02419cam a22003493u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000310011324500270014426400510017130000470022233600260026933700260029533800360032149000610035750000310041850801080044952012560055753400450181365300200185865300180187865300260189665300430192283000610196585600430202661332UtSlPG20260610134420.0mcr n260607r2020||||utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aFetler, Andrew,d1925-201710aThis Way to the Egress 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2020  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aProduced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1963  aRelease date is 2020-02-06  aProduced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net  a"This Way to the Egress" by Andrew Fetler is a science fiction short story published in the early 1960s. The narrative unfolds in a peculiar and unsettling environment where the protagonist, Mr. Coat, grapples with the eerie sounds of children's voices in an otherwise adult-dominated and dystopian setting. The story explores themes of perception, reality, and existential dread within a confined rural landscape that contrasts sharply with urban life.  In the story, Mr. Coat finds himself in a small village, feeling out of place and haunted by the sounds of children, which seem impossible given the lack of children in the area. His interactions with Mrs. Tilton, the landlady, reveal a deeper sense of discomfort as he discovers a telegram hinting at a sinister plot involving euthanasia tied to the persistence of these voices. As he navigates his surreal experiences, Coat's confusion and existential crisis intensify, ultimately leading to a reflective moment while he participates in mundane activities like shelling peas. The narrative cleverly blends elements of social commentary with psychological tension, leaving readers to ponder the implications of a world devoid of youth and innocence. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  nOriginal publication data not identified  aScience fiction  aShort stories  aPsychological fiction  aExecutions and executioners -- Fiction 0aProduced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 196340uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61332