pened as he removed the
apparatus and folded back the clamps.

"Feel all right, miss?" he inquired with a solicitous smile.

She nodded, but her eyes still held echoes of alarm.

"Better come down to the clinic," he said gently, assisting her from the
couch.

She said nothing but allowed him to lead her along. They stepped into a
float shaft and drifted gently down past other floors of the theater
occupied by the myriad rows of feelie couches. When they reached what
was obviously an office level, the usher grasped a tug bar which pulled
them into a corridor opening. He brought her to the clinic and left her
with the doctor after explaining what had happened.

* * * * *

The doctor seated her alongside his desk. "How do you feel now?"

She smiled weakly. "All right Ah guess," she said with a soft drawl.

"Let's see," he said looking at her feelie permit, "you are Miss, ah,
Loretta Meenan, and, well, you are from Hammond, Louisiana." He looked
up at her and smiled. "May I ask how old you are Miss Meenan?"

"Sixteen."

"A very charming sixteen, I must say. Are you here with your family?"

"Yes. Ma an' pa are at the convention. They let us come to the feelies."

"Us?"

"Mah older brother, Jason."

"Oh? How old is he?"

"Eighteen. But he's big, real man-lookin' an' folks who don't know
mistake him for past twenty."

"What couch did he have?"

"Next to mine on the left."

The doctor consulted his notepad. "Ah, that would make it number, ah,
six thousand forty-two. We'll have one of the ushers bring him down."

"Please don't," she said hastily. "Not 'till the feelie's over anyhow.
He'll have the furies with me if he misses the endin' on mah account."

"All right," the doctor agreed amiably. "How are you enjoying your visit
to New York?"

"Ah'm havin' a dazzlin' time."

"Good. Do you go to the feelies at home?" The doctor saw her tense
forward from the curve of the chair.

"Yes."

"Enjoy them?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever been badly upset by horror feelies before?"

"No, sir."

The doctor was aware of the apprehension behind her guardedness. "Do you
have any idea why this one should have upset you so?"

"No, sir, except maybe the excitement. Ah ain't never been much away
from home before but once to New Orleans."

The doctor looked at her permit card again. "This isn't a very good
likeness of you."

"It does reflect me poorly," she murmured.

The doctor's sm