Phantom Milkman, The-Jack Vance short story
Phantom Milkman, The-Jack Vance short story The Phantom Milkman is a 12/13 page short story that was published initially in Other Worlds Science Stories in 1956. The main character, Isabel Durbrow, moves alone into a rural cabin where she hopes her estranged husband cannot find her. She places an outgoing letter in her mailbox addressed to the local dairy requesting milk delivery. But she notices that the letter disappeared from the mailbox before the mailman even arrived. Isabel does begin to receive milk even though her letter seemed to have been intercepted, but the milk delivery is from a different dairy, one that none of the local people have ever heard of. Her cats do not like this milk but do like milk she buys at the store from a different dairy. So Isabel leaves a note stating that her cats do not like the milk and asking for deliver to be cancelled. She receives a return note from the company, however, refusing to cease delivery but offering to purcha...