around the corner to the
nearest _Paradise_ booth. _Whisht_--and Wally's worries are a thing of
the past.

Joe and I get the idea at the same time and we chase down to the
nearest booth. I took one look at the screen and blushed. Wally had
some pretty wild ideas.

On the way home, I tried to talk Joe into tearing the machines down.
"How do you know where it's going to end, Joe?" I argues. "You can't
tell who's well-adjusted and who isn't any more. And besides, some of
those who ain't have contributed just as much to life as those who
are. Maybe even more."

"I'm going to leave them up," Joe says grimly. "The world will be
better off without a lot of neurotics running around."

"You won't think it over, Joe?"

"No," he says, "and to prove it, I'm going to spend the next two weeks
in New York looking for backing to put up _Paradise_ booths all across
the country."

"What does Marge think?" I ask.

"Hang Marge!" he says.

Well, I just stood there in the middle of the block and watched him
get smaller and smaller in the distance. I couldn't think of anything
more to say and he wouldn't have listened to me anyways.

I packed and left town that same night. The strawberry season was just
coming on and I ain't never missed a harvest yet.

* * * * *

About two weeks passed and I couldn't stay away any longer. I got back
to town, took a look around, and then went down to the station to wait
for Joe to come in on the flyer. I figured somebody ought to be there
to break it to him gently.

He gets off the train looking happy and successful and I figure he's
made arrangements to put a _Paradise_ booth in every city, town, and
crossroads in the nation.

"Why, hello, Harry," he says when he sees me, and gives me the old
professional smile and handshake that really ain't the old Joe at all.
"Any cabs around?"

"No, there ain't no cabs around."

Something in the way I says it makes him give me a sharp look. "How
come? There's always a couple to meet the flyer."

"There ain't none this time," I says. "No cab drivers."

"No cab drivers?"

"Ain't no need for 'em any more," I says. "Ain't no people in town to
use cabs. Town's empty. Everybody's gone."

He looks kinda green and says: "What do you mean, everybody's gone?"

I shrugs and starts walking back to town. "Everybody took off," I
says. "Your _Paradise_ booths were real popular."

He still looks blank so I give it to him straig