juvenile delinquent
BY EDWARD W. LUDWIG
When everything is either restricted,
confidential or top-secret, a Reader
is a very bad security risk.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Tick-de-tock, tick-de-tock, whispered the antique clock on the first floor of the house.
There was no sound save for the ticking—and for the pounding of Ronnie's heart.
He stood alone in his upstairs bedroom. His slender-boned, eight-year-old body trembling, perspiration glittering on his white forehead.
To Ronnie, the clock seemed to be saying: