Skeleton Crew

'Facts,' Spangler said. 'Facts, Carlin. Not cheap paperback novels, not cheap tabloid stories or equally cheap horror movies. Facts. Number one: John Delver was an English craftsman of Norman descent who made mirrors in what we call the Elizabethan period of England's history. He lived and died uneventfully. No pentacles scrawled on the floor for the housekeeper to rub out, no sulfur-smelling documents with a splotch of blood on the dotted line.

Number two: His mirrors have become collector's items due principally to fine craftsmanship and to the fact that a form of crystal was used that has a mildly magnifying and distorting effect upon the eye of the beholder—a rather distinctive trademark. Number three: Only five Delvers remain in existence to our present knowledge—two of them in America. They are priceless.

Number four: This Delver and one other that was destroyed in the London Blitz have gained a rather spurious reputation due largely to falsehood, exaggeration, and coincidence—'

'Fact number five,' Mr. Carlin said. 'You're a supercilious bastard, aren't you?' Spangler looked with mild detestation at the blind-eyed Adonis.

'I was guiding the tour that Sandra Bates's brother was a part of when he got his look into your precious Delver mirror, Spangler. He was perhaps sixteen, part of a high-school group. I was going through the history of the glass and had just got to the part you would appreciate—extolling the flawless craftsmanship, the perfection of the glass itself—when the boy raised his hand. 'But what about that black splotch in the upper left-hand corner?' he asked. 'That looks like a mistake.'

'And one of his friends asked him what he meant, so the Bates boy started to tell him, then stopped. He looked at the mirror very closely, pushing right up to the red velvet guard-rope around the case—then he looked behind him as if what he had seen had been the reflection of someone—of someone in black—standing at his shoulder. 'It looked like a man,' he said. 'But I couldn't see the face. It's gone now.' And that was all.'

'Go on,' Spangler said. 'You're itching to tell me it was the Reaper—I believe that is the common explanation, isn't it? That occasional chosen people see the Reaper's image in the glass?

Get it out of your system, man. The National Enquirer would love it! Tell me about the horrific consequences and defy me to explain it. Was he later hit by a car? Did he jump out of a window?

What?' Carlin chuckled a forlorn little chuckle. 'You should know better, Spangler. Haven't you told me twice that you are... ah... conversant with the history of the Delver glass. There were no horrific consequences. There never have been. That's why the Delver glass isn't Sundaysupplementized like the Koh-i-noor Diamond or the curse on King Tut's tomb. It's mundane compared to those. You think I'm a fool, don't you?'

'Yes,' Spangler said. 'Can we go up now?'

'Certainly,' Carlin said passionately. He climbed the ladder and pushed the trapdoor.

There was a clickety-clackety-bump as it was drawn up into the shadows by a counterweight, and then Mr. Carlin disappeared into the shadows. Spangler followed. The blind Adonis stared unknowingly after them.

The gable room was explosively hot, lit only by one cobwebby, many-angled window that filtered the hard outside light into a dirty milky glow. The looking-glass was propped at an angle to the light, catching most of it and reflecting a pearly patch onto the far wall. It had been bolted securely into a wooden frame. Mr. Carlin was not looking at it. Quite studiously not looking at it.

'You haven't even put a dustcloth over it,' Spangler said, visibly angered for the first time.

'I think of it as an eye,' Mr. Carlin said. His voice was still drained, perfectly empty. 'If it's left open, always open, perhaps it will go blind.' Spangler paid no attention. He took off his jacket, folded the buttons carefully in, and with infinite gentleness he wiped the dust from the convex surface of the glass itself. Then he stood back and looked at it.

It was genuine. There was no doubt about it, never had been, really. It was a perfect example of Delver's particular genius. The cluttered room behind him, his own reflection, Carlin's half-turned figure—they were all clear, sharp, almost three-dimensional. The faint magnifying effect of the glass gave everything a slightly curved effect that added an almost fourth-dimensional distortion. It was—His thought broke off, and he felt another wave of anger.

'Carlin.' Carlin said nothing.

'Carlin, you damned fool, I thought you said that girl didn't harm the mirror!' No answer.

Spangler stared at him icily in the glass. 'There is a piece of friction tape in the upper left-hand corner. Did she crack it? For God's sake, man, speak up!'

'You're seeing the Reaper,' Carlin said. His voice was deadly and without passion.

'There's no friction tape on the mirror. Put your hand over it... dear God.' Spangler wrapped the upper sleeve of his coat carefully around his hand, reached out, and pressed it gently against the mirror. 'You see? Nothing supernatural. It's gone. My hand covers it.'

'Covers it? Can you feel the tape? Why don't you pull it off?' Spangler took his hand away carefully and looked into the glass. Everything in it seemed a little more distorted; the room's odd angles seemed to yaw crazily as if on the verge of sliding off into some unseen eternity. There was no dark spot in the mirror. It was flawless. He felt a sudden unhealthy dread rise in him and despised himself for feeling it.

'It looked like him, didn't it?' Carlin asked. Hi face was very pale, and he was looking directly at the floor. A muscle twitched spasmodically in his neck. 'Admit it, Spangler.

It looked like a hooded figure standing behind you, didn't it?'

'It looked like friction tape masking a short crack,' Spangler said very firmly. 'Nothing more, nothing less—'

'The Bates boy was very husky,' Carlin said rapidly. His words seemed to drop into the hot, still atmosphere like stones into dark water. 'Like a football player. He was wearing a letter sweater and dark green chinos. We were halfway to the upper-half exhibits when—'

'The heat is making me feel ill,' Spangler said a little unsteadily. He had taken out a handkerchief and was wiping his neck. His eyes searched the convex surface of the mirror in small, jerky movements.