The Einstein See-Saw

Tony Costello leaned glumly over his neat, glass-topped desk, on which
a few papers lay arranged in orderly piles. Tony was very blue and
discouraged. The foundations of a pleasant and profitable existence
had been cut right out from under him. Gone were the days in which the
big racket boss, Scarneck Ed, generously rewarded the exercise of
Tony's brilliant talents as an engineer in redesigning cars to give
higher speed for bootlegging purposes, in devising automatic electric
apparatus for handling and concealing liquor, in designing
beam-directed radios for secret communication among the gangs. Yes,
mused Tony, it had been profitable.

Six months ago the Citizens' Committee had stepped in. Now the police
department was reorganized; Scarneck Ed Podkowski was in jail, and his
corps of trusty lieutenants were either behind the bars with him or
scattered far and wide in flight. Tony, always a free spender, had
nothing left but the marvelous laboratory and workshop that Scarneck
Ed had built him, and his freedom. For the police could find nothing
legal against Tony. They had been compelled to let him alone, though
they were keeping a close watch on him. Tony's brow was as dark as the
mahogany of his desk. He did not know just how to go about making an
honest living.

With a hand that seemed limp with discouragement, he reached into his
pocket for his cigarette-case. As he drew it out, the lackadaisical
fingers failed to hold it firmly enough, and it clattered to the floor
behind his chair. With the weary slowness of despondence, he dragged
himself to his feet and went behind his chair to pick up the
cigarette-case. But, before he bent over it, and while he was looking
fully and directly at it, his desk suddenly vanished. One moment it
was there, a huge ornament of mahogany and glass; the next moment
there was nothing.