sted?"

Joe jams his hands in his pockets, scowls, and says: "We've been
having a little trouble, Harry. She doesn't see things my way."

It isn't any of my business so I clam up and walk over to where the
whole front half of the basement is curtained off with a couple of old
sheets and a drawstring.

"This is it," Joe says proudly, pulling on the drawstring. "The
greatest invention since the wheel!"

Well, to tell you the truth, son, I was kinda disappointed. I had
expected something big and shiny but what there was looked a little
like a cross between a phone booth and one of those things in train
stations where you take your own photograph. I looked inside and all I
could see was a big screen in front, like on a television set, a coin
slot, and a funny looking hat with a cable leading out of it.

"It's real nice," I says, not actually knowing whether it was or not.
"What is it?"

"I call it a _Paradise_ booth," Joe says.

I took another look at the machine, and then looked at Joe. It occurs
to me that maybe he's been working too hard or that arguments with
Marge have sorta unsettled him.

"Look, Harry," Joe says, "remember when we were talking about all the
people who didn't fit in this world?"

"Sure I remember," I says. "What's this got to do with it?"

"What if people could choose the type of world they wanted to live
in?"

I looks at him blankly. "I don't get it."

He fishes around for his pipe and lights up. "How big's the universe,
Harry?"

"Now son, I got no idea how big the universe is and I says so. All I
know is that it's _big_."

"Most scientists say the universe is infinite," Joe explains. "And if
it's infinite, then it must have an infinite number of worlds in it.
An actual world to match whatever kind of world you can dream up,
let's say. All you have to do is step into the _Paradise_ booth, put
on the cap, visualize the kind of world you want to live in so it
shows on the screen, and off you go!"

"You're kidding," I says feebly. "You don't really mean it."

He taps me on the chest with his finger and says: "Yes, I do really
mean it, Harry. I've tried it and it works!"

And there I thought I had him. "If you went off to another world," I
says slyly, "just how did you get back?"

"Built myself another machine," he says promptly.

I snapped the trap shut. "Just picked this world out of all the
millions there are? Just like that."

Joe grinned. "I just thought of the damnedest w