"About twenty, half of them women, Harry. You should see the women,
Harry. They wear real frilly things, like you never even saw on
Talbor. They're beautiful, friend. You _know_ it. I mean beautiful all
over. Hair fixed like it would take weeks to unravel. Belly's so thin
you could get your fingers around them. Straight, slim legs, not a
muscle on them. Such white skin you'd swear it was made out of milk.
And the way they walked, Harry--so delicate they could have run across
a field of fresh eggs without breaking a shell."
"I think I'll spend the night in town," said Marsden, forgetting all
about Marie.
"Oh, didn't Marie come to town with you?"
Marsden shook his head without talking.
"Janie didn't come neither. Say now, that's all right, Harry. That sure
is all right. Leave the wife at home on a night like this. You know
what? I think I'll take a room right there in the hotel and maybe even
get to eat breakfast with the women of Earth. What do you say, Harry?"
"Suits me." Marsden's mind formed a brief image of Marie trying
awkwardly to fit into the dress--to please me, he suddenly
realized--and then the image faded. With Charlie Adcock he pushed
through the crowd on the hotel steps.
* * * * *
Marsden felt breakfast, heavy mouthful by mouthful, forming an
uncomfortable lump inside his chest. It was a long table big enough for
thirty people, with the men and women of Earth chatting comfortably
on all sides of it, their gay clothing making the dining room appear
intolerably drab. Marsden had been on the verge of forgetting breakfast
entirely, for when he reached the dining room he found all the seats
at the table were taken except one between two delicate, wasp-waisted
women of Earth. But Charlie Adcock, who was already seated, had waved
him on toward the table with a broad grin, and it was either sit down
or forever be a coward in Charlie's eyes.
"Hello," one of the women said while Marsden fidgeted and scooped
forkfuls of bacon and eggs into his dry mouth.
Marsden blinked. She was talking to him.
"Good morning, Miss."
"So you're a native of Talbor. Tell me, how do you stand it?"
"Born here, I guess." Marsden found it difficult to talk and eat at the
same time. His face grew uncomfortably warm, his tongue seemed to swell
until he wanted to spit it out.
"I'm Alice Cooper, Mr.--"
Mister. No one had ever called him Mister. "Better call me Harry,
Miss. Just Harry."
"I want you to tell me all about your primitive planet, Harry.
Everything. I've got a camera and I'm going to take pictures and write
notes about them so when I get back to Earth I can tell everyone about
this quaint planet."
Marsden wished he had a shirt, for it wasn't right for Alice Cooper
to have to see his sun-scorched, hair-matted chest while she ate. But
Marsden felt somewhat better when he let his eyes rove to the men of
Earth. They sat tall and straight in clothing fancier than it was
right for a man to wear, but they were thin, pale and--well, a little
washed-out looking.
"Why don't you show me around?" Alice Cooper suddenly asked him. "You
can't see a place unless a native shows it to you, and we have to leave
tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Of course, Harry. We have lots of planets to visit and we can't spend
more than a day on an out-of-the-way mote like Talbor."
"Well, now, there are plenty of interesting things on Talbor."
"Oh, I know. I know. Rustic cabins, rocky fields, stolid farmers who
work the soil all day and fall into bed exhausted at night. It's all
very thrilling."
"We have some mighty nice scenery," Marsden told her. "Madison falls
are two-hundred feet high, and we've got some mountains that--"
"Certainly, Harry. But I can see that sort of thing just anyplace. I
want you to show me your farm, your fields. How you people of Talbor
can get by on this rocky, God-forsaken place I'll never know. Why your
parents came here I could never figure out."