The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birthday Present, by Arnold Marmor.

I watched her as she walked back and forth across my bedroom floor. She had on a sheer plasto dress that clung to her round white breasts and full milky thighs. "I'm picking him up at the spaceway," she said. "We're supposed to go dining and dancing tonight." She stopped pacing. "It's my birthday. I'm thirty today."

And I was twenty-four and in love. Six years between us. So what? I didn't give a damn. I wanted to marry her, to live with her.

"Stop it." I got off the bed, went to her. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"Never stop saying that." She put up her face and I kissed her. A long hard kiss. She broke away. "You'll be in back in the racer. Just crouch low. As soon as we're away from the spaceway you hit him with the wrench. It has to be quick and sure. Then we carry him up to the apartment and drop him out the window."

"You'll have plenty of time to get out. It'll be listed as a suicide. He's been sick for a long time. His doctor will testify to that. He was so sick and worried he jumped to his death."

"Yes." I looked at her. Her long blond hair, her oval face, the slim white column that was her throat. "It's all clear. Like glass."

"We won't be able to see each other for a long time," she said. She watched me drink. "We don't want to give our friends something to talk about."

She patted my face. I put down my drink, caged her slender hand in mine, and kissed her wrist. I saw the light blue veins criss-crossing under the delicate skin.

I brought her close to me. I kissed her warm lips. "Baby," I breathed. "Diane, baby."

I crouched low in the back of the racer. I heard the street noises, the gab of the night crowds, the not-so-mild cursings of the taxi-jet drivers.

It all seemed so unreal. Back there, on my haunches, a wrench gripped tight in my sweaty hand. I was going to kill a man. A man I knew, a man I respected. And for a woman. All for a woman. I thought about getting up and telling Diane to go to hell and to get herself another stooge. I thought about a lot of things. Then I thought of Diane. Her sweet white body. The way she sighed when I kissed her hard. And I knew I was going to go through with it.

The racer stopped, its jets cut off. I heard the hum as the door opened and she got out.

They got in and the door hummed shut and I heard their laughter blending together. They settled back and the jets roared. The racer woke up to new life and it shot away.

"Cold. And I'm not sure it was worth it. Those Martians drive a hard bargain." He coughed. "Diane, you're not too set on going out tonight, are you?"

My arm sprang alive. The wrench thudded against his skull. A half cry spilled from his lips. Then his head fell forward on his chest.

It was done. I settled back. The wrench was still in my hand. I looked at it, then let it fall.

So I let her talk. I didn't answer her. She babbled away like she was crazy. She kept it up till we got to their apartment.

Diane got out first and made sure the way was clear. "We'll use the back stairs," she said when she got back. "We both can manage him."

It was dark and it was late and we didn't see anybody. We went through the service entrance. It was too heavy a load for me to do it alone. Two flights up. Diane helped me with him.

I breathed easier when we were in the marble hall outside the apartment. She quickly unlocked the heavy plastic door and we got him inside. She fumbled for the inner-lighting switch.

Then they stopped shouting and stared at us. I thought they would never stop staring.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birthday Present

BIRTHDAY PRESENT

By Arnold Marmor

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE