"I suppose so. It's a great deal of trouble, if you ask me."
"Trouble? Don't you want to see the people of Earth?" There it was
again--Marsden felt an argument brewing. Marie spoke like an old woman,
but she was only twenty-five. You couldn't blame her, though, and every
time Marsden's thoughts took that tack he felt sorry for his wife. She
had known nothing but Talbor all her life.
"They're people," said Marie. "Just folks." But she carefully removed
the frilly dress which had hung near Marsden's suit on the rack and
examined it critically.
"You're going to wear that?"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing. You haven't put it on since we got married, that's all."
"We can't scare the Earth people off with a lot of tunics and
coveralls."
"Better get dressed," said Marsden, chuckling with grim amusement as
Marie struggled with the unfamiliar garment. Marsden's own starched
collar threatened to choke him, but the women of Earth would expect it.
"What's so funny, Harry?"
"There must be an easier way to climb into that thing. You look so
funny."
Marie's back was toward him. She took the dress off and threw it across
the bed. "All right, I won't wear it. I won't wear anything. I'm not
going."
"Now, Marie."
"Don't you 'now' me. I'll stay right here."
"I was joking," said Marsden, squirming uncomfortably inside his collar.
Marie flung the dress from bed to floor. "You can throw it out, for all
I care. Or give it away."
"Thank you, I'll stay here."
"For crying out loud!" Marsden said in exasperation. "This is the
biggest thing to hit Talbor in years. The Earth people are coming to
visit us and you want to stay home."
"They probably will make fun of us."
"If we act like bumpkins they will. If we act--well, sophisticated,
they won't."
"I'm not sophisticated." Marie sat down on the bed where her dress had
been, drew her legs up, wrapped her arms around her knees. "Do I look
sophisticated?"
"Put the dress on."
"I've never been off Talbor, never. We have one town, two hundred
people on seventy or eighty farms. Is it my fault I wasn't born on
Earth? Do you think I would have married you if I had much choice?"
"Oh," said Marsden. "I see."
Marie stared at him and shrugged her bare shoulders. "I'm sorry. I
didn't mean that, Harry. But you don't see. Talbor is all right for you
because you're a man and you like to work like that. Don't you think
I'd rather be small and attractive, instead of--"
"I think you're very attractive."
"That's a lie. I know how you and Charlie Adcock get together and
look at those magazines with pictures of Earth women. Your tongues
practically hang out."
"You've been spying on us."
"Really, Harry. Is looking at a magazine so secret I'm not permitted to
watch? Why don't you treat me like an equal, anyway? But no, you think
of the women of Earth. Well, let me tell you this, Harry Marsden: I'm
stronger than them, I can work harder and I'll probably live longer and
have more kids. What do you say to that?"
"I'm going into Talbor City. If you don't want to see them, I do."
"Watch that collar doesn't strangle you along the way."
"I'll get used to it," said Marsden, running a thick finger between
stiff cloth and raw skin.
"Your face is getting red."
"That's all right."
"Red as a beet."
"Shut up."
"I'll bet you find it hard to breathe."
"Shut up!"
"Try and make me." Marie got off the bed, and when Marsden made a
threatening gesture he thought she would run away. Instead, she leaped
at him, got her strong fingers under the collar and yanked. The stiff
collar burst open, the entire shirt-front ripped. Marie began to laugh.
Marsden went for her with murder in his eyes, but at that moment there
came a roaring overhead like a dozen summer storms rolled into one,
booming and crashing in the sky over their cabin. Talbor's sullen
orange sun had almost set, but bright light flashed in through the
window, blinding them.
"I ought to beat you," said Marsden. But he opened the door and went
outside into the strong, hot wind which had stirred over their rocky
farmland and flapped the torn ends of his shirt against his chest.
The spaceship from Earth had arrived on Talbor.
* * * * *
Talbor City's one street, dry and dusty from the long day and hot sun,
was ablaze with light. Marsden had never seen so many electric lights
lit at once, not even on Saturday nights. Even as he entered the city
from the north, taking off his torn shirt and discarding it because no
shirt seemed better than a damaged one, he heard the singing.
Charlie Adcock's deep, off-key voice rose stridently above the others,
singing a song which was popular among the men of Talbor, but which the
women hated.
I want my arms around
A slim, small girl of Earth.
If she don't come to me
I think I'll have to die
For the slim, small girl of Earth.
"Well, Harry! Thought you'd never get here."
"I had some things to do," Marsden lied.
"They already landed. They're here on Talbor. Here. They went to the
hotel right away, of course. First time the hotel's been used since the
last freighter crew decided to stay overnight. The mayor's declared a
holiday. Nobody's working tomorrow."
"Me and Marie got to work," said Marsden, realizing he might be able to
make peace with his wife after a day in the field.
"You ain't serious."