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Cosmic Tales, v. 2, issue 1, Summer 1939

Page 14

14      COSMIC TALES

THE ASTRAL ADVENTURE OF PETER PAINE
By
DAVE McILWAIN

Peter Paine sat up and blinked in the brilliant morning sunshine. Thru his bedroom window he could see a panorama of peaceful green countryside and blue skies. He heard with joy the song of the birds. This was the first morning in years that he had been up, so to speak, with the lark.
"Hurrah!" he shouted gleefully, leaping out of bed. "This is the life!"
Which was, of course, all wrong, because as it happened, he was quite dead.
His first awareness of anything out of the ordinary came when he chanced to glance into the dressing-table mirror, and saw no reflection at where his image should have been, then turned his gaze to his body, or rather, where his body should have been.
And at that precise instant, Paine was positive that he was dreaming. For he had lost his body.
His train of thot for the next few seconds was confused, to say the least. Either he had lost his body or his body had lost him. Thunderstruck, he advanced a non-existent forefinger to an equally non-existent chest, and attempted to poke himself, but the one passed thru the other -- or rather, neither passed thru either, because, as was explained before, they simply did not exist.
"This," thot Peter Paine's ego, spirit, soul, or what-have-you, "this is a helluva mess to get into."
He stood wrapt in morbid contemplation of his non-material state. He was completely at a loss as to what to do. What [[underline]]could[[end underline]] he do? He was a very bewildered spirit, an ostracized ego, a chunk of pure (or -- remember his past life -- fairly pure) thot, possessing less substance than one cubic milimetre of interstellar space.
************************
As minutes ticked by, the first benumbing shock of his predicament began to pass off, and Paine's curiosity overcame any superstitious awe he may have had. He began to do a little cautious experimentation. To his extreme delight, he found he could move just by willing himself in a certain place, and he spent a few happy moments wafting from wall to wall. Once he overshot his destination, and received an unpleasant shock as he passed right thru the intervening wall, to arrive in what would have been, had he had a body, a breathless state in his next door neighbor's bedroom. But the incident was a revelation, for it gave him a vague impression of the tremendous powers and advantages of his discarnate state.
He returned via the wall, but unfortunately chose the wrong wall, and shot out into the open air some twenty feet above the roadway. A pedestrian, glancing up, was so stupified that he walked into a lamp post and promptly lost such joie-de-vivre as he possessed.
Paine was startled beyond measure, and let loose a mental hoot of apprehension that, fortunately, was quite inaudible. With extreme celerity he willed himself back in his bedroom once more, and in a flash he was indoors.
To say that he received another shock would be rather untrue, for he had already received so many that his mind was immune. But such sanity as he still had was seriously jeopardized...for there was a man lying in his bed. Very, very slowly Paine glided forward, a horrible premonition gestating in his mind. The features of the other seemed suspiciously familiar...too familiar. No - it could not be......
But it was! The body that lay on the bed, waxen and terribly

Saving...

14 COSMIC TALES THE ASTRAL ADVENTURE OF PETER PAINE By DAVE McILWAIN Peter Paine sat up and blinked in the brilliant morning sunshine. Thru his bedroom window he could see a panorama of peaceful green countryside and blue skies. He heard with joy the song of the birds. This was the first morning in years that he had been up, so to speak, with the lark. "Hurrah!" he shouted gleefully, leaping out of bed. "This is the life!" Which was, of course, all wrong, because as it happened, he was quite dead. His first awareness of anything out of the ordinary came when he chanced to glance into the dressing-table mirror, and saw no reflection at where his image should have been, then turned his gaze to his body, or rather, where his body should have been. And at that precise instant, Paine was positive that he was dreaming. For he had lost his body. His train of thot for the next few seconds was confused, to say the least. Either he had lost his body or his body had lost him. Thunderstruck, he advanced a non-existent forefinger to an equally non-existent chest, and attempted to poke himself, but the one passed thru the other -- or rather, neither passed thru either, because, as was explained before, they simply did not exist. "This," thot Peter Paine's ego, spirit, soul, or what-have-you, "this is a helluva mess to get into." He stood wrapt in morbid contemplation of his non-material state. He was completely at a loss as to what to do. What [[underline]]could[[end underline]] he do? He was a very bewildered spirit, an ostracized ego, a chunk of pure (or -- remember his past life -- fairly pure) thot, possessing less substance than one cubic milimetre of interstellar space. ************************ As minutes ticked by, the first benumbing shock of his predicament began to pass off, and Paine's curiosity overcame any superstitious awe he may have had. He began to do a little cautious experimentation. To his extreme delight, he found he could move just by willing himself in a certain place, and he spent a few happy moments wafting from wall to wall. Once he overshot his destination, and received an unpleasant shock as he passed right thru the intervening wall, to arrive in what would have been, had he had a body, a breathless state in his next door neighbor's bedroom. But the incident was a revelation, for it gave him a vague impression of the tremendous powers and advantages of his discarnate state. He returned via the wall, but unfortunately chose the wrong wall, and shot out into the open air some twenty feet above the roadway. A pedestrian, glancing up, was so stupified that he walked into a lamp post and promptly lost such joie-de-vivre as he possessed. Paine was startled beyond measure, and let loose a mental hoot of apprehension that, fortunately, was quite inaudible. With extreme celerity he willed himself back in his bedroom once more, and in a flash he was indoors. To say that he received another shock would be rather untrue, for he had already received so many that his mind was immune. But such sanity as he still had was seriously jeopardized...for there was a man lying in his bed. Very, very slowly Paine glided forward, a horrible premonition gestating in his mind. The features of the other seemed suspiciously familiar...too familiar. No - it could not be...... But it was! The body that lay on the bed, waxen and terribly