that of his now thoroughly terrified patient. "Well, I tell youI have had enough! I am through! Finished! And I shall finish with you!"
Turning, he walked to a nearby table, pulled open a drawer and drew out a gleaming scalpel.
He brandished it. "You, my friend, shall now pay for all the fools' drivel of thirty years! Now you have found the source of your fear! At last you have found it! Yes, you had something to fear! Truly! It was me -- waiting here for you these thirty years!"
As his mad laughter rang through the room, the patient began to scream. But even as he screamed, something in the back of his mind assured him that he was screaming in a sound-proof room.
Dr. Trustark's wild eyes appeared above him. The scalpel swept downward toward his face.
********
Lines to H. P. Lovecraft
You read the cryptic sorceries of night;
Across the whirling gulfs of eldrich space
You traveled on a wizard's spectral flight
To wake the dreaded Elders in their dreaming place
And wrest from wary guardians of the Gate
A runic lore that banished godheads keep.
The acolytes of silent Ib pursued too late,
For you were safe beyond the Wall of Sleep.
Among the haunted stars your legends grow --
Who fathomed secrets nameless demons know!
-- Joseph Payne Brennan
********
