‘Anybody can,’ Grandmother Hazel commented. ‘The Hawk class is a purely commercial type while the Hanshaw runabout is a sport job. Come to think about it, boys, a Hanshaw might be better than a Douglas. I like its fractional controls and —’
‘Hazel!’ snapped her son. ‘Quit encouraging the boys. And quit showing off. You’re not the only engineer in the family.’
‘I’m the only good one,’ she answered smugly.
‘Oh, yes? Nobody ever complained about my work.’
‘Then why did you quit?’
‘You know why. Fiddle with finicky figures for months on end — and what have you got? A repair dock. Or a stamping mill. And who cares?’
‘So you aren’t an engineer. You’re merely a man who knows engineering.’
‘What about yourself? You didn’t stick with it.’
‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but my reasons were different. I saw three big, hairy, male men promoted over my head and not one of them could do a partial integration without a pencil. Presently I figured out that the Atomic Energy Commission had a bias on the subject of women no matter what the civil service rules said. So I took a job dealing blackjack. Luna City didn’t offer much choice in those days — and I had you to support.’
The argument seemed about to die out; Castor judged it was time to mix it up again. ‘Hazel, do you really think we should get a Hanshaw? I’m not sure we can afford it.’
‘Well, now, you really need a third crewman for a —’
‘Do you want to buy in?’
Mr Stone interrupted. ‘Hazel, I will not stand by and let you encourage this. I’m putting my foot down.’
‘You look silly standing there on one foot. Don’t try to bring me up, Roger. At ninety-five my habits are fairly well set.’
‘Ninety-five indeed! Last week you were eighty-five.’
‘It’s been a hard week. Back to our muttons — why don’t you buy in with them? You could go along and keep them out of trouble.’
‘What? Me?’ Mr Stone took a deep breath. ‘(A) a marine guard couldn’t keep these two junior-model Napoleons out of trouble. I know; I’ve tried. (B) I do not like a Hanshaw; they are fuel hogs. (C) l have to turn out three episodes a week of The Scourge of the Spaceways — including one which must be taped tonight, if this family will ever quiet down!’
‘Roger,’ his mother answered, ‘trouble in this family is like water for fish. And nobody asked you to buy a Hanshaw, As to your third point, give me a blank spool and I’ll dictate the next three episodes tonight while I’m brushing my hair.’ Hazel’s hair was still thick and quite red. So far, no one had caught her dyeing it. ‘It’s about time you broke that contract anyway; you’ve won your bet.’
Her son winced. Two years before be had let himself be trapped into a bet that he could write better stuff than was being channeled up from Earth — and had gotten himself caught in a quicksand of fat checks and options. ‘I can’t afford to quit’ he said feebly.
‘What good is money if you don’t have time to spend it? Give me that spool and the box’
‘You can’t write it.’
‘Want to bet?’
Her son backed down; no one yet had won a bet with Hazel.
‘That’s beside the point. I’m a family man; I’ve got Edith and Buster and Meade to think about, too.’
Meade turned her head again. ‘If you’re thinking about me, Daddy, I’d like to go. Why, I’ve never been any place — except that one trip to Venus and twice to New York.’
‘Hold still. Meade,’ Dr Stone said quietly. She went on to her husband, ‘You know, Roger, I was thinking just the other day how cramped this apartment is. And we haven’t been any place, as Meade says, since we got back from Venus.’
Mr Stone stared. ‘You too? Edith, this apartment is bigger than any ship compartment; you know that.’
‘Yes, but a ship seems bigger. In free fall one gets so much more use out of the room.’
‘My dear, do I understand that you are supporting this junket?’