The travellers continued on their way through the lovely countryside, chattering gaily about fannish matters. They seemed more like a group of fans at a convention than people on a dangerous mission to conquer a witch, Dorothy thought to herself. And this seemed very strange to her, for fans were very logical people and of course did not believe in witches, except in Iz. But she reflected that in outside fandom fans did things that were as silly as hunting for witches. They even published monthly fanzines sometimes, or belonged to four apas at once, or joined the N3F.
Just then they heard an anxious voice shouting, "Stay off the path! Stay off the path! You'll stir up the dust!"
Looking ahead on the path, they saw a fan sitting beside the path, absolutely motionless, and covered with dust from head to toe. The dust even engulfed the fan's beanie, which could hardly be seen.
Stepping off the path onto the soft grass, they approached the strange fan curiously. "Who are you?" asked the Tin Woodsfan.
"I am a Stay-Offman," said the fan. "You must pardon me for not rising to shake your hand and bow to the young lady, but if I did I would shake all the dust off me.
"But why are you covered with dust anyway?" asked the Lion.
"I collect dust," said the fan proudly. "I am a completist -- I intend to collect every bit of dust in Iz, just sitting here and letting it settle on me."
Dorothy giggled. "That's very strange," she said. "Don't you ever go anywhere or do anything?"
"Oh," said the dusty one, "I am kept very busy filing and cataloging my dust-motes. I have each one classified according to size, color, and everything. It's very fascinating, and of course it takes all my time."
"I should think you'd get bored with just sitting here," said the Scarecrow.
"Well, I was thinking of taking a trip once," said the Stay-Offman. "I was a candidate for the Trans-Burning Desert Fund, and if I'd won I could have gone to the convention in outside fandom. But since I've been sitting here alone all my life, very few people ever heard of me, so I wasn't elected. Perhaps it's for the best, for if I'd gone I would have had a great deal of trouble storing my collection in my absence."
"Well, you certainly lead a peaceful and relaxing life," said Dorothy. "Do you read many fanzines while you're sitting here?"
"Oh, gracious no!" said the dust collector. "I'm much too busy cataloging my collection to do anything else. You know, you hardly ever find anything in fanzines about dust-collecting any more. I think there should be more articles on it, because after all, collecting is the very heart of fandom."
"I suppose you read science fiction," said the Lion.
"No," said the Stay-Offman. "I started to read a science fiction book once, because it was called The Stars, Like Dust, and I thought it might be interesting, but it was just crazy Buck Rogers stuff. I haven't read any since. Anyway, as I say, I'm much, much too busy with my collection."
"Well," said Dorothy, "we won't bother you any longer then, since I can see you're terribly busy, and have important things to do." And the four travellers continued on their journey, leaving the busy Stay-Offman sitting motionless beside the path.
"It's all because his beanie is covered with dust," said the Scarecrow, shaking his head sadly.
(Data entered by Judy Bemis)