She shivered. «It scares me.»
A pretentious little man pushed his way forward. «Mr. MacRae – granted that it is nice for science and all that, why should taxpayers' money be wasted on a colony on the Moon?»
«You seem to have answered yourself,» Allan told him slowly.
«Then how do you justify it? Tell me that, sir.»
«It isn't necessary to justify it; the Lunar corporations are all paying propositions. Artemis Mines, Spaceways, Spaceways Provisioning Corporation, Diana Recreations, Electronics Research Company, Lunar Biological Labs, not to mention all of Rutherford – look 'em up. I'll admit the Cosmic Research Project nicks the taxpayer a little, since it's a joint enterprise of the Harriman Foundation and the government.»
«Then you admit it. It's the principle of the thing.»
Allan's feet were hurting him very badly indeed. «What principle? Historically, research has always paid off.» He turned his back and looked for some more goose liver.
A man touched him on the arm; Allan recognized an old schoolmate. «Allan, old boy, congratulations on the way you ticked off old Beetle. He's been needing it – I think he's some sort of a radical.»
Allan grinned. «I shouldn't have lost my temper.»
«A good job you did. Say, Allan, I'm going to take a couple of out-of-town buyers around to the hot spots tomorrow night. Come along.»
«Thanks a lot, but we're going out in the country.»
«Oh, you can't afford to miss this party. After all, you've been buried on the Moon; you owe yourself some relaxation after that deadly monotony.»
Allan felt his cheeks getting warm. «Thanks just the same, but – ever seen the Earth View Room in Hotel Moon Haven?»
«No. Plan to take the trip when I've made my pile, of course.»
«Well, there's a night club for you. Ever see a dancer leap thirty feet into the air and do slow rolls on the way down? Ever try a lunacy cocktail? Ever see a juggler work in low gravity?» Jo caught his eye across the room. «Er ... excuse me, old man. My wife wants me.»
He turned away, then flung back over his shoulder, «Moon Haven itself isn't just a spaceman's dive, by the way – it's recommended by the Duncan Hines Association.»
Jo was very pale. «Darling, you've got to get me out of here. I'm suffocating. I'm really ill.»
«Suits.» They made their excuses.
Jo woke up with a stuffy cold, so they took a cab directly to her country place. There were low-lying clouds under them, but the weather was fine above. The sunshine and the drowsy beat of the rotors regained for them the joy of homecoming.
Allan broke the lazy reverie. «Here's a funny thing, Jo. You couldn't hire me to go back to the Moon – but last night I found myself defending the Loonies every time I opened my mouth.»
She nodded. «I know. Honest to Heaven, Allan, some people act as if the Earth were flat. Some of them don't really believe in anything, and some of them are so matter-of-fact that you know they don't really understand – and I don't know which sort annoys me the more.»
It was foggy when they landed, but the house was clean, the agent had laid a fire and had stocked the refrigerator. They were sipping hot punch and baking the weariness out of their bones within ten minutes after the copter grounded. «This,» said Allan, stretching, «is all right. It really is great to be back.»
«Uh-huh. All except the highway.» A new express-and-freight superhighway now ran not fifty yards from the house. They could hear the big diesels growling as they struck the grade.
«Forget the highway. Turn your back and you stare straight into the woods.»
They regained their ground-legs well enough to enjoy short walks in the woods; they were favored with a long, warm Indian summer; the cleaning woman was efficient and taciturn. Allan worked on the results of three years research preparatory to starting his book. Jo helped him with the statistical work, got reacquainted with the delights of cooking, dreamed, and rested.
It was the day of the first frost that the toilet stopped up.
The village plumber was persuaded to show up the next day. Meanwhile they resorted to a homely little building, left over from another era and still standing out beyond the wood pile. It was spider-infested and entirely too well ventilated.
The plumber was not encouraging. «New septic tank. New sile pipe. Pay you to get new fixtures at the same time. Fifteen, sixteen hundred dollars. Have to do some calculating.»
«That's all right,» Allan told him. «Can you start today?»
The man laughed. «I can see plainly, Mister, that you don't know what it is to get materials and labor these days. Next spring – soon as the frost is out of the ground.»
«That's impossible, man. Never mind the cost. Get it done.»
The native shrugged. «Sorry not to oblige you. Good day.»
When he left, Jo exploded. «Allan, he doesn't want to help us.»
«Well – maybe. I'll try to get someone from Norwalk, or even from the city. You can't trudge through the snow out to that Iron Maiden all winter.»
«I hope not.»
«You must not. You've already had one cold.» He stared morosely at the fire. «I suppose I brought it on by my misplaced sense of humor.»
«How?»
«Well, you know how we've been subjected to steady kidding ever since it got noised around that we were colonials. I haven't minded much, but some of it rankled. You remember I went into the village by myself last Saturday?»
«Yes. What happened?»
«They started in on me in the barbershop. I let it ride at first, then the worm turned. I started talking about the Moon, sheer double-talk – corny old stuff like the vacuum worms and the petrified air. It was some time before they realized I was ribbing them – and when they did, nobody laughed. Our friend the rustic sanitary engineer was one of the group. I'm sorry.»
«Don't be.» She kissed him. «If I have to tramp through the snow, it will cheer me that you gave them back some of their sass.»
The plumber from Norwalk was more helpful, but rain, and then sleet, slowed down the work. They both caught colds. On the ninth miserable day Allan was working at his desk when he heard Jo come in the back door, returning from a shopping trip. He turned back to his work, then presently became aware that she had not come in to say «hello.» He went to investigate.
He found her collapsed on a kitchen chair, crying quietly. «Darling,» he said urgently, «honey baby, whatever is the matter?»
She looked up. «I didn't bead to led you doe.»
«Blow your nose. Then wipe your eyes. What do you mean, 'you didn't mean to let me know .' What happened?»
She let it out, punctuated with her handkerchief. First, the grocer had said he had no cleansing tissues; then, when she pointed to them, had stated that they were «sold.» Finally, he had mentioned «bringing outside labor into town and taking the bread out of the mouths of honest folk.»
Jo had blown up and had rehashed the incident of Allan and the barbershop wits. The grocer had simply grown more stiff. « 'Lady,' he said to me, 'I don't know whether you and your husband have been to the Moon or not, and I don't care. I don't take much stock in such things. In any case, I don't need your trade.' Oh, Allan, I'm so unhappy.»
«Not as unhappy as he's going to be! Where's my hat?»
«Allan! You're not leaving this house. I won't have you fighting.»
«I won't have him bullying you.»
«He won't again. Oh my dear, I've tried so hard, but I can't stay here any longer. It's not just the villagers; it's the cold and the cockroaches and always having a runny nose. I'm tired out and my feet hurt all the time.» She started to cry again.
«There, there! We'll leave, honey. We'll go to Florida. I'll finish my book while you lie in the sun.»
«Oh, I don't want to go to Florida. I want to go home !»