I had a virius induced fever that had me lying low, tucked into bed, covered with five blankets and I still felt cold even after I put on thermals, shirt pants and sweater. The images of fever flew into my mind's eye and kept on, one after another. Plants, animals, situations, concepts, math, books, pictures flowed on and on. There was a break and I lifted a book off the bedstand and opened it and tried to find a short story. Real short, because my attention span was limited.

What I read i didn't exactly believe. An actress was worried about losing too much weight. She looked normal enough, but the scales dropped each passing day. In order to stay alive, she needed publicity.

I dropped the book. I felt a little stunned. And went back to sleep.

When I woke up, I picked up the book and tried to locate the short story, just to be sure I wasn't fever deluding myself...

The story can be found in THE BLACK GONDOLIER by Fritz Lieber. It's called "The Casket-Demon". I wonder what Fritz Lieber would think of today's headline grabbers: people with no abilities, talent or skills. Famous for being famous.

It's an errie little story. Not as well known as his "Girl With the Hungry Eyes"... I didn't locate a date for the story.