hey wanted was the instruments'
readings.

My feet could still move me. Knew where to go. Knew where to find the
door that had the simple word _Plotting_ on it.

The Doll was there with her father. The two of them didn't say
anything, just looked at me--just stared at me. I said, "He tried
damned hard. He put everything he had in it. He got me. He had me down
and there wasn't any up again for the rest of the world. For me there
wasn't."

They stared. Pop stared. The Doll stared.

"Just one thing he forgot," I muttered. "He gave me the tip-off
himself and then he forgot it. He told me I wasn't all me anymore,
that a part of me had gone out to you since I was supposed to be in
love with you. And that's where the tip-off lies. I wasn't all me
anymore but I hadn't lost anything. You know why, Doll?"

They stared.

"Simple--any damn fool would tumble. If I wasn't all me, then you
weren't all you. Part of you was me--get it? And _you_ weren't
scheduled to bust out today. Not you--me! And that's what he couldn't
work over. That's what brought me down again. He couldn't touch that."
I stopped for a moment.

I said suddenly, "What the hell you guys staring at?" I growled.

"That's my Baby," said the Doll.

"No strings," I said.

"Like we said." Her words were soft petals. "Like we said, Baby. Just
like we said."

"Sure. Only damn it, I don't like it that way. I _want_ strings, see?
I want meshes of 'em, balls of 'em, like what comes in yarn--get it?"

The Doll grinned. "Sure, Baby--you're sure you want it that way?"

"Sure I'm sure. I just said it, didn't I? _Didn't_ I?"

"You just said it, Baby." She left her father's side, came over to me,
put her arm in mine, pulled close. We turned, started to go out the
door.

"Where you guys going?" asked Pop. We turned again. He looked like
something was skipped somewhere on a sound track he'd been listening
to. I grinned.

"Gotta look for a Brown Bess," I said. "Museum just lost one."

* * * * *

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