Deering said, "Love, love, love. So, I'm a Pollyanna." Deering said, nudging me. "Ask it." "I ask." "We are a scientific people. They haven't been, until very, very
recently. "My memory." "Hiroshima," Jars supplied. "I have noted it," Deering said. "Ready, ready--? "War--," Deering said, and sighed. "Their scientists grow. Jars said softly, "I apologize. "It matters to us, believe me, please. It concerns us very much, Arn." I looked at
him in surprise. And so did Deering. "Evil," he
said quietly. "And I," Jars said, and now looked at me. "But not you, Werig." "I don't know them, sir," I said. "Huddling, the lad says. If you don't say it, I won't, Arn." "I fear them," Jars said. "I do. "It was necessary for survival," Jars said simply. Jars nodded, and stood up. But we gabble. They always do, when Jars talks. Oh, yes. Oh, no. For all I knew, I might be a freak to them. This
was open country, but Los Angeles. "Damn," somebody said. There was a grinding noise, and another damn, and then a head appeared
through the open window on my side of the road. she asked. "Not always," I answered. "Try not to be a Cerf," she said angrily. "A funny, funny man," she said. "I have no money," I said. But no money. "Never," I said. We were coming into a small huddled area, now. "I have," she said. "I still am. "Any part of it," she said. "My name," I told her, "is not Bogart. "A pleasure, Fred," she said. she said, and I said, "No, thanks. "Where are you from, Fred?" "New York," I said. "Where are you from, Jean?" "Believe it or not, I was born here," she said. I said. "Huddled," she said, and laughed. "Huddled. I like that. "You tell me when I get to Bundy," I said. And she was staring at me, too. "I don't know," I said. "You are beautiful, Jean." "Well, thanks. You can have a piece of pie, too, for that. I sat across from her. "Your lips are so red, Jean." She frowned. "Slowly, sailor." "I guess," I said. "And some milk, cow's milk." "Not tonight," I said. Her
nails, too, were painted, I saw. She looked up, and faced me gravely, "Fred, you're a very attractive
gent, which you undoubtedly know. I shook my head. "Just a traveler, a tourist." She said, "Oh" and went back to tracing the design. "You've been--picked up before, undoubtedly." "No. Now, she looked up. "Crazy talk. "You get home, and to bed." She laughed. There isn't any. I looked at her, and nodded. she said quietly. She
stared at it, and up at me. I nodded. she asked. "Nothing," she said. "No. You, I want to
know about." She was no
huddler, and I told her that. No, but like that--and it came. "No. "You might have a point there," she said. "No. I asked, "And Amelia Earhart?" "July 2nd, 1937. Why, Jean?" "I don't know. I smiled at her. You're beautiful, Jean." "You're no three-headed calf, yourself," she said. Why, why, why....
She said, "Thinking, again? She just stared at me. "Just dandy," she said. "Sorry to be boring you." "You're not," I told her earnestly. "Believe me, you're not." Not so with these. It was a perfect stone, he decided. I said I would, and he left. "You'll get over him," I said. "Oh," she said. "Oh. Silence. "I'd like to see some fights," I said. "Would you like to?" She frowned. "Of course," she said. "Get right back to them, Freddy. She looked up without expression. I asked, "Is there a library around here?" She sighed, and rose. She said, "Follow me." There was a
wide glass door leading out from this to the patio. We aim to
please." She looked at the book,
and at me. "Lunch," she said quietly. I put the book down, and rose. "I'd tell you, if you were." "Would you, honestly?" I asked Jean. "I wanted you to see it, and to word it for
yourself." She just stood there, on the sidewalk. I suggested. "Oh," she said, "oh, oh--"
"Or a cheeseburger," I added. There was a small crowd, now, openly watching. Slug him, lady." And still, I didn't tell her where I was from. "I like to talk to people," I said. "I guess I do." "Don't be evasive, Fred. You know you do." In Berlin, it was Russia. "One more," I said. "Russia." "Don't be silly," she said. Very cool her voice, very tense her face. I smiled at her. I shook my head. How it shone, in that
clear air. I pointed, and said, "There's my home." "Venus," she said. "Nothing," I said. "Try me, and see," she said. She was rigid, and near hysteria. "All right. "Get out,"
she screamed, "get out, get out, get out--"
I got out. She was gone, when I came to. And she wasn't there. I moved in, to wait. I sat. "Thirty of us," he said. Jars sent me." "Oh," I said. "I can't come, now. "She thinks I'm crazy," I said. I was coming, or staying
here--dead. "Corruption, Werig? Was it the
corruption, or the girl?" "It could be the last one,
you know. "Beautiful," I said. "And the people--fear, is it fear?" "I don't know. Their vice is fear, but they have some virtues." It was forbidden." "I don't know where she is, she's not coming with me, and I know it was
forbidden. "I don't know. "Some." And Jean...?