al Martian's haphazard use of the English
language, I regarded the prospect as something of a challenge.

Zan Blekeke started right in telling me about it in his shrill, piping
tones:

"Ah, Mr. Langston, wrong time go. Where been? Should have been meeting.
I derelicted resident. Ha! Expected, yups?"

I replied, "Nups. Let's start over again. Something pretty damn
important?"

He nodded.

"SRI meeting? Yesterday?"

He nodded again, smiling to beat hell.

I thought for a moment, then tried a shot in the dark, illogical as it
was. "You lost your home? Derelicted resident?"

He looked like I'd stepped on his sore corn.

I tried again. "You don't mean you were kicked out of the group?"

He winced. "Oohhh, nooo! Opposition. Opposition."

"You mean there was too much opposition to your being kicked out, so you
weren't?"

He slumped in his seat and regarded me balefully. With the pathos of a
squeaky hinge, he said:

"Head man. Top dog. Derelicted resident. Boss. Wheel. Me. Zan Blekeke."

And if I didn't get it now, I just didn't deserve to know. But I got it.

"You were elected president?" I said.

Zan Blekeke nodded gratefully. "Yus and so. Undeserving awful, but...."
He heaved his chest in resignation.

"No. Not at all," I protested. "Why, I think that's wonderful. You're
just the man for the job! Have another drink."

* * * * *

We ordered more drinks, and the Martian continued: "Membership
obviousless that whatsoever I closest intimute of Dear Late Doctor--"
here he raised his eyes again and clapped a hand to his chest before he
finished--"I should wallow in step-tracks."

"Why, absolutely," I agreed emphatically. "No question about it."

From talking to some of the SRI members after meetings or at beach
sessions, I had gained the definite impression that Zan Blekeke had been
a sort of a servant to "Dear Late Doctor," and would continue to be a
servant to whoever was elected in his place.

But instead, they had elected the Martian himself. Logical, in a
cockeyed way.

This was the first time I'd ever really talked to him. I'd seen him at
the few meetings of SRI I had attended, but he had seemed pretty quiet
there, letting others do most of the talking. He was in charge of
administering the daily Sun-Ray treatments, which I had taken once or
twice myself just for the experience; but on those occasions, he had
been very cold and professional.

_Closest intimute of