{"product_id":"2940012760265","title":"The Impossibles","description":"The sidewalk was as soft as a good bed. Malone lay curled on it,\u003cbr\u003ethinking about nothing at all. He was drifting off into a wonderful\u003cbr\u003edream, and he didn't want to interrupt it. There was this girl, a\u003cbr\u003ebeautiful girl, more wonderful than anything he had ever imagined,\u003cbr\u003ewith big blue eyes and long blonde hair and a figure that made the\u003cbr\u003eaverage pin-up girl look like a man. And she had her soft white hand\u003cbr\u003eon his arm, and she was looking, up at him with trust and devotion and\u003cbr\u003eeven adoration in her eyes, and her voice was the softest possible\u003cbr\u003ewhisper of innocence and promise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'd love to go up to your apartment with you, Mr. Malone,\" she said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMalone smiled back at her, gently but with complete confidence. \"Call\u003cbr\u003eme Ken,\" he said, noticing that he was seven feet tall and superbly\u003cbr\u003emuscled. He put his free hand on the girl's warm, soft shoulder and\u003cbr\u003eshe wriggled with delight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"All right--Ken,\" she said. \"You know, I've never met anyone like you\u003cbr\u003ebefore. I mean, you're so wonderful and everything.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMalone chuckled modestly, realizing, in passing, how full and rich his\u003cbr\u003evoice had become. He felt a weight pressing over his heart, and knew\u003cbr\u003ethat it was his wallet, stuffed to bursting with thousand-dollar\u003cbr\u003ebills.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut was this a time to think of money?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, Malone told himself. This was the time for adventure, for romance,\u003cbr\u003efor love. He looked down at the girl and put his arm around her waist.\u003cbr\u003eShe snuggled closer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe led her easily down the long wide street to his car at the end of\u003cbr\u003ethe block. It stood in godlike solitude, a beautiful red Cadillac\u003cbr\u003ecapable of going a hundred and ten miles an hour in any gear, equipped\u003cbr\u003ewith fully automatic steering and braking, and with a stereophonic\u003cbr\u003eradio, a hi-fi and a 3-D set installed in both front and back seats.\u003cbr\u003eIt was a 1972 job, but he meant to trade it in on something even\u003cbr\u003ebetter when the 1973 models came out. In the meantime, he decided, it\u003cbr\u003ewould do.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe handed the girl in, went round to the other side and slid in under\u003cbr\u003ethe wheel. There was soft music playing somewhere, and a magnificent\u003cbr\u003esunset appeared ahead of them as Malone pushed a button on the\u003cbr\u003edashboard and the red Cadillac started off down the wide, empty,\u003cbr\u003ewonderfully paved street into the sunset, while he... The red\u003cbr\u003eCadillac?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sidewalk became a little harder, and, Malone suddenly realized\u003cbr\u003ethat he was lying on it. Something terrible had happened; he knew that\u003cbr\u003eright away. He opened his eyes to look for the girl, but the sunset\u003cbr\u003ehad become much brighter; his head began to pound with the slow\u003cbr\u003eregularity of a dead-march, and he closed his eyes again in a hurry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sidewalk swayed a little, but he managed to keep his balance on it\u003cbr\u003esomehow; and after a couple of minutes it was quiet again. His head\u003cbr\u003ehurt. Maybe that was the terrible thing that had happened, but Malone\u003cbr\u003ewasn't quite sure. As a matter of fact, he wasn't very sure about\u003cbr\u003eanything, and he started to ask himself questions to make certain he\u003cbr\u003ewas all there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe didn't feel all there. He felt as if several of his parts had been\u003cbr\u003ereplaced with second- or even third-hand experimental models, and\u003cbr\u003esomething had happened to the experiment. It was even hard to think of\u003cbr\u003eany questions, but after a while he managed to come up with a few.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_What is your name?_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKenneth Malone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Where do you live?_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWashington, D. C.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_What is your work?_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI work for the FBI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Then what the hell are you doing on a sidewalk in New York in broad\u003cbr\u003edaylight?_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe tried to find an answer to that, but there didn't seem to be any,\u003cbr\u003eno matter where he looked. The only thing he could think of was the\u003cbr\u003ered Cadillac.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd if the red Cadillac had anything to do with anything, Malone\u003cbr\u003edidn't know about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVery slowly and carefully, he opened his eyes again, one at a time. He\u003cbr\u003ediscovered that the light was not coming from the gorgeous Hollywood\u003cbr\u003esunset he had dreamed up. As a matter of fact, sunset was several\u003cbr\u003ehours in the past, and it never looked very pretty in New York anyhow.\u003cbr\u003eIt was the middle of the night, and Malone was lying under a\u003cbr\u003econvenient street lamp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe closed his eyes again and waited patiently for his head to go away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA few minutes passed. It was obvious that his head had settled down\u003cbr\u003efor a long stay, and no matter how bad it felt, Malone told himself,\u003cbr\u003eit _was_ his head, after all. He felt a certain responsibility for it.\u003cbr\u003eAnd he couldn't just leave it lying around somewhere with its eyes\u003cbr\u003eclosed.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079050445040,"sku":"2940012760265","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012760265_p0.jpg?v=1763572241","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012760265","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}