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Jeff nodded. He felt extremely foolish.
"Oh!" Darlene said. "I see you've discovered Alice's Tennyson."
Jeff felt himself reddening at this prying interest. "I'm afraid I just picked it up."
"Yes, of course. It was a gift to you, wasn't it, Alice? From Mr. McKissic? You must be very close."
Jeff decided as he listened to Alice's choked "Yes" that he didn't in the least like Miss Wilson. He put the
book aside and tried to think some charitable thought.
"And now youboth must come to my party," Darlene said. "There are guests here that have never seen a
pair of ringers. Really, everyone will want to look at you. Now I simplywon't take no for an answer. You
must come."
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Alice looked at him helplessly. The Wilson woman was taking calculated advantage of them, making it
impossible to refuse without being discourteous. Such tactics might be the height of rudeness, but Ultra
Conscience did not concede any justification for return rudeness.
"Right away; don't bother to change," Darlene persisted. "Things are just beginning to swing."
"You're a persistent woman, Darlene," Alice said with resignation. "All right, since it means so much to
you. But only for a few minutes."
"Now don't you be toosure of that, Alice." Smiling a smile that had more than a hint of taunt about it, she
faded from the screen.
"Well, Jeff," Alice said, turning to him in pretty frustration, "we're going to a party. Unless there's
something else you have to do...?"
Jeff thought of inventing something and decided against it. "No valid excuse," he confessed.
"I was afraid of that. I so wanted to avoid that woman this time, but I knew when I heard the phone..."
They left the apartment, crossed a rainbow bridge over the corridor while cars hummed below, and
were at Darlene's residence. There was a bewildering number of people present and more furniture, but
otherwise the two apartments were very similar. Darlene took them in hand before they had quite
reached the door and ushered them inside and among the guests, making unnecessarily elaborate
introductions.
Attending were a 3V engineer, a script writer, some nondescript neighbors and several
presently-unattached females with gaudily colored hair; Darlene carefully explained they were in the
process of obtaining divorces. Jeff marveled that these were normal middle class people of this age:
obviously with the short working hours most of them enjoyed, the idea was to emulate the standards of
the idle rich. High wages helped, undoubtedly, and the high fees of the professional men.
The last they met was a heavily tanned space captain. Jeff was appalled to recognize him as one of the
members of the jury that had convicted him, but the man didn't seem to know him. Of all the
embarrassing coincidences...!
"And now," Darlene said expansively, "both of you ringers will want cocktails."
Jeff shook his head, glad for the moment to get away from the captain. "I don't think my ring would
approve."
"Dear boy! You certainly showed more imagination than that under truthall "
Alice said: "Darlene, you know drinking is not permitted for us. It interferes with the "
Darlene's reddish eyebrows lifted and her blue lips quirked. "Now don't tell me tonight won't even be an
exception! Two ringers don't match up every day, on or off the job."
"Darlene," Alice said with more than a hint of exasperation, "Mr. Font and I aren't I was only showing
him "
"Your apartment. Yes, dear, I grasped as much." Turning a back whose covering plunged to the
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buttocks, with shoulderblades creamed to a disconcerting yellow, she wriggled like a Vicinc vamp across
the room. She raised her hands and clapped them loudly for attention. The room quieted: some
expressions were more annoyed than interested.
"Beloved Guests," Darlene said. "We are fortunate to have two ringers in our presence. Now you have
all met Alice and Jeff and you know what charming people they are would be, even without their
jewelry. They can only stay a short while a loving matter, I'm sure," she simpered, making the
implication dirty. "And for that reason I think we should proceed immediately to the entertainment. I was
saving this for a surprise later in the evening, but Margo, please bring the can."
Margo, a svelte young woman with lemon colored hair decorated with bright green splashes, rose from
her chair and brought over a distinctively shaped spraycan.
"Jeff, I don't like this," Alice whispered. "She's planning to "
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