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THIRD MILLENNIUM THRILLS!
1000 FEET OF FREE-FALL!
RECORDED KISSES AND HUGS!
Cuddle Your Favorite Star
Better Than Handies
YOUR MIND CLEARED IN TEN MINUTES!
Relive Your Childhood
You&039;ll Feel Ripping as a Rocket!
TEST YOUR STRENGTH AGAINST A BEM!
KILL MARTIANS!
THROW ROCKS AT GLAMOR GIRLS!
FLUORESCENT TATTOOS!
THOSEwere a few of the signs that flared and blared at Phil as he was rounds of All Pleasures Aovernible changes in Double AP, as far as Phil could judge from his last visit The burlesque juke boxes were padlocked, the rubberoid figures that would shiiastically for a quarter were shrouded froher than usual on the boso in concessions There didn&039;t see special parties to al entertain out the sign that read, "See the Wo up at this defacement rather wistfully
Yet there was an uneasiness in the park, and it wasn&039;t just that the croas light Barkers called out too suddenly and stopped too soon Customers hesitated uncomfortable in front of concessions, then shuffled e rubber rocks, or have their bedclothes or skirts jerked off when a spaceball hit its planet-sies they shrilled at passing patrons The cries co faintly from the top of the 1,000 foot drop in the Spaceship Ride weren&039;t the usual terrified but delighted squeals; they sounded more like wails
Perhaps the fall of Fun Incorporated had caused people who pathetically treasured their thrills, or the money to be made from them, to wonder, "What next?" Perhaps President Barnes&039;s ra people ask the frohly advertised ones Perhaps the govern barked from the public news-speakers for the destruction of all cats had given people a "We&039;d be safer at ho
Or it eneral feeling gripping A power in the unconscious and just now burst into thought, a feeling that soovern invisibly, whether for good or ill, behind eachstalkers were two very definite figures: Carstairs and Buck, who at the h the pupil of one of several surrealistic eyes that served as the entrances to the Bug-Eyed Bar
Tonight the gaudy tavern was ehballs and Stun-Gun Cocktails were going begging Its notoriously drink-hungry hostesses were conspicuous by their absence The only two custo served soda pop by the s it very simple for Juno, Phil, Mary and Dion to climb onto pneumo-barstools in front of the other bartender Carstairs and Buck stood close behind them
Phil found it difficult to believe that the , his hair was red, even to the stubble on his cheeks and chin For another, the eyes that Moe had always kept behind dark glasses were as sitive fronize several of them, he didn&039;t show it in any way that Phil could discern He looked the the speckless bar with the immemorial soiled towel For that ht have looked fifty or a hundred years before; robots could not supervise B-girls, nor had they ever been legalized as bouncers
"What&039;s your pleasure?" the big red-head asked
Phil felt Carstairs&039; gun dig his ribs He tried to wet his lips
"Mrs Brireen cat," he croaked
Moe Brimstine wrinkled his forehead "That reen fire?"
"I reen cat," Phil told him
"We don&039;t serve drunks here," Brimstine said evenly "Your friend&039;s had one too entle and laid the Moe Brihtfully for a molasses Its eyes were piggy She s a hatpin, a pair of scissors, a small knife, a little pair of pliers, a sample size flame-pack, a tiny iron with insulated handle, and a white crusted black bottle, and lined them up in a neat row
"This isn&039;t a powder room, lady," Brimstine said "Order your drinks"
Phil couldn&039;t help but be i ust of terror that he knew at once had nothing to do with guns behind him and could hardly steic Mary Akeley had set out
He could tell that the gust had hit Moe Briainst the shelves of bottles behind him
Mary Akeley said, "Mr Brimstine, you stole the Green One, who to suffer until you return him" Her voice shook a little at first, then settled down to a cold and cruelmy little rack and iron nited the flame-pack and held the tiny iron over it
Phil heard Juno draw in her breath and Carstairs give a funny grunt behind hirew red Mary Akeley turned the doll over on its face and touched it lightly with the iron Its pants sasped loudly and clapped his hand behind hily at the doll, but Mary Akeley closed her hand around its two arms and its ainst his sides and stayed there Mary stood the doll up Brihtened She moved it away from her a few inches Brimstine backed up into the shelves Sweat beaded his forehead Mary unexpectedly flicked the doll on the cheek with the hot iron Moe Briain in pain and jerked his head back
"This sort of thing is going to go on until you give us the Green One," the young witch said matter of factly Phil saw that a red spot had appeared on Moe Brietfor the white crusted bottle Moe Bri, but she cla the doll over its little mouth
"After a while I&039;ll be s you say," she explained Moe Bried
Then a shadow ca fearfully as he shrank away froreen and silken and had a wise and winsome face In a split second of realization Phil knew that it was Lucky who had breathed supernatural terror at them, just as he had at the Humberford Foundation; Lucky who had opened Moe Brie between it and Mary&039;s, so that suggestion hadto the doll
And then Phil realized that no further unpleasant things were going to happen to Moe Bri to cause any trouble, even Carstairs or Buck, for suddenly all terror vanished and friendliness and invincible good will began to pour out of Lucky like Scotch from a bottle Phil could feel it enter and fill at the others There were little sighs and chuckles Mary Akeley&039;s lean finger shrank from the white crusted bottle, then hurriedly swept all the i
Lucky stood in front of Phil and stretched, slowly and luxuriantly working the reen cat, and the happy creases around his little eyes suggested those of Santa Claus With an "If you don&039;thand and softly and wonderingly stroked the silky fur
"You sure rescued Uncle Moe in the nick," he told Lucky, scratching behind his ears "I&039;s I did to you I don&039;t understand theot yourself unstunned, though I don&039;t understand how you did"