Norvell expanded. “Sure. I’ve got some pretty spectacular things lined up for it, too,” he said modestly. “Of course, Candella hasn’t given me the final go-ahead”—he frowned at • submerged memory—”but it’s going to be quite a program. One gets a big charge out of doing one’s best on a big job, Arnie. I guess you know that. I remember a couple of years
Dworcas interrupted. “More beer?” He dialed refills. “Your place has quite a good reputation,” he said with sober approval. “This afternoon, in the shop, We Engineers were talk-fag about the technical factors involved.”
“You were?” Norvell was pleased. “That’s interesting, Arnie. This time I was talking about——”
“Especially the big shows,” Dworcas went on. “The Field Days. Say, you know what would be interesting, Norvell? Getting a couple of the fellows to go to one, to see just how Ibe thing looked from the engineering viewpoint. I’d like to go nyself—if I could get away, of course; we’re pretty busy these days. Might invite a few of the others to come along.”
“You would?” Norvell cried. “Say, that would be fine. There’s a lot of engineering connected with a Field Day. Like this tune a couple of years——”
“Excuse me,” Arnie interrupted. “Beer. Be right back.”
While Dworcas was gone, Norvell felt actually cheerful. Arnie was so concerned with his work; you didn’t find many
friends like Arnie. Warmed by the beer, Norvell re-examined his recent blinding depression. Hell, things weren’t too bad. Ginny was a bitch, he told himself. All right, so she’s a bitch. Lots of men live with bitches and make out all right. Besides, if a woman’s a bitch doesn’t it say something about the man she’s married to? And the kid, of course. Kids reflect what’s around them. And as for Candella— he thought briefly about Candella, and retreated tc the safer ground. Virginia. Suppose he went back home tonight, not saying a word of anger or reproach—— No, it was better to have things out. Well, suppose he went right up—she’d be asleep—well, went right up and woke her up. “Ginny,” he could say, “we’ve made a lot of mistakes.” Cancel that. “Ginny, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I love you. I want to live happily with you.” He thought for a second, then amended it: “With you and Alexandra.” Maybe he should wake up Alexandra too.
He had almost decided to have a swift cup of black coffee and go home when Arnie came back. Dworcas entered, beaming.
“Well, what say, Emotional Engineer? Want a couple of real live slide-rulers to look over your show?”
“What? Oh, sure, Amie. Just let me get this Field Day out of the way. We’ll throw a real party—one of the Friday-night shows. There’s a lot of complicated stuff under the stadium; you’d be interested——”
Dworcas was pursing his lips. “I don’t know,” he said thoughtfully, “if the fellows would be interested in one of the second-rate shows. Maybe we ought to skip it.”
“No, no,” Norvell said earnestly. “The regular shows are just as interesting technically. Why, just last week something came up. You’ll be interested in this, Arnie. We had a broken-field run—barbed wire and castrator mines—and, half an hour before the show started, the director came around crying that he didn’t have enough men for the spectacle. Well, Candella—that is, we—put in a quick call to the cops and they sent a squad down to Belly Rave. Got twenty-five volunteers in fifteen minutes. The orderlies lined ’em up and gave them million-unit injections of Bi.” He chuckled. “Arnie, you should have seen some of those guys when they sobered up. We——” Arnie was shaking his head. “I don’t think you understand,” he said seriously. “That sort of thing isn’t what We Engineers
are interested in. It’s the big effects.”
“Oh. You mean like in the Field Day next week.” Norvell thought vaguely about the Field Day. “Yeah,” he said uncertainly, “There certainly are plenty of headaches when you run a Field Day. Can I have another beer, please?”
As he dialed another glass, Dworcas said sunnily, “Suppose you can fit us in, then? After all, you’ve got eighty thousand seats. There ought to be five somewhere that the man who runs the whole damn thing can give to a friend.”