)
    ----
    On his way home, after working late at the office, Mr. Minchell discovers that he is, in fact, vanishing. To his employer, store clerks, bartenders--even his own family--he either has become literally invisible, or so insignificant that his presence no longer can be detected. Only through an act of daring, an assertion of his individuality, does Mr. Minchell reappear; gain attention; prove his existence.
    The pun is a recurrent theme in Charles Beaumont's titles--"Fair Lady" being another, obvious, example; "Point of Honor" and Black Country" two less apparent ones--and is some indication of the sort of writer he was. A storyteller, a spinner of yarns, balladeer, prophet; a discoverer of the wonderous amidst the commonplace. His ideas sprang from the germinal "What if...?"
    What if homosexuality were the norm instead of inversion; what if a woman sought rape instead of avoiding it; and what if, in lieu of the assimilation of aboriginals, an American actually did vanish?
    The sometimes-obvious answers were couched in terms of characters and events so unexpected (occasionally unpleasant, frequently macabre, yet invariably real) that they laid bare new truths and new dimensions of understanding.
    This is because the pure act of imagination that is a Beaumont story is deeply rooted in personal history. The office where Mr. Minchell works adding up figures on a manifest, is the office of a southern California trucking firm for which Charles performed similar, agonizing services in 1950. "King Richard" is one of the stone lions at the entrance to the public library on 5th Avenue near 42nd Street, which he often visited while living in New York.
    To those who knew him best, the trappings and imagery of his stories are fun house mirrors through which his real life can be glimpsed: people, places, actual events. There was the early loss of his father, and strained relationships with his mother; a pair of maiden aunts in Washington who raised him--eccentrics to say the least; and periods of serious illnesses as a child. All appear repeatedly in his stories.
    The most familiar character of all, though, one that appears time and again in different guises, is alone or has only one other equally powerless person to talk to; is sometimes the possessor of a unique gift or talent, sometimes not; and must, through an act of daring or personal risk, achieve recognition and appreciation.
    "I'll be seeing you," the stranger in the crowd says. "That's right," Mr. Minchell says from his seat atop the lion. "You'll be seeing me."
    Fear not, old friend, we see you still.
----

THE VANISHING AMERICAN
    ----
    He got the notion shortly after five o'clock; at least, a part of him did, a small part hidden down beneath all the conscious cells--he didn't get the notion until some time later. At exactly five P.M., the bell rang. At two minutes after, the chairs began to empty. There was the vast slamming of drawers, the straightening of rulers, the sound of bones snapping and mouths yawning and feet shuffling tiredly.
    Mr. Minchell relaxed. He rubbed his hands together and relaxed and thought how nice it would be to get up and go home, like the others. But of course there was the tape, only three-quarters finished. He would have to stay.
    He stretched and said good night to the people who filed past him. As usual, no one answered. When they had gone, he set his fingers pecking again over the keyboard. The click-clicking grew loud in the suddenly still office, but Mr. Minchell did not notice. He was lost in the work. Soon, he knew, it would be time for the totaling, and his pulse quickened at the thought of this.
    He lit a cigarette. Heart tapping, he drew in smoke and released it.
    He extended his right hand and rested his index and middle fingers on the metal bar marked TOTAL. A