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If Emmanuel Rubin kne not to be didactic, he never exercised that knowledge

"When you write a short story," he said, "you had better know the ending first The end of a story is only the end to a reader To a writer, it&039;s the beginning If you don&039;t know exactly where you&039;re going every et there - or anywhere"

Thouest at this particular monthly banquet of the Black Widowers seeray beard quiver and his thick - lensed glasses glint; and all ears as he listened to Rubin&039;s firuest himself was clearly in his early twenties, quite thin, with a so forehead and a rather dilistened in its freshness, as though he had broken out a brand - new costuh

He said, a small quiver in his voice, "Does that mean you have to write an outline, Mr Rubin?"

"No," said Rubin emphatically "You can if you want to, but I never do You don&039;t have to know the exact road you&039;re going to take You have to know your destination, that&039;s all Once that&039;s the case, any road will take you there As you write you are continually looking backward from that known destination, and it&039;s that backward look that guides you"

Mario Gonzalo, as quickly and carefully drawing a caricature of the guest,them with a childlike innocence, said, "Coht fit your cockamamy mysteries, but a real writer deals with character, doesn&039;t he He creates people and they behave in accordance with their characters and that guides the story, probably to the surprise of the author"

Rubin turned slowly and said, "If you&039;re talking about long, invertebrate novels, Mario - assu at all - it&039;s possible for an experienced or gifted writer topassable But you can always tell the I - don&039;t - knohere - I&039;ive it its amorphous character for the sake of its virtues, you have to forgive it, and that&039;s a strain and a drawback A tightly plotted story with everything fitting together neatly is, on the other hand, the noblest work of literature It iveness The backward look"

At the other end of the roonation at Rubin and said, "I think it was as out the worst in hiest - winded" He stirred the ice in his drink with his forefinger and brought his dark eyebrows together forbiddingly

"Actually," said Thomas Trumbull, his lined face uncharacteristically placid, "the kid wanted to meet Manny He admires his stories, God knohy Well, he&039;s the son of a friend of ht I&039;d expose hi him here"

Avalon said, "It won&039;t hurt us to be exposed to youth now and then, either But I hate being exposed to Rubin&039;s theories of literature Henry?"

The quiet and smoothly efficient waiter, who served at all the Black Widowers banquets, was at his side at once without see to have moved in order to have achieved that, "Yes, sir?"

"Henry," said Avalon, "what are these strange ht ill have a buffet dinner The chef has prepared a variety of Indian and Pakistani dishes"

"With curry?"

"Rather heavy on the curry, sir It was Mr Trumbull&039;s special request"

Tru eye "I wanted curry and I&039;m the host"

"And Manny won&039;t eat it and will be unbearable"

Trued

Rubin was not entirely unbearable but he was loud, and only Roger Halsted sees Indian Halsted said, "A buffet is a good idea," patted his lips with his napkin, and went back for a third helping of everything, with a beatific ser, if you don&039;t stop eating, we&039;ll start the grilling session over your chewing"

"Go ahead," said Halsted cheerfully "I don&039;t ht," said Rubin, "when your stoh"

Tru"

"If you don&039;twith my mouth full," said Halsted

"Get started, then"

Halsted said thickly, "How do you justify your existence, Milton?"

"I can&039;t," said Peterborough, a little breathlessly "Maybe after I get rees"

"What&039;s your school and major?"

"Columbia and chemistry"

"Chelish Didn&039;t I gather during the cocktail hour that you were an aspiring writer?"

"Anyone is allowed to be an aspiring writer," said Peterborough

"Aspiring," said Rubin darkly

"And what do you want to write?" said Halsted

Peterborough hesitated and said, with a trace of defensiveness in his voice, "Well, I&039;ve always been a science - fiction fan Since I was nine, anyway"

"Oh God,"upward in mute appeal Gonzalo said instantly, "Science fiction? That&039;s what your friend Isaac Asimov writes, isn&039;t it, Manny?"

"He&039;s not s to me out of helpless admiration"

Tru a private conversation? Go on, Roger"

"Have you written any science fiction?"

"I&039;ve tried, but I haven&039;t subh I have to"

"Why do you have to?"

"I made a bet"

"What kind?"

"Well," said Peterborough helplessly, "it&039;s rather co"

"We don&039;t mind the complications," said Halsted, "and well try not to be eh, and there appeared on his face so that had not been seen at the Black Widowers banquets for years, a richly tinted blush "there&039;s this girl I&039;m sort of cra - I like her, but I don&039;t think she likes oes for a basketball player; a real idiot - six - foot - five to his eyebrows and nothing above"

Peterborough shook his head and continued "I don&039;t havefor me I can&039;t ilish lit major, so I showed her so, and I said, no But then I said I intended to write sohed

"That botheredIt seems that Lester del Rey -"

Rubin interposed "Who?"

"Lester del Rey He&039;s a science - fiction writer"

"Another one of those?" said Rubin "Never heard of him"

"Well, he&039;s no Isaac Asiht Anyway, the way he got started was once when he read a science - fiction story and thought it was terrible He said to his girl, &039;Hell, I can write so better than that,&039; and she said, &039;I dare you,&039; and he did and sold it

"So when this girl laughed, I said, &039;I&039;ll bet I write one and sell it,&039; and she said, &039;I&039;ll bet you don&039;t,&039; and I said, &039;I&039;ll bet you a date against five dollars If I sell the story, you go with &039; And she agreed

"So I&039;ve just got to write the story now, because she said she&039;d go out with me if I wrote the story and she liked it, even if it didn&039;t sell - which may mean she likes me more than I think"

Jaray stub of a er and said, "Or that she&039;s quite confident that you won&039;t even write the story"

"I will," said Peterborough

"Then go ahead," said Rubin

"There&039;s a catch I can write the story, I know I&039;ve got soive it that backward look you mentioned, Mr Rubin What I don&039;t have is a ht you riting a science - fiction story"

"Yes, Mr Rubin, but it&039;s a science - fiction mystery, and I need a , and the way of the killing, but I don&039;t know the why of the killing I thought, though, if I came here, I could discuss it with you"

"You could what?" said Rubin, lifting his head

"Especially you, Mr Rubin I&039;ve read your mystery stories - I don&039;t read science fiction exclusively - and I think they&039;re great You&039;re always so good with ht you could help ave every appearance of believing that that breath was flame He had made his dinner very , two helpings of coupe aux marrons, and he was in no mood for even such sweet reason as he was, on occasion, observed to possess

He said, "Let e You&039;ve irl, or such chance as you canit - and now you want to win the bet and cheat the girl by having me write the story for you Is that the way it is?"

"No, sir," said Peterborough urgently, "that&039;s not the way it is I&039;ll write it I just want help with the motive"

"And except for that, you&039;ll write it," said Rubin "How about having me dictate the story to you? You can still write it You can copy it out in your own handwriting"

"That&039;s not the sa ht there Either write the story yourself or tell the girl you can&039;t"

Milton Peterborough looked about helplessly

Truh horse? I&039;ve heard you say a million ti that&039;s hard Give him an idea, then; he&039;ll still have the hard part to do"

"I won&039;t," said Rubin, pushing hi his aro ahead and give him ideas - if you kno"

Truht, I can settle this by fiat since I&039;m the host, but I&039;ll throw it open to a vote Howthe kid if we can?"

He held up his hand, and so did Gonzalo and Drake

Avalon cleared his throat a little uncertainly "I&039;ot to side with Manny It would be cheating the girl," he said

Halsted said, "As a teacher, I&039;ve got to disapprove of outside help on a test"

"Tie vote," said Rubin "What are you going to do, Tom?" Trumbull said, "We haven&039;t all voted Henry is a Black Widower, and his vote will break the tie Henry?"

Henry paused a brief ht to"

"You are not an honorary Black Widower, Henry You are a Black Widower Decide!"

Rubin said, "Remember, Henry, you are the epitoirl?"

"No electioneering," said Trumbull "Go ahead, Henry"

Henry&039;s face wrinkled into a rare frown "I have never laid claiht treat this as a special case Juliet told Rohs&039; Might we stretch a point?"

"I&039;m surprised, Henry," said Rubin

Henry said, "I am perhaps swayed by the fact that I do not view thiswo man and an athlete We are all bookishwoman to an athlete I am embarrassed to say that I have Surely, then"

Rubin said, "Well, I haven&039;t I&039;ve never lost a girl to -" He paused a ht, then said in an altered tone "- well, it&039;s irrelevant All right, if I&039;m outvoted, I&039;h?"

Peterborough&039;s face was flushed and there was a trickle of perspiration at one temple He said, "I won&039;t tell you any of the story I&039;ve been planning except the barest essentials of the point I need help on I don&039;t want anything more than the minimum I wouldn&039;t want that even, if this didn&039;t mean - so much" He ran down

Rubin said, with surprising quietness, "Go on Don&039;t worry about it We understand"

Peterborough said, "Thanks I appreciate it I&039;ve got two men, call them Murderer and Victiets caught and I won&039;t say a word about that Murderer and Victim are both eclipse buffs"

Avalon interrupted, "Are you an eclipse buff, Mr Peterborough?"

"Yes, sir, I ao to every eclipse anywhere in the world even if it&039;s only a 5 per center, but I can&039;t afford that, and don&039;t have the tiot a telescope and photographic equipment"

Avalon said, "Good! It helps, when one is going to talk about eclipses, if one knows so which one is ignorant is a sure prescription for failure"

Gonzalo said, "Is the woman you&039;re interested in an eclipse buff?"

"No," said Peterborough "I wish she were"

"You know," said Gonzalo, "if she doesn&039;t share your interests, you h shook his head "I don&039;t think it works that way, Mr Gonzalo"

"It sure doesn&039;t," said Trumbull "Shut up, Mario, and let hih said, "Murderer and Victiainst all expectations, Victi, the born loser, takes the better photograph, and Murderer, unable to endure this, decides to kill Victim From there on, I have no trouble"

Rubin said, "Then you have your motive What&039;s your probleraph? An eclipse photograph is an eclipse photograph Soraphers are competent, not that much better Not a ed, "You can build the story in such a way as to make even a small difference murderworthy - but I admit that would take an experienced hand Drop the eclipse Try so else"