WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:06.400 Part one of Exile from Space. This is a LibriVox recording. 2 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.640 All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more 3 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:16.559 information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read 4 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:23.960 by Jen Broda. Exile from Space by Judith Merrill, Part one. 5 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:28.039 Who was this strange girl who had been born in 6 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:33.399 this place? And still it wasn't her home? I don't 7 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:36.200 know where they got the car. We made three or 8 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.159 four stops before the last one, and they must have 9 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.200 picked it up one of those times. Anyhow, they got it, 10 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.039 but they had to make a license plate because it 11 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:49.200 had the wrong kind on it. They made me some 12 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:53.719 clothes too, a skirt and blouse and shoes that looked 13 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:57.200 just like the ones we saw on television. They couldn't 14 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.880 make me a lipstick or any of those things, but 15 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.880 because there was no way to figure out just what 16 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.840 the chemical composition was, and they decided I'd be as 17 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:10.159 well off without any driver's license or automobile registration as 18 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.680 I would be with papers that weren't exactly perfect, so 19 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:18.159 they didn't bother about making those either. They were worried 20 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.959 about what to do with my hair, and even thought 21 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.560 about cutting it short, so it would look more like 22 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.959 the women on television. But that was one time I 23 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.239 was way ahead of them. I'd seen more shows than 24 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:34.159 anyone else. Of course, I watched them almost every minute 25 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.319 from the time they told me I was going. And 26 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:39.480 there was one where I'd seen a way to make 27 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:42.120 braids and put them around the top of your head. 28 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.640 It wasn't very comfortable, but I practiced at it until 29 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:50.799 it looked pretty good. They made me a purse too. 30 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:53.760 It didn't have anything in it except the diamonds, but 31 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.079 the women we saw always seemed to carry them, and 32 00:01:57.159 --> 00:01:59.640 they thought it might be a sort of superstition or 33 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.319 rerual necessity, and that we'd better not take a chance 34 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:07.519 on violating anything like that. They made me spend a 35 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:10.680 lot of time practicing with the car, because without a 36 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:14.360 license I couldn't take a chance on getting into any trouble. 37 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:17.159 I must have put in the better part of an 38 00:02:17.159 --> 00:02:21.000 hour starting and stopping and backing that thing and turning 39 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:24.560 it around and weaving through trees and rocks before they 40 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:29.439 were satisfied. Then all of a sudden, there was nothing 41 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:33.800 left to do except go. They made me repeat everything 42 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.199 one more time about selling the diamonds and how to 43 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.960 register at the hotel, and what to do if I 44 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.560 got into trouble, and how to get in touch with 45 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:45.560 them when I wanted to come back. Then they said 46 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:49.000 good bye and made me promise not to stay too long, 47 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:51.680 and said they'd keep in touch the best they could. 48 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.159 And then I got in the car and drove down 49 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.599 the hill into town. I knew they didn't want to 50 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.439 let me go. They were worried, maybe even a little 51 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:05.759 afraid I wouldn't want to come back, but mostly worried 52 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:08.840 that I might say something I shouldn't or run into 53 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:13.639 some difficulties they hadn't anticipated. And outside of that, they 54 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.639 knew they were going to miss me. Yet they'd made 55 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.680 up their minds to it. They'd planned it this way, 56 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:22.280 and they felt it was the right thing to do, 57 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:25.639 and certainly they'd put an awful lot of thought and 58 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:29.960 effort and preparation into it. If it hadn't been for that, 59 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.879 I might have turned back at the last minute. Maybe 60 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:38.919 they were worried, but I was petrified only of course 61 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.400 I wanted to go. Really, I couldn't help being curious, 62 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:45.919 and it never occurred to me then that I might 63 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.759 miss them. It was the first time i'd ever been 64 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.319 out on my own, and they'd promised me for years 65 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.560 and years, as far back as I could remember, that 66 00:03:55.759 --> 00:04:00.520 some day i'd go back like this by myself. But 67 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:04.240 going back when you've been away long enough is not 68 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:08.759 so much a home coming as a dream dejavus, And 69 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:11.759 for me, at least, the dream was not entirely a 70 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:16.399 happy one. Everything I saw, or heard or touched had 71 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:21.720 a sense of haunting familiarity, and yet of wrongness too, 72 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:26.480 almost a nightmare feeling, of the oppressively inevitable sequence of events, 73 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.360 of faces and features and events just not quite remembered, 74 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.240 had not quite known. I was born in this place, 75 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:39.399 but it was not my home. Its people were not mine, 76 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:43.360 its ways were not mine. All I knew of it 77 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:45.879 was what I had been told and what I had 78 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.319 seen for myself these last weeks of preparation on the 79 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:54.120 television screen, and the dream feeling was intensified at first 80 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.759 by the fact that I did not know why I 81 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:59.920 was there. I knew it had been planned this way, 82 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:02.759 and I had been told it was necessary to complete 83 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.360 my education. Certainly I was aware of the great effort 84 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.279 that had been made to make the trip possible, but 85 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:15.160 I did not yet understand just why. Perhaps it was 86 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.800 just that I had heard and watched and thought and 87 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:21.199 dreamed too much about this place, and now I was 88 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:26.160 actually there. The reality was not so much a disappointment 89 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.319 as just sort of unreal, different from what I knew 90 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:35.000 when I didn't know. The road unwound in a spreading 91 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:39.120 spiral down the mountain side. Each time I came round, 92 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:42.680 I could see the city below closer and larger and 93 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:47.680 less distinct. From the top. With the sunlight sparkling on it, 94 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:51.160 it had been a clean and gleaming pattern of human civilization. 95 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:55.959 Half way down, the symmetry was lost, and the smudge 96 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.399 and smoke began to show. Half way down too, I 97 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.079 began to pass places of business, restaurants and gas stations 98 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.759 and handicraft shops. I wanted to stop. For half an 99 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.240 hour now I had been out on my own, and 100 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:15.480 I still hadn't seen any of the people except the 101 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:17.720 three who had passed me behind the wheels of their 102 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.639 cars going up the road. One of the shops had 103 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.920 a big sign on it come in and look around, 104 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:29.720 but I kept going. One thing I understood was that 105 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:33.519 it was absolutely necessary to have money, and that I 106 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:37.560 must stop nowhere and attempt nothing. Till after I had 107 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:42.560 gotten some farther down, the houses began coming closer together, 108 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.879 and then the roads stopped winding around and became almost straight. 109 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:50.800 By that time, I was used to the car, and 110 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:53.519 I didn't have to think much about it, and for 111 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:57.639 a little while I really enjoyed myself. I could see 112 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:01.360 into the houses, sometimes through the window, and at one 113 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.439 a woman was opening the door, coming out with a 114 00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:08.600 broom in her hand. There were children playing in the yards. 115 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.040 There were cars of all kinds parked around the houses, 116 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.839 and I saw dogs and a couple of horses, and 117 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:20.000 once a whole flock of chickens. But just where it 118 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.199 was beginning to get really interesting, when I was coming 119 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:26.319 into the little town before the city, I had to 120 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.360 stop watching it all because there were too many other 121 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:33.040 people driving. That was when I began to understand all 122 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:38.120 the fuss about licenses and tests and traffic regulations. Watching 123 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:41.160 it on television, it wasn't anything like being in the 124 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:44.519 middle of it. Of course, what I ran into there 125 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:47.720 was really nothing. I found that out when I got 126 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:51.759 into the city itself, but just at first it seemed 127 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:56.199 pretty bad, and I still don't understand it. These people 128 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:59.879 are pretty bright mechanically. You'd think anybody who could build 129 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.879 an automobile, let alone an atom bomb, could drive one 130 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:08.759 easily enough, especially with the lifetime to learn in Maybe 131 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:13.120 they just liked to live dangerously. It was a good thing, though, 132 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.800 that I'd already started watching out for what the other 133 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.879 drivers were doing when I hit my first red light. 134 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.600 That was something I'd overlooked entirely watching street scenes on 135 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:28.040 the screen, and I guess they'd never noticed either. They 136 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:30.639 must have taken it for granted the way I did 137 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.759 that people stopped their cars out of courtesy from time 138 00:08:33.799 --> 00:08:37.240 to time to let the others go by. As it was, 139 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.000 I stopped because the others did, and just happened to 140 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:44.559 notice that they began again when the light changed to green. 141 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.360 It's really a very good system. I don't see why 142 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.080 they don't have them at all, the intersections. From the 143 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.840 first light, it was eight miles into the center of 144 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:59.240 Colorado Springs. A sign on the road said so, and 145 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:02.279 I was irrestionally pleased when the speedometer on the car 146 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:06.559 confirmed it. Proud I suppose that these natives from my 147 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:11.919 own birthplace were such good gadgeteers. The road was better 148 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:15.039 after that too, and the cars didn't dart in and 149 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.480 out off the side streets the way they had before. 150 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:21.279 There was more traffic on the highway, but most of 151 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:26.120 them behaved fairly intelligently until we got into town. That is. 152 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:30.679 After that it was everybody for himself, but by then 153 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:34.000 I was prepared for it. I found a place to 154 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.720 park the car near a drug store. That was the 155 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.799 first thing I was supposed to do. Find a drug 156 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:43.480 store where there would likely be a telephone directory, and 157 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:46.679 go in and look up the address of a hawk shop. 158 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:49.559 I had a little trouble parking the car in the 159 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.360 space they had marked off, but I could see from 160 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.000 the way the others were stationed that you were supposed 161 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:58.279 to get in between the white lines with the front 162 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.559 of the car next to the post on the sidewalk. 163 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:04.480 I didn't know what the post was for until I 164 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.320 got out and read what it said, and then I 165 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:11.000 didn't know what to do because I didn't have any money, 166 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:15.399 not yet, and I didn't dare get into any trouble 167 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:17.720 that might end up with a policeman asking to see 168 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.679 my license, which always seemed to be the first thing 169 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.799 they did on television when they talked to anybody who 170 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:27.240 was driving a car. I got back in the car 171 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.399 and wriggled my way out of the hole between the 172 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:33.320 other cars and tried to think what to do. Then 173 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.600 I remembered seeing a sign that said free parking somewhere 174 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:41.039 not too far away, and went back the way i'd come. 175 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:45.080 There was a sort of park with a fountain spraying 176 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:48.240 water all over the grass, and a big building opposite. 177 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:52.399 And the white lines here were much more sensible. They 178 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.000 were painted in diagonal strips, so you could get in 179 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.759 and out quite easily without all that backing and twisting 180 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:03.759 and turning. I left the car there and remembered to 181 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.879 take the keys with me and started walking back to 182 00:11:06.919 --> 00:11:11.720 the drug store. That was when it hit me up 183 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.600 to then beginning. I guess when I drove that little 184 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.919 stretch coming into Manitou, with the houses on the hills 185 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:21.639 and the children and yards and dogs and chickens, I'd 186 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:25.279 begun to feel almost as if I belonged here. The 187 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.720 people seemed so much like me, As long as I 188 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.440 wasn't right up against them. From a little distance, you'd 189 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:35.879 think there was no difference at all. Then, I guess 190 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.000 when I was close enough to notice driving through town. 191 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:42.840 I'd been too much preoccupied with the car. It didn't 192 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:45.679 really get to me till I got out and started walking. 193 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:52.320 They were all so big. They were big, and their 194 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:55.639 faces and noses and even the pores of their skin 195 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:00.039 were too big, and their voices were too loud, and 196 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:04.559 they smelled. I didn't notice that last much till I 197 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.000 got into the drug store. Then I thought I was 198 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.519 going to suffocate. And I had a kind of squeezing, 199 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.360 upside down feeling in my stomach and diaphragm and throat, 200 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.519 which I didn't realize till later was what they meant 201 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:23.519 by being sick. I stood over the directory rack, pretending 202 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:27.559 to read but really just struggling with my insides, and 203 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:30.639 a man came along and shouted in my ear something 204 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:37.919 that sounded like vomdruby. I didn't get that sorted out 205 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.000 for hours afterwards, but I don't think i'll ever forget 206 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.080 just the way it sounded at the time. Of course, 207 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:48.360 he meant having trouble, little lady, But all I knew 208 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:51.000 at the time was he was too big and smelled 209 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:55.440 of all kinds of things that were unfamiliar and slightly sickening. 210 00:12:56.360 --> 00:12:59.720 I couldn't answer him. All I could do was turn away, 211 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.639 was not to breathe him, and try to pretend I 212 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.960 knew what I was doing with the directory. Then he 213 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.960 hissed at me, Sorry, no offense, I figured out later 214 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:14.399 and said clearly enough so I could understand even then, 215 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:19.559 just trying to help, and walked away. As soon as 216 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:23.879 he was gone, I walked out myself. Directory or no directory, 217 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:27.080 I had to get out of that store. I went 218 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.759 back to where I'd left the car, but instead of 219 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.279 getting in it, I sat down on a bench in 220 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.519 the park and waited till the turmoil inside me began 221 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.600 to quiet down. I went back into that drug store 222 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.519 once before I left, purposely just to see if I 223 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.919 could pin down what it was that had bothered me 224 00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:50.440 so much, because I never reacted that strongly afterwards, and 225 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:52.480 I wondered if maybe it was just that it was 226 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:55.879 the first time I was inside one of their buildings. 227 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:59.320 But it was more than that. That place was a 228 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:03.399 regular snow pit of a treatment for a stranger. Believe me, 229 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:07.360 they had a tobacco counter and a lunch counter, and 230 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:11.559 a perfume and toiletry section, and a nut roasting machine, 231 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:14.559 and just to top it off, in the back of 232 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:19.799 the store, in open to look at and smell pharmaceutical center, 233 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:25.519 everything all mixed together and compounded with stale human sweat, 234 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:28.639 which was also new to me at the time, and 235 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:32.759 no air conditioning. Most of the air conditioning they have 236 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:36.279 is bad enough on its own with chemical smells, but 237 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:39.720 those are comparatively easy to get used to, and I'll 238 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.159 take them anytime over what I got in that first 239 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:55.320 dose of odor to Earth. End of part one, Part 240 00:14:55.399 --> 00:15:00.600 two of Exile from Space by Judith Merrill. This LibriVox 241 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.039 recording is in the public domain. Read by Jen Brooda 242 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:11.440 Part two. Anyhow, I sat on the park bench about 243 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:15.240 fifteen minutes, I guess, letting the sun and fresh air 244 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:19.120 seep in, and trying to tabulate and memorize as many 245 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.679 of the components of that drug store smell as I 246 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:25.679 could for future reference. I was simply going to have 247 00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.519 to adjust to them, and next time I wanted to 248 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.720 be prepared all the same. I didn't feel prepared to 249 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:36.360 go back into the same place. Maybe another store wouldn't 250 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:40.679 be quite as bad. I started walking in the opposite direction, 251 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:43.919 staying on the wide main street where all the big 252 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:47.600 stores seemed to be, and two blocks down I ran 253 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.759 into luck because there was a big bracket sticking out 254 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.360 over the sidewalk from the front of a store halfway 255 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.360 down a side street, and it had the three gold 256 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:00.360 balls hanging from it that I knew from television meant 257 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.879 the kind of place I wanted. When I walked down 258 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:06.480 to it, I saw too that they had a sign 259 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:11.480 painted over the window, we buy old gold and diamonds. 260 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.200 Just how lucky that was I didn't realize till quite 261 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.200 some time later I was going to look in the 262 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:23.559 classified directory for hawk shops. I didn't know any other 263 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:28.159 name for them. Then inside it looked exactly like what 264 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:31.759 I expected, and even the smell was nothing to complain about. 265 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.960 Camphor and dust and mustiness were strong enough to cover 266 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.000 most of the sweaty smell, and those were smells of 267 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:44.639 a kind I'd experienced before in other places. The whole 268 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:48.039 procedure was reassuring because it all went just the way 269 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:51.039 it was supposed to, and I knew how to behave 270 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.759 I'd seen it in a show, and the man behind 271 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.440 the grilled window even looked like the man on the 272 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:01.200 screen and talked the same way, what can we do 273 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:04.759 for you? Girlie, I'd like to sell a diamond, I 274 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:08.319 told him. He didn't say anything at first, then he 275 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.359 looked impatient. You got it with you? Oh? Yes. I 276 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:15.880 opened my purse and took out one of the little 277 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:19.880 packages and unwrapped it and handed it to him. He 278 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:22.880 screwed the lens into his eye and walked back from 279 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.640 the window and put it on a little scale and 280 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.480 turned back and unscrewed the lens and looked at me. 281 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:33.240 Where'd you get this, lady, he asked me, it's mine. 282 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:37.000 I said, I knew just how to do it. We'd 283 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:39.599 gone over this half a dozen times before I left, 284 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.039 and he was behaving exactly the way we'd expect it. 285 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.240 I don't know, he said, can't do much with an 286 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:51.079 unset stone like this. He pursed his lips, tossed the 287 00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:54.240 diamond carelessly in his hand, and then pushed it back 288 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.799 at me across the counter. I had to keep myself 289 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.079 from smiling. It was just the they'd said it would be. 290 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:04.839 The people here were still in the mech age, of course, 291 00:18:05.400 --> 00:18:08.440 and not nearly conscious enough to communicate anything at all 292 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:13.200 complex or abstract any way, except verbally. But there is 293 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:17.079 nothing abstract about avarice, and between what I'd been told 294 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:20.160 to expect and what I could feel pouring out of him, 295 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.279 I knew precisely what was going on in his mind. 296 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:28.160 You mean you don't want it, I said. I thought 297 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:31.279 it was worth quite a lot, might have been once 298 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.920 he shrugged. You can't do much with a stone like 299 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:39.200 that anymore. Where'd you get it, girly? My mother gave 300 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:42.880 it to me a long time ago. I wouldn't sell 301 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:47.000 it except, look, I said, and didn't have to work 302 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:51.039 hard to sound desperate, because in a way I was. Look, 303 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:55.519 it must be worth something. He picked it up again, 304 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.640 Well what do you want for it? That went on 305 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.640 for quite a while. I knew what it was supposed 306 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:05.359 to be worth, of course, but I didn't hope to 307 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:09.279 get even half of that. He offered seventy dollars, and 308 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:12.559 I asked for five hundred, and after a while he 309 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.960 gave me three fifty, and I felt I'd done pretty 310 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:19.440 well for a green horn. I put the money in 311 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:22.240 my purse and went back to the car, and on 312 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.359 the way I saw a policeman, so I stopped and 313 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:28.519 asked him about a hotel. He looked me up and 314 00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:31.799 down and started asking questions about how old I was 315 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:34.440 and what was my name and where did I live? 316 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.680 And I began to realize that being so much smaller 317 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.799 than the other people was going to make life complicated. 318 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:43.960 I told him i'd come to visit my brother in 319 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:48.759 the academy, and he smiled and said, your brother is it. 320 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:51.759 Then he told me the name of a place just 321 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:56.519 outside of town, near the academy. It wasn't a hotel, 322 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:00.440 it was a motel, which I didn't know about it 323 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:03.319 that time, but he said I'd be better off there. 324 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:06.079 A lot of what he said went right over my 325 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.480 head at the time. Later I realized what he meant 326 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:14.839 about a nice, respectable couple running the place. I found 327 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.599 out later on, too, that he called them up to 328 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:20.319 ask them to keep an eye on me. He thought 329 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:22.920 I was a nice girl, but he was worried about 330 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:27.640 my being alone there. By this time, I was getting hungry, 331 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.160 but I thought i'd better go and arrange about a 332 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.920 place to stay first. I found the motel without much 333 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.480 trouble and went in and registered. I knew how to 334 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:40.519 do that, at least I'd seen it plenty of times. 335 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:43.640 They gave me a key, and the man who ran 336 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:45.799 the place asked me, Did I want any help with 337 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:51.039 my bags? Oh no, I said, no, thanks, I haven't 338 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:55.559 got much. I'd forgotten all about that, and they'd never 339 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.079 thought about it either. These people always have a lot 340 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:02.920 of different clothes, not just one set, and you're supposed 341 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.079 to have a suitcase full of things when you go 342 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:08.759 to stay any place. I said, I was hungry anyway, 343 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.160 and wanted to go get something to eat and do 344 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:14.680 a couple of other things. I didn't say what before 345 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:17.960 I got settled. So the woman walked over with me 346 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:21.039 and showed me which cabin it was, and asked, was 347 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:24.960 everything all right? It looked all right to me. The 348 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.680 room had a big bed in it with sheets and 349 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:31.000 a blanket and pillows and a bedspread, just like the 350 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:34.200 ones I'd seen on television. And there was a chest 351 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.599 of drawers and a table with more small drawers in it, 352 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.839 and two chairs, and a mirror, and one door that 353 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:44.640 went into a closet and one that led to the bathroom. 354 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.240 The fixtures in there were a little different from the 355 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:50.599 ones they'd made for me to practice in, but functionally 356 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:54.160 they seemed about the same. I didn't look for any 357 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:58.519 difficulty with anything there except the bed, and that wasn't 358 00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:02.240 her fault if I assured her everything was just fine 359 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:04.720 and let her show me how to operate the gas 360 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.759 burner that was set in the wall for heat. Then 361 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:10.759 we went out, and she very carefully locked the door 362 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:15.240 and handed me the key. You better keep that door locked, 363 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:20.240 she said, just a little sharply. You never know. I 364 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.640 wanted to ask her what you never know, but had 365 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.839 the impression that it was something everybody was supposed to know, 366 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:31.440 so I just nodded and agreed. Instead, you want to 367 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.160 get some lunch, she said, Then there's a place down 368 00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:38.599 the road isn't too bad clean anyhow, and they don't 369 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:43.319 cater too much to those. Well, it's clean, she pointed 370 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:45.680 the way. You could see the sign from where we 371 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:49.440 were standing. I thanked her and started the car and 372 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.000 decided I might as well go there as any place, 373 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:54.839 especially since I could see she was watching to find 374 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:59.640 out whether I did or not. These people are all 375 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:03.720 too too big, or almost all of them. But the 376 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:07.599 man behind the counter at the diner was enormous. He 377 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:11.039 was tall and fat, with a beefy red face and 378 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.839 large open pores and a fleshy mound of a nose. 379 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.000 I didn't like to look at him, and when he 380 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:22.119 talked he boomed so loud I could hardly understand him. 381 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.880 On top of all that, the smell in that place 382 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.000 was awful, not quite as bad as the drug store, 383 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:33.160 but some ways similar to it. I kept my eyes 384 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.920 on the menu, which was full of unfamiliar words, and 385 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:40.440 tried to remember that I was hungry. The man was 386 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.960 shouting at me, or it was more like growling, I guess, 387 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:47.319 and I couldn't make out the words at first. He 388 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:50.960 said it again, and I sorted out syllables and matched 389 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.160 them with the words on the card, and then I 390 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.799 got it. Goulash is nice today, miss I didn't know 391 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:01.160 what gulash was, and the st my stomach was in 392 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:05.279 with the smells, I decided i'd better play safe and 393 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:09.319 ordered a glass of milk and some vegetable soup. The 394 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:14.480 milk had a strange taste to it, not bad, just different. 395 00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:19.119 But of course this came from cows, that was all right. 396 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:24.960 But the vegetable soup it was quite literally putrid, made, 397 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.759 as near as I could figure out, from dead animal 398 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:31.880 juices in which vegetables had been soaked and cooked till 399 00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:36.680 any trace of flavor or nourishment was entirely removed. I 400 00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:39.440 took one taste of that, and then I realized what 401 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.720