Captain Thiel gave her his nice smile. "Well, I'll tell you a secret if
you keep it to yourself."
"Oh, I promise."
He leaned over and whispered in her ear and she liked the clean odor of
him. "She's not nearly as pretty as you are."
Mary wanted very badly to put her arms around him and hug him. Instead,
wondering if Mrs. Harris, waiting outside, had heard, she drew back
self-consciously and said, "Susan is the cause of all this trouble, the
nasty little thing."
"Oh now!" the medicop exclaimed. "I don't think so, Mary. She's in
trouble, too, you know."
"She still eats sauerkraut." Mary was defiant.
"But what's wrong with that?"
"You told her not to last year because it makes me sick on my shift.
But it agrees in buckets with a little pig like her."
The medicop took this seriously. He made a note on the pad. "Mary, you
should have complained sooner."
"Do you think my father might not like me because Susan Shorrs is my
hypoalter?" she asked abruptly.
"I hardly think so, Mary. After all, he doesn't even know her. He's
never on her Ego shift."
"A little bit," Mary said, and was immediately frightened.