User:DoctorWho42/That High-Up Blue Day That Saw the Black Sky-Train Come Spinning

"That High-Up Blue Day That Saw the Black Sky-Train Come Spinning" is a short story by American author David R. Bunch. It was first published in the March 1968 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Background
In January 1960, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction reprinted "A Little Girl's Xmas in Modernia".

Plot
The blue sky held high-up. It was full of potential danger. Two old wise-men are nearing the end of their lives. They may meet the end with others in a disaster. They find relief in drinking cheap wine and beer. A week before the high-blue day the old wise-men decide on a scheme. They live in a basement. They would print in the thousands a warning. They go to a tavern to get drunk and decide on its message. They want it to scare everybody in town. Ideas range from snakes loose from the zoo to breakfast poisoning. Flying saucers are too mundane for them. They want a warning that is convincing. The wise old-men have decided against living in a society. They sometimes go on secret missions. Neither knows which one is stringing the other along. After an afternoon of drinking, they decide on a leaflet. It warns the town's parents their children will suffer adult poisoning unless the black sky-train takes them away. The parents cannot stop it. The next day the parents find the leaflet. They think it is a harmless joke made in bad taste. The parents interpret the leaflet meaning the children will grow up to be adults. The old wise-men chuckle in their basement under the grocery store. They do not think the parents take the warning seriously. One of them laments on the parents' eventual loss, which makes one suspect the other. In the high-up blue day, a black sky-train arrives. It flies over the buildings of the town. It is Sunday so the children are out of school. They go to a place on the edge of town. The parents are busy with television and business. They recall the leaflets' warning. They run to the children but it is too late. The children are on the coach of the black sky-train. On the coach there is a candy bar which has ice cream cones, a popcorn popper, popsicles, snow cones, and a soda-pop dispenser. The sky-train takes off. The parents return to their houses. The sounds of weeping spread through town. The mayor takes to the air and gives a speech about the sky-train. He tells the parents to stop weeping, trust the lord, go to church more, and pray. The two old wise-men chuckle. One of them accuses the other of knowing about the black sky-train in advance.

Reception
In 1968, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction editor Edward L. Ferman praised its "great style and admirable economy." In 1970, Analog Science Fiction and Fact's P. Schuyler Miller described it as "indescribable."