I silenced him with a scowl. He shut up, then danced off across the
terrace. "Man, man! This is the biggest! The most--the greatest--the
end!"
* * * * *
The phone was ringing. As I went to the box on the terrace, I grabbed
my boy's arm. "Don't you breathe a word."
He giggled. "The joke is on you, Pop. Why should I say anything? I'll
just grin once in a while."
"Now you cut that out."
He held onto my arm and walked toward the phone box with me, half
convulsed. "Wait till men land on Venus and find Venusians with a
legend about their Great White Father in California. That's when I'll
tell."
The phone call was from a screaming psychotic who wanted Guy. I stood
near Guy while he listened to the excited voice over the wire.
Presently Guy said, "No, no. The automatic controls will correct for
the delay in firing. It isn't that. It's just that there aren't any
instruments.... What? What just happened? Calm down. I can't understand
you."
I heard Em say to my wife, "You know, the strangest thing occurred out
there. I _thought_ it looked like those owls were carrying things on
their backs. One of them dropped something and I saw the men open a
package wrapped in a leaf. You'd never believe what was in it--three
little birds roasted to a nice brown!"