"An automobile or two passed per minute, several yards away on the wide Embarcadero, their drivers idly noticing a few men who stood and chatted if they noticed anything whatever." (p. 132)
What the drivers cannot see is that Waller, backed up by two other thugs, is aiming a concealed automatic at the unaccompanied Yamamura.
So how much is happening around us as we drive or walk through town? We have no idea what is going through anyone else's head, what they have just done or are about to do. I have been surprised to be told after the event that someone else was, e.g., embarrassed in a situation to which I was indifferent.
Some authors, including Anderson, have imagined what it would be like for a telepath to walk through town. Passing Waller and Yamamura, a mind reader would be able to make an emergency call to the police. What is happening right now that we do not know about?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Those are good, if somewhat alarming questions! As we proceed about our ordinary lives we can't know what other people are thinking or doing (assuming we are not telepaths). We can't know what they have just done or might do. I certainly hope a telepath who became of a crime in the process of being done would call the police!
Ad astra! Sean
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