The Washington times., 1922-09-10
Mr.. Wattles'
Strange
BedfenoW

49, bed and gazed out of the
window of his bedroom over the
broad expanse of mighty river.
Suddenly there came a loud pur-
ring and Mr.. Wattles, in great
astonishment, saw three airplsnes
racing toward each other.
They approached one another
from three directions with terri
fic speed and Mr.. Wattles saw
them como together directly over
the river. With a spiteful and
angry buzzing they elung to one
another and whirled about in the
air, faster and faster-s solid
revolving mass.
Their momentum kept them in
the air for q time when, sud-
denly
Mr.. Wattles woke from this
fantastic dream with a start and
realized that some strange mon
ster was in bed with him, thrash
ing around in the bed clothes and
chewing them up.
Into the vicious NAV of this
terrible thing, a portion of a
sheet disappeared and then the
wild thing grasped firmly the tail
OF Mr.. Wattles's nightshirt, for
Mr.. Wattles is an old-fashioned
man and still wears them. \
Mr.. Wattles tried to grapple
with the unknown terror, but
was thrust lightly aside, one of
his fingers badly bitten.
Nearer and nearer the fright
full monster was the nightshirt of
Mr.. Wattles and Mr.. Wattles
himself drawn and resistance
seemed useless. The strange
thing kept up a purring sound
like some huge cat playing with
huge mouse just before ad-
ministering the final swat
Mr.. Wattles, seeing the mon
ster face to face, realized for
the first time that he was in bed
with an active and vicious cleo
trio fan. 1t occurred to him then
to jump out of bed to escape the
clutches of the beast. The cord
controlling the activities of the
fan was attached to a chandelier
in the centre Of the room.
He remembered that when he
went to sleep he had left the fan
purring happily on a tall stand
at the side Of his bed. The fan
undoubtedly had worked its way
to the edge Of the stand and then
jumped into bed with him, quick
ly burrowing under the covers
and chewing them up as it went.
Summoning all his strength
and courage Mr.. Wattles leaped
from the bed, but the night
prowling fan was not to be
cheated of its prey SO easily. 1t
chung tightly to the tail of Mr..
Wattles's nightshirt, momentarily
gobbling up more of It, and when
Mr.. Wattles jumped, the fan fol-
lowed, buzzing angrily.
Desperately the poor man
groped about the room until he
found the cord, which he yanked,
and the fan ceased its frantic er-
deavors to chew him up, although
its tail, like that of a snake, con-
tinued to move feebly for some
time.
The death clutch of the mon
ster upon the tail of Mr.. Wat
tles's nightshirt could not be
broken by ordinary means and
Mr.. Wattles yelled Justify for his
mate, Mrs. Wattles, who emerged
from her room violently footing
police whistle.
The frantic Mr.. Wattles sent
her for some shears and she
finally cut the fan loose, remov-
ing at the same time about eighty
per cent of the rear facade of
Mr.. Wattles's nightshirt,
The bed clothes had been COM
pletely wrecked. They could not
have been more chew up If Mr..
Wattles had sent them to q laun-
dry.
After convincing the police
that there were no burglars In
the house, Mr.. Wattles sat up in
a high-backed chair until morn
ing.