ly now I gotta be a hoofer. 'Count of li'l Hogey. You
know about li'l Hogey?"

"Yeah. Your son. Come on."

"Say, you gotta son? I bet you gotta son."

"Two kids," said the driver, catching Hogey's bag as it slipped from his
shoulder. "Both girls."

"Say, you oughta be home with them kids. Man oughta stick with his
family. You oughta get another job." Hogey eyed him owlishly, waggled a
moralistic finger, skidded on the gravel as they stepped onto the
opposite shoulder, and sprawled again.

The driver blew a weary breath, looked down at him, and shook his head.
Maybe it'd be kinder to find a constable after all. This guy could get
himself killed, wandering around loose.

"Somebody supposed to meet you?" he asked, squinting around at the dusty
hills.

"_Huk!_--who, me?" Hogey giggled, belched, and shook his head. "Nope.
Nobody knows I'm coming. S'prise. I'm supposed to be here a week ago."
He looked up at the driver with a pained expression. "Week late, ya
know? Marie's gonna be sore--woo-_hoo_!--is she gonna be sore!" He
waggled his head severely at the ground.

"Which way are you going?" the driver grunted impatiently.

Hogey pointed down the side-road that led back into the hills. "Marie's
pop's place. You know where? 'Bout three miles from here. Gotta walk, I
guess."

"Don't," the driver warned. "You sit there by the culvert till you get a
ride. Okay?"

Hogey nodded forlornly.

"Now stay out of the road," the driver warned, then hurried back across
the highway. Moments later, the atomic battery-driven motors droned
mournfully, and the bus pulled away.

Big Hogey blinked after it, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nice people,"
he said. "Nice buncha people. All hoofers."

With a grunt and a lurch, he got to his feet, but his legs wouldn't work
right. With his tumbler's reflexes, he fought to right himself with
frantic arm motions, but gravity claimed him, and he went stumbling into
the ditch.

"Damn legs, damn crazy legs!" he cried.

The bottom of the ditch was wet, and he crawled up the embankment with
mud-soaked knees, and sat on the shoulder again. The gin bottle was
still intact. He had himself a long fiery drink, and it warmed him deep
down. He blinked around at the gaunt and treeless land.

The sun was almost down, forge-red on a dusty horizon. The
blood-streaked sky faded into sulphurous yellow toward the zenith, and
the very air that hung over the land seemed full of yellow smoke, the
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