hing the buildings go by, and the
emotional reaction of the evening began to set in. Morbidly, Charles
wondered what they'd do to him if he kept his mouth shut and let the
Industry put the suit into production, and waited for the millions of
ID tags to begin to drop off.

The prospect was so frightening that his apprehension over what would
happen if it was discovered he was wearing somebody else's tag almost
disappeared.

Finally, the cab rolled to a stop. Charles got out and dropped some
coins into the hand protruding from the front seat, and, head low, he
turned and entered the apartment house.

He trudged dismally up the stairs, thinking about his wife. He
wondered what would happen if she were awake and waiting for him. If
she saw that he had on somebody else's name tag.

The door was unlocked.

And the light was on.

He wondered if he could duck into the bedroom without being seen, and
then someone leaped at him and he knew it was too late.

"Oh, James dear!" she cried, throwing her arms around Charles' neck.
"When you walked out of here, I thought you'd never come back to me!"

Charles looked at the marilyn's name tag with slow horror and realized
that in his preoccupation, out of sheer force of habit, he had simply
said to the cab driver, "Take me home," and the driver had looked at
the address on his tag and complied. The apartment building so much
resembled Charles' own that he hadn't known the difference, and he
hadn't bothered to look at the number on the door.

When Charles walked in, this Marilyn, Stasia her name was, had looked
at his name tag and thought he was her James. She didn't have the
slightest idea of who he really was.

Then Charles closed his eyes, swallowed, and knew something else.

It really didn't make the least bit of difference _who_ he was. And of
course, the solution to all his troubles was obvious.

With a sigh, Charles leaned over Stasia and kissed her.

END

End of Project Gutenberg's The Standardized Man, by Stephen Bartholomew

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