before it got any
further. Enough, he told himself firmly, was enough.

"It's been a nice trip," Lou said. She, too, sounded subdued, as if
she were thinking about something terribly serious.

"Great," Malone said happily. "A wonderful trip."

"I enjoyed being with you," Lou said.

"Me, too," Malone said. He paid off the taxi-driver and they got out
at the corner. Malone went to the newsstand there and picked up a copy
of the _Post_.

"That," Lou said over his shoulder, "is one whole hell of a headline."

It filled the entire page, four lines of thick black capitals:

JUDGE
DROPS
UNION
SUIT!

"Well, well," Malone said. "Let's see what this is all about." He
flipped to page three. Lou craned her neck over his shoulder and they
read the start of the story together.

DISTRICT COURT RULES UNION HAS NO CASE

New York [AP], August 23. Judge James Lefkowitz
of the New York Supreme Court ruled today that
the International Truckers' Brotherhood had no
grounds for their suit against the United Transport
Corp. and its officers. The action, a bitterly
fought contest, involved a complaint by the
Brotherhood that UTC had violated their contract
with the Brotherhood by hiring "unqualified drivers"
to work for the corporation.

In a statement made immediately after the ruling,
Judge Lefkowitz said: "It is obvious that a man with
a state-certified chauffeur's license is not an
'unqualified driver.'"

Effects of this ruling are thought to be
far-reaching. Comment from the international
Truckers' Brotherhood...

There was more to it, a lot more, but Malone didn't feel like reading
it. It sounded just as confused as he expected news to sound these
days, but it also sounded a little dull. He could feel Lou's breathing
against his ear as he read, and he lost interest in the paper almost
at once.

"My, my," she said. "And I expected a real expose of a story, after
that headline."

"This is an expose," Malone said. "But I'm not sure what of."

"It sounds pretty confused," Lou said.

"Everything seems to, these days," Malone said. "Including any story
of what's been happening during the last little while."

"Agreed," Lou said. "Without argument."

"Listen," Malone said suddenly. "Would it help if I went up and told
Sir Lewis that there's no mark against your record?"

"Mark?" Lou said. "Against my record?"