"The Transgressor."
By Henry Kuttner (1915-58).
First appearance: Weird Tales, February 1939.
Reprints page (HERE).
Short short short story (4 pages as a PDF).
Online at Faded Page (HERE).
"Yet somehow, far in the back of my mind, was a queer, small foreboding, knowledge of the fact that I had forgotten something—something that had happened just before I had entered the laboratory—something vitally important. . . ."
"I can't think of everything, okay?" is a common excuse for not allowing for unanticipated consequences; in everyday life the results are usually harmless, but be assured there will come a time for our protagonist when not thinking of everything will prove fatal . . . .
Principal characters:
~ Thor:
". . . my Great Dane, was panting in a corner, and occasionally growling to himself."
~ Jim Harline:
"Stop. You’ve forgotten something—something important."
~ The visitor:
"Hit my head on the control lever."
Resources:
- A native Californian, Henry Kuttner caught the science fiction/fantasy bug early and never let go; see Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the IMDb (HERE; 13 writing credits), and the ISFDb (HERE).
- Faded Page has a healthy collection of Kuttner's short fiction (47 stories at the moment); go (HERE).
- Our last visit with Henry Kuttner and his wife C. L. Moore featured their team-up story "Two-Handed Engine" (HERE); we're unsure, though, how much input Catherine supplied for the classic "Private Eye" (HERE).
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