Bob and Janice, co-owners of the Country Department Store, are determined to catch the thief who’s sneaking in to steal appliances every night. Yes, they do capture him. Y he’s from the past, in fact he’s a ferra (cousins of the jinni). No, I’m not going to tell you why he’s after all those generators, refrigerators, and air conditioners.

By the way, I’d love to know more about the story behind the two different versions of the Emsh cover. One has the old F&SF logo, last used on the Sep 1952 issue; the other has the new logo from Oct 1952 forward. Does anyone know the story behind this?

A wishing machine (aka Class-A Utilizer, Series AA-1256432) appears in Joe Collins’ bedroom along with a warning that this machine should be used only by Class-A ratings!

Eight years before Professor Thomas Eldridge invents a time machine, a man from the future shows up with two policemen to arrest him for his future crimes. Knowing that he could never be a criminal, Eldridge swipes their time machine and flees to three future times, discovering that he’s wanted in each time for crimes ranging from potato theft to murdering another man’s fiancé

All in all, Sheckley’s story is a perfect example of a causal loop: I knew those potatoes would come in handy and that, given time, the girl would show up safe and sound.

Everett Barhold, sales manager for the Alpro Manufacturing Company (Toys for All the Ages) has plans to make a fortune in the time traveling business, but not in the usual way. He and his wife have hatched a plan to swindle the Inter-Temporal Insurance Company by taking advantage of the rarely used double indemnity clause.