One of the things Henry Kuttner excelled at was the dark, sardonic twist at the end of many of his stories. Another thing he excelled at was time travel stories. Often in the same story. We’ll look at one of these today that he wrote in collaboration with his wife C. L. Moore that was published under their pen name Lewis Padgett.

Speaking of today, it’s Kuttner’s birthday, April 7, as this post goes live. I wasn’t able to read something for the birthday of Kuttner’s friend Robert Bloch. I wasn’t going to make that mistake for Kuttner.

“Line to Tomorrow” begins with Jerry Fletcher answering the phone way too early in the morning. He can only hear one voice. It seems to be a call between two people, but much of what they’re talking about doesn’t make sense.

This goes on for several days. Complaints to the phone company get no result. They tell Fletcher they can find no problem.

Then Fletcher hears a recipe that will cure a hangover. He tries it. It works.

Fletcher thinks he’s found a conversation between two men from the future. His girlfriend doesn’t buy it.

I won’t spoil the ending or say anymore here. I’ll state that the ending is a perfect example of Kuttner’s dark twists. It’s been more years than I want to say since I read this story, and it was a pleasure to get reacquainted with it. Part of the reason I won’t say how long it’s been is that I don’t remember when I first read it. I know it was in the collection of the same title, Line to Tomorrow. I think it was in high school, but it’s too long to be sure.

“Line to Tomorrow” was first published in the November, 1945  issue of Astounding. The last time it was reprinted was in 2006, in Two-Handed Engine.  If it’s in print right now, I’m not aware of it.

Line to Tomorrow is one of the more scarce collections of Kuttner and Moore stories. These were all published under the pen name Lewis Padgett. I’ve looked at some of the stories before.

Some of their best are in this book, but only a few were reprinted in either the Ballantine/Del Rey best of collection or the two volume Mayflower Best of.

I think it’s time to give this one another read. Three of the seven short stories and novelettes in this book have time travel elements.