Project Gutenberg 2010-06-03 Public domain in the USA. 123 Garson, Clee Direct Wire Produced from Amazing Stories January 1943. Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Direct Wire" by Clee Garson is a short story written in the early 1940s, likely during World War II. This narrative combines elements of comedy and satire as it explores themes of patriotism, gambling, and communication under unusual circumstances. The story unfolds in a cigar store run by two bookmakers, Mort Robbins and Mike Harrigan, who find themselves getting bizarre phone calls that lead to unexpected and humorous implications. In the content of the story, Mort and Mike, who are not overly patriotic, mysteriously enlist in the army after a series of strange phone calls where a man claiming to be the Angel Gabriel insists on speaking to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. As the story progresses, the two men attempt to handle this unusual situation while running their gambling operations. Ultimately, the connection becomes more absurd as they realize that the phone call is not just a prank, but an elaborate joke that plays on their understanding of reality. The twist at the end reveals that the phone was, in fact, disconnected the entire time, emphasizing the absurdity of their circumstances and the comedic genius of Garson's writing. (This is an automatically generated summary.) http://book.klll.cc/files/32672/32672-h/images/cover.jpg Reading ease score: 85.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Fiction Telephone -- Fiction PS Text World War II Category: Short Stories Category: Humour 61819 2025-08-13T09:44:13.455502 text/html 57825 2010-06-03T11:36:36 text/html 158264 2025-08-13T09:44:15.344538 application/epub+zip 157086 2025-08-13T09:44:13.819554 application/epub+zip 76661 2025-08-13T09:44:13.624533 application/epub+zip 195811 2025-08-13T09:44:16.713537 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 187992 2025-08-13T09:44:15.145499 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 108682 2022-09-15T05:45:58.528352 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 53322 2025-08-13T09:44:13.291528 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 53223 2010-06-03T11:36:36 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18829 2025-08-13T09:44:16.837473 application/rdf+xml 31948 2025-08-13T09:44:13.690508 image/jpeg 5123 2025-08-13T09:44:13.657523 image/jpeg 167488 2010-06-03T11:36:36 application/octet-stream application/zip 20447 2010-06-03T11:36:36 application/octet-stream application/zip 176332 2025-08-13T09:44:13.482509 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog