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Read Ebook: A Bad Day for Vermin by Laumer Keith
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Ebook has 79 lines and 5302 words, and 2 pages
He banged the gavel on the scarred bench top, glanced down at the body of the dead alien, now covered by a flag.
"Gentlemen, we've got to take fast action. If the wire services get hold of this before we've gone on record, Willow Grove'll be a blighted area."
"Look here, Willard," Judge Gates called, rising. "This--this mob isn't competent to take legal action."
"Never mind what's legal, Judge. Sure, this calls for Federal legislation--maybe a Constitutional amendment--but in the meantime, we're going to redefine what constitutes a person within the incorporated limits of Willow Grove!"
"That's the least we can do," a thin-faced woman snapped, glaring at Judge Gates. "Do you think we're going to set here and condone this outrage?"
"Nonsense!" Gates shouted. "I don't like what happened any better than you do--but a person--well, a person's got two arms and two legs and--"
"Shape's got nothing to do with it," the chairman cut in. "Bears walk on two legs! Dave Zawocky lost his in the war. Monkeys have hands."
"Any intelligent creature--" the woman started.
"Nope, that won't do, either; my unfortunate cousin's boy Melvin was born an imbecile, poor lad. Now, folks, there's no time to waste. We'll find it very difficult to formulate a satisfactory definition based on considerations such as these. However, I think we can resolve the question in terms that will form a basis for future legislation on the question. It's going to make some big changes in things. Hunters aren't going to like it--and the meat industry will be affected. But if, as it appears, we're entering into an era of contact with ... ah ... creatures from other worlds, we've got to get our house in order."
"You tell 'em, Senator!" someone yelled.
"We better leave this for Congress to figger out!" another voice insisted.
"We got to do something...."
The senator held up his hands. "Quiet, everybody. There'll be reporters here in a matter of minutes. Maybe our ordinance won't hold water. But it'll start 'em thinking--and it'll make a lots better copy for Willow Grove than the killing."
"What you got in mind, Senator?"
Feet shuffled. Someone coughed.
"What about a man who commits a violent act, then?" Judge Gates demanded. "What's he, eh?"
"That's obvious, gentlemen," the senator said flatly. "He's vermin."
On the courthouse steps Cecil Stump stood, hands in hip pockets, talking to a reporter from the big-town paper in Mattoon, surrounded by a crowd of late-comers who had missed the excitement inside. He described the accuracy of his five shots, the sound they had made hitting the big blue snake, and the ludicrous spectacle the latter had presented in its death agony. He winked at a foxy man in overalls picking his nose at the edge of the crowd.
"Guess it'll be a while 'fore any more damned reptiles move in here like they owned the place," he concluded.
The courthouse doors banged wide; excited citizens poured forth, veering aside from Cecil Stump. The crowd around him thinned, broke up as its members collared those emerging with the hot news. The reporter picked a target.
"Perhaps you'd care to give me a few details of the action taken by the ... ah ... Special Committee, sir?"
Senator Custis pursed his lips. "A session of the Town Council was called," he said. "We've defined what a person is in this town--"
"--and also what can be classified as vermin," Custis went on.
Stump closed his mouth with a snap.
Above, the door opened again. A tall man in a leather jacket stepped out, stood looking down. The crowd pressed back. Senator Custis and the reporter moved aside. The newcomer came down the steps slowly. He carried Cecil Stump's nickel-plated .44 in his hand.
Standing alone now, Stump watched him.
"Here," he said. His voice carried a sudden note of strain. "Who're you?"
The man reached the foot of the steps, raised the revolver and cocked it with a thumb.
"I'm the new exterminator," he said.
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