He said hoarsely, "Look, Mother," and made a sudden motion with his right hand. Carrie felt her eyes glazing when suddenly the front door bell rang. That roused her. She closed her eyes and shook her head. For a moment she had had the queerest feeling.
James said, "Mother—please, mother," and made the same motion again.
This time it was a bellowing voice that saved her. "Vegetables!" it called. The voice's owner had grown impatient of waiting and had opened the front door. "Vegetable order!"
James was about to make the motion a third time when Carrie acted. Whatever possessed her to do such a thing she didn't know. It was as if some hidden person had given her a command and she had misunderstood it. She slapped his face as hard as she could, and James fell back on the bed. She stood there, horrified at herself, when for a third time the voice called, "Vegetables! Say, lady, I can't stand here waitin' all day!"
She ran down the stairs and said breathlessly, "Put them down. I'll pay you tomorrow. I have no time now. Please come back tomorrow. No, wait. Stay here for just another minute, and yell 'Vegetables' again after I go back upstairs."
Then she ran upstairs again, leaving him scratching his head in bewilderment.
James was picking himself off the bed, looking more frightened than angry. He made a motion with his hand once more, but uncertainly this time and Carrie did not let him finish it. She didn't even need the cry of, "Vegetables!" to save her. She leaped at him and held his hands down to his sides. Then she tried to tie him down with a pillow case. James was strong for his age and he struggled hard but she was more desperate than he and she won.
"Stay there," she ordered. Then she picked up the book again.
"The Perfect Hypnotist," she read. "By William Haskins. 2083. U. S. Govt. Press."
Why—2083 was the date of publication, wasn't it? Impossible! The book had been handed out by mistake, of course, for The Perfect Hostess, but 2083—incredible. It wasn't due to be written and published for another hundred years. You just couldn't confuse a book with something so far from coming into existence.