ack to tell him dinner was ready. He invited
her to join him for a moment. "It may be possible for you and your
father to return to Sweden much sooner that we thought," he said.

Maria shook her head. "We aren't going back, now. We've talked about it
and decided to stay. It's as Papa always said: Where so much happens to
you, that's the place you always call home. More has happened to us in a
year here than in a lifetime back there."

Ken laughed. "That's a funny way to look at it, especially after the
kind of things that have happened to you here. Maybe your father is
right, at that."

"All our friends are here now," she said.

"All I can say is that it's wonderful," Ken said with a rising surge of
happiness in him. "I mean," he added in sudden confusion, "I'm glad
you've decided this is the best place to live."

He changed the subject quickly. "Dad's even talking of trying to start
up a kind of college here again. We wouldn't have the buildings, of
course, but it could be done in houses or somewhere else. He says he's
been thinking a lot about it and considers it would be our greatest
mistake to neglect the continuance of our education. So I guess you can
finish school right here.

"Personally, I think all the professors out there trying to be dirt
farmers just got tired after a couple of days of plowing and decided
something would have to be done about _that_ situation!"

Maria laughed. "Don't be too hard on them. Papa told me about the plan,
too. He says Sheriff Johnson has agreed to guarantee their pay in food
and other necessities. He's stepping down now, so there can be an
election, but he's demanding approval of that program before he leaves
office. I don't think they ought to let him go."

"He'll be re-elected," said Ken. "He's on top of the heap now. I even
heard old Hank Moss chewing out some guys in town for criticizing
Johnson!"

Ken closed down the transmitter and receiver for the night. Together, he
and Maria walked to the house. They stopped on the back porch and
glanced toward the distant projector bowls reflecting the light of the
comet and of the sun.

Soon there would be only the sun to shine in the sky. The Earth was
alive. Man was on his way up again.

About the Author

At various times, Raymond F. Jones has lived in Utah, Nevada, Arizona,
New Mexico and Texas, thereby enabling him to describe the mountain-west
community, which is the scene of his newest science fiction book,