irl. Harry Bettis, knowing no
other kind of girl, never understood that.

The scientists, meanwhile, had a field day with Johnny. His strange
talent obeyed no natural law, they said, and at first attributed it to
random chance. Soon, though, this became patently impossible. And so a
new natural law was sought. All types of hair-brained theories were
proposed, none of them accepted, until an osteopathic physician in
Duluth, Minn., hit upon the theory that staggered the world with its
simplicity and, eventually, was accepted as that which explained the
strange phenomenon of Johnny Sloman.

The osteopath, many of whose patients suffered from rheumatism which was
aggravated by the bitter Minnesota winters, suggested that Johnny Sloman
was a case of rheumatism in reverse. The weather, he pointed out, had an
adverse effect upon the symptoms of his patients. Conversely, why
couldn't some human being--a Johnny Sloman, for example--affect the
weather in precisely the same way that the weather invariably affected
his rheumatic patients?

It was clear, simple, lucid. It was the only theory which could not be
disproven by the weight of scientific knowledge. It thus became the
accepted theory.

* * * * *

"The Under-Secretary of Defense to see you," Maxine said one day during
the winter following Johnny's July snowfall.

"Don't see him," Harry Bettis said. "You don't want to see him."

"But why not?" Johnny asked.

"Because they'll make you a dollar-a-year man and we're not in this to
make any stinking dollar a year," Harry Bettis said.

"Well, I think I ought to see him, anyway. At least see him." He turned
to Jo-Anne, who was sitting at the next desk, writing up some reports.
"What do you think, Jo?"

"If the country needs you, Johnny," she said, "it's your duty to help."

Johnny told Maxine, "Show the Under-Secretary in, please."

He was a small man with a big brief case. He spoke slowly, earnestly,
backing up his statements with reams of paper from the brief case. The
Defense Department had not contacted Johnny right away, he said, because
they wanted to compile all the facts. They had all the facts now.

Johnny Sloman could be the biggest single factor for peace the world had
ever known.

Item. In the event of aggression, he could so bog down the aggressor's
supply lines and troop movements with continuous rains and snowstorms
that it would be all but impossible for the aggressor