s
across the street from me. Her mother's at the dentist and I said I'd
look after her for the day."

"Hello, Doreen," I said. "What have you in the hatbox? Doll clothes?"

Doreen gave me a look of faint disgust. "No," she piped, in a high
treble. "An unhappy genii."

"An unhappy--" I did a double take. "Oh, an unhappy genii? Maybe he's
unhappy because you won't let him out, ha ha." Even to myself, I sounded
idiotic.

Doreen looked at me pityingly. "It's not a he, it's a thing. Elmer made
it."

I knew when I was losing, so I quit.

* * * * *

I hurried Marge and Doreen along toward our little two-story building.
Once we got into the air-conditioned reception room, Marge sank down
gratefully onto the settee and I switched on the television set with the
big 24-inch tube Tom had built.

Biltom Electronics makes TV components, computer parts, things like
that. Tom Kennedy is the brains. Me, Bill Rawlins, I do the legwork, and
tend to the business details.

"It's uncanny the way all those cars suddenly stopped when our bus broke
down," Marge said as we waited for the picture to come on. "Any day now
this civilization of ours will get so complicated a bus breaking down
someplace will bring the whole thing to a halt. Then where will we be?"

"Elmer says silly-zation is doomed!" Doreen put in happily.

The way she rolled the word out made me stare at her.

Marge only nodded. "That's what Elmer says, all right," she agreed, a
trifle grim.

"Why does Elmer say silly-zation is doomed?" I asked Doreen.

"Because it's getting hotter." The kid gave it to me straight. "All the
ice at the North Pole is gonna melt. The ocean is gonna rise two hundred
feet. Then everybody who doesn't live on a hill is gonna be drownded.
That's what Elmer says and Elmer isn't ever wrong."

[Illustration: Illustrated by CAVAT]

Doreen they called her! Why not Cassandra? The stuff kids spout these
days!

I gave her a foolish grin. I wanted Marge to get the idea I was really a
family man at heart. "That's very interesting, Doreen. Now look, there's
the baseball game. Let's watch, shall we?"

We weren't very late after all. It was the top half of the second
inning, the score one to one, Erskine in trouble with two men on and
only one down. The colors were beautiful. Marge and I were just settling
back to watch when Doreen wrinkled her nose.

"I saw that game yesterday!" she announced.

"You couldn't ha