BEYOND THE ULTRA-VIOLETOriginally published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, June 1951.
You better take your money back, mister. Thanks a lot but—no thanks. I wasn’t panhandling, my hat fell off and I was trying to find it on the sidewalk. Thanks again for finding it for me but I think I could have managed. And, no offense, but I can find my way all right without being led.
You’re surprised that I’m rather young, huh? Well, youth isn’t a crime and anyways, twenty-four can be either young or old, depending on who you’re talking to. But I know what you mean. I’m rather young for being blind, isn’t that it? Most blind people you see on the streets are the old ones, the shabby ones with the pleading faces and the hat with the lead pencils in it or maybe a tin cup and a violin.
