 Why does Howell not want Linton to approach Snead in the restaurant?
FEBRUARY STRAWBERRIES By JIM HARMON How much is the impossible worth? [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, March 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Linton lay down his steel fork beside the massively solid transparency of the restaurant water glass. "Isn't that Rogers Snead at that table?" Howell, the man across the table from him, looked embarrassed without looking. "Not at all. Somebody who looks like him. Twin brother. You know how it is. Snead's dead, don't you remember?" Howell had to know that he would remember. "The man who isn't Snead is leaving," Linton said, describing the scene over Howell's shoulder. "If that's Snead's brother, I might catch him to pay my respects." "No," Howell said, "I wouldn't do that." "Snead came to Greta's funeral. Probably no relation to Snead at all. Somebody who looks like him." "He's practically running," Linton said. Oh, the man who looked like Snead, you mean." A thick-bodied man at the next table leaned his groaning chair back intimately against Linton's own chair. "Couldn't have been him, though," Linton answered automatically. The thick man rocked forward and came down on all six feet. Howell breathed in deeply and sucked back Linton's attention. "Snead's dead," Linton said. "Oh, well, 'dead,'" Howell replied. He's not Sherlock Holmes or the Frankenstein Monster—there's no doubt or semantic leeway to the thing." "You know how it is," Howell said. Linton had thought he had known how death was. He had buried his wife, or rather he had watched the two workmen scoop and shove dirt in on the sawdust-fresh pine box that held the coffin. He had known what he sincerely felt to be a genuine affection for Greta. Even after they had let him out of the asylum as cured, he still secretly believed he had known a genuine affection for her. But it didn't seem he knew about death at all. Linton felt that his silence was asking Howell by this time. "I don't know, mind you," Howell said, puffing out tobacco smoke, "but I suppose he might have been resurrected." Linton asked, thinking: God? "The Mafia, I guess.
 Howell does not want Linton to learn about resurrection after what he did to become institutionalized
 Howell imagines that Snead has likely been resurrected and will try to go after Linton  Howell knows that Linton has been resurrected and does not want him to be embarrassed if Linton commits a social faux pas  Howell does not want Linton to learn about resurrection after what he did to become institutionalized  Howell knows that Linton attempted to murder Snead before he suffered from a nervous breakdown