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diff --git a/30670.txt b/30670.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80619e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/30670.txt @@ -0,0 +1,771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Chipfellow's Jackpot, by Dick Purcell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mr. Chipfellow's Jackpot + +Author: Dick Purcell + +Release Date: December 13, 2009 [EBook #30670] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. CHIPFELLOW'S JACKPOT *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Being one of the richest men in the world, it + was only natural that many people anticipated + the day he would die. For someone should claim-- + + Mr. Chipfellow's Jackpot + + _by + Dick Purcell_ + + +"I'm getting old," Sam Chipfellow said, "and old men die." + +His words were an indirect answer to a question from Carter Hagen, his +attorney. The two men were standing in an open glade, some distance from +Sam Chipfellow's mansion at Chipfellow's Folly, this being the name Sam +himself had attached to his huge estate. + +Sam lived there quite alone except for visits from relatives and those +who claimed to be relatives. He needed no servants nor help of any kind +because the mansion was completely automatic. Sam did not live alone +from choice, but he was highly perceptive and it made him uncomfortable +to have relatives around with but one thought in their minds: _When are +you going to die and leave me some money?_ + +Of course, the relatives could hardly be blamed for entertaining this +thought. It came as naturally as breathing because Sam Chipfellow was +one of those rare individuals--a scientist who had made money; all kinds +of money; more money than almost anybody. And after all, his relatives +were no different than those of any other rich man. They felt they had +rights. + +Sam was known as The Genius of the Space Age, an apt title because there +might not have been any space without him. He had been extremely +versatile during his long career, having been responsible for the +so-called eternal metals--metal against which no temperature, corrosive, +or combinations of corrosives would prevail. He was also the pioneer of +telepower, the science of control over things mechanical through the +electronic emanations of thought waves. Because of his investigations +into this power, men were able to direct great ships by merely +"thinking" them on their proper courses. + +[Illustration] + +These were only two of his contributions to progress, there being many +others. And now, Sam was facing the mystery neither he nor any other +scientist had ever been able to solve. + +Mortality. + +There was a great deal of activity near the point at which the men +stood. Drills and rock cutters had formed three sides of an enclosure in +a ridge of solid rock, and now a giant crane was lowering thick slabs of +metal to form the walls. Nearby, waiting to be placed, lay the slab +which would obviously become the door to whatever Sam was building. Its +surface was entirely smooth, but it bore great hinges and some sort of a +locking device was built in along one edge. + +Carter Hagen watched the activity and considered Sam's reply to his +question. "Then this is to be a mausoleum?" + +Sam chuckled. "Only in a sense. Not a place to house my dead bones if +that's what you mean." + +Carter Hagen, understanding this lonely old man as he did, knew further +questions would be useless. Sam was like that. If he wanted you to know +something, he told you. + +So Carter held his peace and they returned to the mansion where Sam gave +him a drink after they concluded the business he had come on. + +Sam also gave Carter something else--an envelope. "Put that in your +safe, Carter. You're comparatively young. I'm taking it for granted you +will survive me." + +"And this is--?" + +"My will. All old men should leave wills and I'm no exception to the +rule. When I'm dead, open it and read what's inside." + + * * * * * + +Carter Hagen regarded the envelope with speculation. Sam smiled. "If +you're wondering how much I left you, Carter, I'll say this: You might +get it all." + +Hagen strove to appear nonchalant but his eyes widened regardless. Sam +enjoyed this. He said, "Yes, you'll have as much chance as anyone else." + +"You mean as much chance as any of your relatives?" + +"I mean what I said--as much as anyone. I've given them no more +consideration than anyone else." + +Carter Hagen stared, puzzled. "I'm afraid I don't understand you." + +"I didn't expect you to, but that will come later. I'll tell you this +much, though. No one will be barred. The winner will take all, and the +winner may be anyone on this planet. My one regret is that I won't be +around to see who gets the jackpot." + +Carter Hagen dutifully pocketed the will and left. He returned on other +business a week later. Sam Chipfellow's first question was, "Well, what +did you think of it?" + +"Think of what?" + +"My will." + +Carter Hagen straightened to an indignant five-foot-six. "Mr. +Chipfellow, I don't like having my integrity questioned. Your will was +in a sealed envelope. You instructed me to read it after your death. If +you think I'm the sort of man who would violate a trust--" + +Sam put a drink into his attorney's hand. "Here, take this. Calm down." + +Carter Hagen gulped the drink and allowed his feathers to smooth down. +As he set down his glass, Sam leaned back and said, "Now that that's +over, let's get on with it. Tell me--what did you think of my will?" + +The attorney flushed. It was no use trying to fool Chipfellow. He was a +master at that damned thought business. "I--I did look at it. I couldn't +resist the temptation. The envelope was so easily opened." + +Sam was regarding him keenly but without anger. "I know you're a crook, +Hagen, but no more so than most people. So don't sit there cringing." + +"This will is--well, amazing, and getting an advance look didn't help me +a bit unless--" Hagen looked up hopefully. "--unless you're willing to +give me a slight clue--" + +"I'll give you nothing. You take your chances along with the rest." + +Hagen sighed. "As to the will itself, all I can say is that it's bound +to cause a sensation." + +"I think so too," Sam said, his eyes turning a trifle sad. "It's too bad +a man has to die just at the most interesting point of his life." + +"You'll live for years, Mr. Chipfellow. You're in fine condition." + +"Cut it out. You're itching for me to shuffle off so you can get a crack +at what I'm leaving behind." + +"Why, Mr.--" + +"Shut up and have another drink." + + * * * * * + +Carter Hagen did not have long to wait as life-times go. Eighteen months +later, Sam Chipfellow dropped dead while walking in his garden. The news +was broadcast immediately but the stir it caused was nothing to the +worldwide reaction that came a few days later. + +This was after all the relatives, all those who thought they had a faint +chance of proving themselves relatives, and representatives of the +press, radio, and video, gathered in the late Sam Chipfellow's mansion +to hear the reading of the will. Carter Hagen, seeking to control his +excitement, stood before a microphone installed for the benefit of those +who couldn't get in. + +He said, "This is the last will and testament of Samuel Chipfellow, +deceased. As his lawyer, it becomes my duty to--" + +An angry murmur went up from those assembled. Exclamations of +impatience. "Come on! Get on with it. Quit making a speech and read the +will, we can't wait all day!" + +"Quiet, please, and give me your closest attention. I will read slowly +so all may hear. This is Mr. Chipfellow's last testament: + +"_I, Samuel B. Chipfellow, have made a great deal of money during my +active years. The time now comes when I must decide what will become of +it after my death. I have made my decision, but I remain in the peculiar +position of still not knowing what will become of it. Frankly, I'm of +the opinion that no one will ever benefit from it--that it will remain +in the place I have secreted it until the end of time._" + +A murmur went up from the crowd. + +"A treasure hunt!" someone cried. "I wonder if they'll distribute maps!" + +Carter Hagen raised his hand. "Please! Let's have a little more order or +the reading will not continue." + +The room quieted and Hagen's droning voice was again raised: + +"_This place consists of a vault I have had erected upon my grounds. +This vault, I assure you, is burglar-proof, weather-proof, +cyclone-proof, tornado-proof, bomb-proof. Time will have no effect upon +its walls. It could conceivably be thrown free in some great volcanic +upheaval but even then the contents would remain inaccessible._ + +"_There is only one way the vault can be opened. Its lock is sensitized +to respond to a thought. That's what I said--a thought. I have selected +a single, definite, clear-cut thought to which the combination will +respond._ + +"_There is a stone bench in front of the vault door and I decree that +any person who wishes, may sit down on this bench and direct his or her +thought at the door. If it is the correct one, the door will open and +the person causing this to happen shall then be the possessor of all my +worldly wealth which lies inside._ + +"_Because of the number of persons who will no doubt wish to try their +luck, I decree further that each shall be given thirty seconds in which +to project their thought. A force of six men shall be hired to supervise +the operation and handle the crowds in the neighborhood of the vault. A +trust fund has been already set up to pay this group. The balance of my +wealth lies awaiting the lucky thinker in the vault--all save this +estate itself, an item of trifling value in comparison to the rest, +which I bequeath to the State with the stipulation that the other terms +of the will are rigidly carried out._ + +"_And so, good luck to everyone in the world. May one of you succeed in +opening my vault--although I doubt it. Samuel B. Chipfellow. P.S. The +thought-throwing shall begin one week after the reading of the will. I +add this as a precaution to keep everyone from rushing to the vault +after this will is read. You might kill each other in the stampede. S. +B. C._" + +There was a rush regardless. Reporters knocked each other down getting +to the battery of phones set up to carry the news around the world. And +Sam Chipfellow's will pushed all else off the video screens and the +front pages. + + * * * * * + +During the following weeks, millions were made through the sale of +Chipfellow's thought to the gullible. Great commercial activity began in +the area surrounding the estate as arrangements were made to accommodate +the hundreds of thousands who were heading in that direction. + +A line began forming immediately at the gate to Chipfellow's Folly and a +brisk market got under way in positions therein. The going figure of the +first hundred positions was in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. +A man three thousand thoughts away was offered a thousand dollars two +days before the week was up, and on the last day, the woman at the head +of the line sold her position for eighteen thousand dollars. + +There were many learned roundtables and discussions as to the nature of +Chipfellow's thought. The majority leaned to the belief that it would be +scientific in nature because Chipfellow was the world's greatest +scientist. + +This appeared to give scientifically trained brains the edge and those +fortunate in this respect spent long hours learning what they could of +Chipfellow's life, trying to divine his performance in the realm of +thought. + +So intense was the interest created that scarcely anyone paid attention +to the activities of Chipfellow's closer relatives. They sued to break +the will but met with defeat. The verdict was rendered speedily, after +which the judge who made the ruling declared a recess and bought the +eleven thousandth position in line for five hundred dollars. + +On the morning of the appointed day, the gates were opened and the line +moved toward the vault. The first man took his seat on the bench. A +stopwatch clicked. A great silence settled over the watchers. This +lasted for thirty seconds after which the watch clicked again. The man +got up from the bench eighteen thousand dollars poorer. + +The vault had not opened. + +Nor did it open the next day, the next, nor the next. A week passed, a +month, six months. And at the end of that time it was estimated that +more than twenty-five thousand people had tried their luck and failed. + +Each failure was greeted with a public sigh of relief--relief from both +those who were waiting for a turn and those who were getting rich from +the commercial enterprises abutting upon the Chipfellow estate. + +There was a motel, a hotel, a few night clubs, a lot of restaurants, a +hastily constructed bus terminal, an airport and several turned into +parking lots at a dollar a head. + +The line was a permanent thing and it was soon necessary to build a +cement walk because the ever-present hopeful were standing in a ditch a +foot deep. + +There also continued to be an active business in positions, a group of +professional standers having sprung up, each with an assistant to bring +food and coffee and keep track of the ever fluctuating market in +positions. + +And still no one opened Chipfellow's vault. + +It was conceded that the big endowment funds had the inside track +because they had the money to hire the best brains in the world; men who +were almost as able scientifically as had been Chipfellow himself but +unfortunately hadn't made as much money. The monied interests also had +access to the robot calculators that turned out far more plausible +thoughts than there were positions in the line. + +A year passed. The vault remained locked. + + * * * * * + +By that time the number of those who had tried and failed, and were +naturally disgruntled, was large enough to be heard, so a rumor got +about that the whole thing was a vast hoax--a mean joke perpetrated upon +the helpless public by a lousy old crook who hadn't any money in the +first place. + +Vituperative editorials were written--by editors who had stood in line +and thrown futile thoughts at the great door. These editorials were +vigorously rebutted by editors and columnists who as yet had not had a +chance to try for the jackpot. + +One senator, who had tried and missed, introduced a law making it +illegal to sit on a stone bench and hurl a thought at a door. + +There were enough congressional failures to pass the law. It went to the +Supreme Court, but was tossed out because they said you couldn't pass a +law prohibiting a man from thinking. + +And still the vault remained closed. + +Until Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, farm people impoverished by reverses, spent +their last ten dollars for two thoughts and waited out the hours and the +days in line. Their daughter Susan, aged nine, waited with them, +passing the time by telling her doll fairy tales and wondering what the +world looked like to a bird flying high up over a tree top. Susan was +glad when her mother and father reached the bench because then they all +could go home and see how her pet rabbit was doing. + +Mr. Wilson hurled his thought and moved on with drooping shoulders. Mrs. +Wilson threw hers and was told to leave the bench. The guard looked at +Susan. "Your turn," he said. + +"But I haven't got any thought," Susan said. "I just want to go home." + +This made no sense to the guard. The line was being held up. People were +grumbling. The guard said, "All right, but that was silly. You could +have sold your position for good money. Run along with your mother and +father." + +Susan started away. Then she looked at the vault which certainly +resembled a mausoleum and said, "Wait--I have too got a little thought," +and she popped onto the bench. + +The guard frowned and snapped his stop watch. + +Susan screwed her eyes tight shut. She tried to see an angel with big +white wings like she sometimes saw in her dreams and she also tried to +visualize a white-haired, jolly-faced little man as she considered Mr. +Chipfellow to be. Her lips moved soundlessly as she said, + +_Dear God and all the angels--please have pity on poor Mr. Chipfellow +for dying and please make him happy in heaven._ + +Then Susan got off the bench quickly to run after her mother and father +who had not waited. + +There was the sound of metal grinding upon metal and the great door was +swinging open. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Imagination_ April 1956. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical + errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Mr. Chipfellow's Jackpot, by Dick Purcell + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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