She smiled. “So? Well, note it down that Miss Barkis is not willing, at least not this evening.” She put down her glass. “Drink up and let’s reorder.”
We did so and continued to sit there, feeling warm and good, and, for the moment, not worried. There aren’t many hours like that, especially in our profession; it makes one savor them.
One of the nicest things about Mary was that she did not turn on the sex, except for professional purposes. I think she knew—I’m sure she knew—what a load of it she possessed. But she was too much of a gentleman to use it socially. She kept it turned down low, just enough to keep us both warm and comfortable.
While we sat there, not saying much, I got to thinking how well she would look on the other side of a fireplace. My job being what it was, I had never thought seriously about getting married—and after all, a babe is just a babe; why get excited? But Mary was an agent herself; talking to her would not be like shouting off Echo Mountain. I realized that I had been lonely for one hell of a long time.
“Mary—”
“Yes?”
“Are you married?”
“Eh? Why do you ask? As a matter of fact I’m not—now. But what business—I mean, why does it matter?”
“Well, it might,” I persisted.
She shook her head.
“I’m serious,” I went on. “Look me over. I’ve got both hands and both feet. I’m fairly young, and I don’t track mud in the house. You could do worse.”
She laughed, but her laugh was kindly. “And you could work up better lines than that. I am sure they must have been extemporaneous.”
“They were.”
“And I won’t hold them against you. In fact, I’ll forget them. Listen, wolf, your technique is down; just because a woman tells you that she is not going to sleep with you tonight is no reason to lose your head and offer her a contract. Some women would be just mean enough to hold you to it.”
“I meant it,” I said peevishly.
“So? What salary do you offer?”
“Damn your pretty eyes. If you want that type of contract, I’ll go along; you can keep your pay and I’ll allot half of mine to you . . . unless you want to retire.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t mean it; I’d never insist on a settlement contract, not with a man I was willing to marry in the first place—”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“I was just trying to make you see that you yourself were not serious.” She looked me over soberly. “But perhaps you are,” she added in a warm, soft voice.
“I am.”
She shook her head again. “Agents should not marry. You know that.”
“Agents shouldn’t marry anyone but agents.”
She started to answer, but stopped suddenly. My own phone was talking in my ear, the Old Man’s voice, and I knew she was hearing the same thing. “Come into my office,” he said.
We both got up without saying anything. Mary stopped me at the door, put a hand on my arm, and looked up into my eyes. “That is why it is silly to talk about marriage. We’ve got this job to finish. All the time we’ve been talking, you’ve been thinking about the job and so have I.”
“I have not.”
“Don’t play with me! Consider this, Sam—suppose you were married and you woke up to find one of those things on your wife’s shoulders, possessing her.” There was horror in her eyes as she went on, “Suppose I woke up and found one of them on your shoulders.”
“I’ll chance it. And I won’t let one get to you.”
She touched my cheek. “I don’t believe you would.”
We went on into the Old Man’s office.
He looked up just long enough to say, “Come along. We’re leaving.”
“Where to?” I answered. “Or shouldn’t I ask?”
“White House. See the President. Shut up.”
I shut.
III
At the beginning of a forest fire or an epidemic there is a short time when a minimum of correct action will contain and destroy. The B. W. boys express it in exponential equations, but you don’t need math to understand it; it depends on early diagnosis and prompt action before the thing gets out of hand. What the President needed to do the Old Man had already figured out—declare a national emergency, fence off the Des Moines area, and shoot anybody who tried to slip out, be it a cocker spaniel or grandma with her cookie jar. Then let them out one at a time, stripping them and searching them for parasites. Meantime, use the radar screen, the rocket boys, and the space stations to spot and smash any new landings.