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The Gremlins Complete Text

The day fixed for Gus's medical dawned bright and clear.

The gremlins were assembling in the hospital, but of course no one could see them.

Gremlins, fifinellas, and widgets crowded the examination room in their hundreds. They perched on the pictures and ranged themselves along the bookshelves; they hung from the lamps and crowded the table; still more squatted on the floor crosslegged in neat little rows.

Naturally the medico didn't see them; only pilots and navigators and air gunners and people who fly can see those things.

Then the examination began, and the medico said, "Jump and down on that chair ten times and then let me feel your pulse." Gus jumped up and down ad then gave the medico his wrist. He knew his pulse was going too fast and he could hear his heart beating great hammer-blows in his chest. But immediately a gremlin hurried forward, gently lifted the medico's finger off the wrist, and tapped it with a little mallet, at first a bit faster than normal, then quickly slowing down to a steady 72 to the minute.

"Very good," said the medico, and noted it down on a sheet of paper. "And now, will you take off your shirt." And all the fifinellas turned around, covering their eyes with their hands.

The gremlins watched intently while the medico tested Gus's heart and thumped his back. Whenever there was any sign of trouble, one or two would run forward and put matters right. When the medico tapped Gus's knee to make his leg jump, as they always do on these occasions, six gremlins got behind his foot and gave a little push at the right moment.

"Very good," said the medico. "You can dress again now." And all the fifinellas uncovered their eyes and turned around once more.

Then, after a lot more tapping and thumping, came the big test, the one that Gus had so far failed every time. It consisted of standing on one leg with your