Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from IF Worlds of Science Fiction January 1953. Extensiveresearch did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication wasrenewed.
The atomic bomb meant, to most people, the end.
To Henry Bemis it meant something far different—athing to appreciate and enjoy.
Time Enough At Last
By Lynn Venable
or a long time, HenryBemis had had an ambition.To read a book. Not just the titleor the preface, or a page somewherein the middle. He wantedto read the whole thing, all the waythrough from beginning to end. Asimple ambition perhaps, but in thecluttered life of Henry Bemis, animpossibility.
Henry had no time of his own.There was his wife, Agnes whoowned that part of it that his employer,Mr. Carsville, did not buy.Henry was allowed enough to get toand from work—that in itself beingquite a concession on Agnes' part.
Also, nature had conspiredagainst Henry by handing him witha pair of hopelessly myopic eyes.Poor Henry literally couldn't see hishand in front of his face. For awhile, when he was very young, hisparents had thought him an idiot.When they realized it was his eyes,they got glasses for him. He wasnever quite able to catch up. Therewas never enough time. It lookedas though Henry's ambition wouldnever be realized. Then somethinghappened which changed all that.
Henry was down in the vault ofthe Eastside Bank & Trust when ithappened. He had stolen a fewmoments from the duties of histeller's cage to try to read a fewpages of the magazine he hadbought that morning. He'd madean excuse to Mr. Carsville aboutneeding bills in large denominationsfor a certain customer, andthen, safe inside the dim recesses ofthe vault he had pulled from insidehis coat the pocket size magazine.
He had just started a picture articlecheerfully entitled "The NewWeapons and What They'll Do ToYOU", when all the noise in theworld crashed in upon his ear-drums.It seemed to be inside ofhim and outside of him all at once.Then the concrete floor was risingup at him and the ceiling cameslanting down toward him, and fora fleeting second Henry thought ofa story he had started to read oncecalled "The Pit and The Pendulum".He regretted in that insanemoment that he had never hadtime to finish that story to see howit came out. Then all was darknessand quiet and unconsciousness.
hen Henry came to, heknew that something wasdesperately wrong with the EastsideBank & Trust. The heavy steeldoor of the vault was buckled andtwisted and the floor tilted up at adizzy angle, while the ceilingdipped crazily toward it. Henrygingerly got to his feet, movingarms and legs experimentally. Assuredthat nothing was broken, hetenderly raised a hand to his eyes.His precious glasses were intact,thank God! He would never havebeen able to find his way out of theshattered vault without them.
He made a mental note to writeDr. Torrance to have a spare pairmade and mailed to him. Blastednuisance not having his prescriptionon file locally, but Henry trustedno-one but Dr. Torran