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Ron Goulart - A Whiff of Madness v1.0




Copyright ┬й, 1976, by Ron Goulart.
All Rights Reserved
Cover art by Josh Kirby.
FIRST PRINTING, AUGUST 1976
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PRINTED IN U.S.A.

DAW BOOKS, INC.
DONALDSON A. WOLLHEIM, PUBLISHER
1301 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019




Ron Goulart
A WHIFF OF MADNESS
In the Barnum System


CHAPTER 1
The lizardman, lycra cloak fluttering and allseason turban jiggling, came charging across the vast
chill lobby of the publishing center. He planted himself directly in the path of Jack Summer. "A fine hour
to be arriving for work!" he boomed. "Where is she?"
"Who?" Summer was a middle-sized, wiry, sandy-haired man of thirty-one, and right now his
skin was tanned that particular shade you get after a few weeks on Neptune. He glanced up at one of the
several ballclocks that floated here and there in the Coultdrome lobby. "Eleven A.m. Barnum Standard
Time isn'tтАФ"
"My wife, that's who!" The large greenish lizardman gave his turban an angry adjusting pat "My
wife! She ran off with you! Which isтАФ"
"Wait now," Summer told him. I admit I've run off with a girl on occasion, but never with a
lizard."
The lizardman gave an openmouthed snort, causing his forked tongue to unfurl and snap, "Not
one of my lizard wives, you pink-cheeked gigolo!" After another snort he tugged a fat wallet out of one of
his cloak pockets. A flick of his green scaly wrist snapped the wallet open, allowing a string of glossy
tri-op photos to unfold. "One of my humanoid wives!"
 "... Sixteen, seventeen," counted Summer. "Quite a collection."
"This is the one to which, as if you didn't know, I allude!" A green finger jabbed the thirteenth
photo from the top. "This one! Her name is Lorna!"
"Lorna." Summer leaned down to study the picture of the ravishing, sparsely clothed blond.
"Name doesn't ring a bell, and I can't say I've everтАФ"
"Doesn't ring a bell!" bellowed the lizardman, tugging at something else under his cloak. "My
second most favorite humanoid wife departs from my happy home, leaving nothing behind save a
scribbled note indicating she's fled with you, and you babble about bells ringing!" He yanked a horsewhip