ill you come back here when your year's up?"

"I suppose so," Rolf said without looking up. "This town is no worse
than any of the other Spacertowns. No better, but no worse." He slowly
lifted his head and looked at her as she stood there facing him.

"I hope you come back," she said.

The sun was coming in from behind her, now, and lighting her up. She was
rugged, all right, and strong: a good hard worker. And she was well
built. Suddenly his aches became less painful, as he looked at her and
realized that she was infinitely more beautiful than the slick,
glossy-looking girl he had kissed on the veranda, who had bought her
teeth at a store and had gotten her figure from a surgeon. Laney, at
least, was real.

"You know," he said at last, "I think I have an idea. You wait here and
I'll come get you when my year's up. I'll have enough to pay passage to
Venus for two. We can get a slightly smaller mansion than I planned on
getting. But we can get it. Some parts of Venus are beautiful. And the
closest those monkeys from Yawk can get to it is to look at it in the
night sky. You think it's a good idea?"

"I think it's a great idea," she said, moving toward him. Her head was
nearly as high as his own.

"I'll go back to space. I have to, to keep my rating. But you'll wait
for me, won't you?"

"I'll wait."

And as he drew her close, he knew she meant it.

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ December 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Happy Unfortunate, by Robert Silverberg

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