The Twenty-One Balloons PMC
Page 11
There was a silent pause; then a man in the audience shouted, “How were you able to give us such a wonderful talk in your sickened condition, Professor Sherman?”
“Ha, ha,” shouted the Professor, leaping from bed. “I feel fine. I rested up completely on the Presidential train on my five-day trip across the country. I could have made the talk standing up, but when I saw this beautiful bed on the speaker’s platform I thought I’d be a stupid fool if I passed it up.”
The crowd laughed loudly at this, clapped its approval, then a woman stood up. “What are you going to do now, Professor?” she yelled.
With a broad grin on his face. Professor William Waterman Sherman rolled up his coat sleeves and showed his shirt cuffs. His diamond cuff links blazed and twinkled as they reflected the many rays from the foodights. “I have here a pair of diamond cuff links made simply of four diamonds the size of lima beans. They were given to me by my good friend Mr. F. the first day I landed on Krakatoa. I am going to first sell these cuff links, then build myself a balloon which I shall christen the Globe the Second. I shall attach to this balloon a basket house and a seagull catcher on which I am now working. Using food for ballast I plan to spend one full year in the air, one year of truly delightful living, a year in a balloon!”