Tipping Off the Future
or, Knowing the Unknown
  

Seems there was a guy who went out to the race track every Saturday but didn't have much luck. One day he met a friend who told him about a marvelous tipster he knew, that was never wrong.

So he went to this tipster the next time he was at the track and got a tip from him. The horse won.

Next Saturday he got a tip again, and again the horse won. The time after that he tried two horses, and won on both.

This went on for a few months, though the guy was afraid to bet too much, so didn't get rich. But every bet he made on the advice of this tipster paid off.
  

One day he met the friend again, who said, "What do you think of this man I told you about? Isn't he marvelous?"

"I'm quitting him," said our hero.

"Whatever for?" asked the friend.

"Who needs him? Who needs a tipster when I'm winning all the time?"

And so, fans, that's the reason for the present decline in the popularity of science fiction in the face of the Space Age. Now that we've told the people about the future that is here today, they know all about tomorrow without asking.

Won't they be surprised.

  
© 1959 Donald L. Franson