_I was psick of Psi powers, not having any. "Boys, boys!" he reproved us. "Danny, you ought to be ashamed of
yourself--picking on poor Kev." "Sorry, fella," Dan apologized to me. "Wrinkles," he grumbled to himself. "Wrinkles. Being a mere
primitive, I couldn't help laughing. "Danny, you fumbler!" she screamed. Danny erupted from the kitchen. "I don't see why you have to set the table at all," she retorted. Even Kev could." "Oh, I am sorry, Kevin." Father looked at me, then at her. I grinned. He reached for his juice. she
called. "Oh, all right." Tim looked at me narrowly. It'll come out some day, you'll see." He smiled at me. "It won't work, Tim. "He means it. Mother smiled sadly at my thoughts, but I didn't let that discourage
me. Mother, as I said, was a
psychiatrist. Tim was a meteorologist. Only I had no job, no profession, no place in life. Pity, such a talented family, to have a defective." I didn't have a girl, either. Exploring space should have been my hope. Tim
shot back at her. I asked, trying not to snap. "Uh-uh." "And hostile. "Of course. Everybody on Earth hoped for peace. Everybody, that is, except me. I looked at her. I couldn't see it, of course, and she knew that, with her wretched
talent for stripping away my feeble attempts at privacy. I looked at her and liked what I saw. She was blonde and pretty. "My name's Lucy," she giggled. "Hey, quit that!" And there was no kindness at all in
the _you_. It was all there, but not in the
right place, and it wasn't pretty. I looked at that smashed
face again and all the first-aid lessons I'd had flew out of my head as
if some super-psi had plucked them from me. The man was bleeding terribly. The first thing to do, I figured sickly, was mop it up. Then I heard her gasp. I looked at my
patient and my mouth dropped open. Not even a scar. he asked. "Touch some of the others, quick!" Everybody in the room was looking at me in
the way I had always dreamed of being looked at. I couldn't have
imagined all those horrors. But the horrors soon weren't horrors any more. I felt ... well, good. I asked, a little jealously. "Of course," she smiled. "Scrofula, wasn't it? She nodded. "I'm
your assistant, Kev," she said shyly. I looked at her. "I--I hope you want me," she went on, coyness now mixing with
apprehension. I gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I do want you, Lucy. More than I can
tell you now. My patients were
waiting for me. It was wonderful. I
began to love everybody. Lucy asked me one day. I gave her an incredulous glance. "Of course you should help them. Then the truth, as I thought, dawned on me. Peace once more. I wasn't needed any more. I was a celebrity. Mother smiled approvingly--Tim, a little sadly. She dropped my arm. Mother frowned. Sylvia snorted. "Sylvia," my mother said. "Please." "I can
support my family." Tim sighed. The months went on. Even the Lucy business. My mother said it was, anyhow. Once. It was a ghastly evening. I didn't know. I took Lucy home that evening. "I understand. And you mustn't feel bound,
either." But she hadn't. "Well, good-by,
Lucy." Now it was too late for asking. "Yes, Mother," Sylvia said gloomily. Knowing now how she must feel, I could feel sorry for her. Oh, the devil with it, I thought. "The--you know, the Panacetic Pills." "Too late for that, honey. Tim looked at me. "Be careful, Kev," he said anxiously. "I don't know exactly." "You might have been a little more explicit," I complained. Danny looked sadly at the wreckage. "I can heal trees," I said. "So try the table," Sylvia proposed. Danny looked at me hopefully. So did mine, as a matter of fact. Like that. "My boy," she
breathed adoringly. Everybody looked at him. "Be glad to help
you out, Dan. And the same goes for you, Sylvie. Sylvia sighed. Intangibles." She smiled. "Maybe." When he came back, he was smiling. "For you, Sylvie. Lennie." Danny said. Hey, where are you
going?" "To catch a helibus," I said.