The People Upstairs

By Evelyn E. Smith

There was something subtly different about them. Old Mrs. Danko sensed this, and muttered about the evil eye. A number of people have suggested that extra-terrestrials live among us. Here is a different kind of story suggesting just this possibility, written from the standpoint of the alien, faced with the necessity of adjusting to a (to him—to her) strange and even distasteful culture.

Evelyn E. Smith is best known as the author of the Miss Melville mysteries. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote dozens of science fiction and fantasy short stories that appeared in magazines such as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy, Super Science Fiction, and Fantastic Universe. Her stories were witty, well written, often humorous, and always unforgettable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781515450559

Evelyn E. Smith

Evelyn E. Smith (25 July 1922 – 4 July 2000) was an American writer of science fiction and mysteries, as well as a compiler of crossword puzzles.

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The People Upstairs

by Evelyn E. Smith

©2021 Positronic Publishing

The People Upstairs is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, locales or institutions is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except for brief quotations for review purposes only.

ISBN 13: 978-1-5154-5055-9

The People Upstairs

There was something subtly different about them. Old Mrs. Danko sensed this, and muttered about the evil eye. A number of people have suggested that extra-terrestrials live among us. Here is a different kind of story suggesting just this possibility, written from the standpoint of the alien, faced with the necessity of adjusting to a (to him—to her) strange and even distasteful culture.

 Good evening, Mrs. Greene, the woman from the third floor said, as the woman from the sixth entered the self-service elevator.

Good evening, Mrs. Gottesmann, Mrs. Greene replied, not discourteously, but with an absent air so far removed from her usual detached friendliness that the woman from the third was moved to inquire further. Perhaps she would pick up some tidbit of disaster to be relayed to the other tenants as they foregathered at the washing machines in the basement.

At that, Mrs. Greene gave her neatly coiffed head a little shake and smiled. I’m just tired, she said. You know how exhausting shopping can be. And those subways !

Her voice had a foreign accent, but, then, so did the other woman’s. Very few native-born Americans lived in this section of New York City, except for the very young who had achieved their nativity during the past