THE STORY: OUTLANDERS, is set in a small failing cafe, whose embittered megalomaniac owner hopes to create a new liqueur which will lure back the customers who have been lost to a rival establishment. Harassed by his invalid wife, who bangs impatiently on the ceiling to gain his attention, and bedeviled by the townspeople, who have turned against him, Askanius retreats increasingly into his delusions and the dream of the triumph which his magical elixir will bring. In the end his creation turns out to be poisonous—but Askanius, in a final act of desperate defiance, willfully drinks it down.
Included in the collection
Zones of the Spirit.