“Howdy, Judge.”
“Oh. Hello, Betty.” The judge looked at her as if trying to decide why she was present, then turned to John Thomas. ‘You must be the Stuart boy. I’m Judge O’Farrell.”
“Oh. Excuse me, Judge,” John Thomas answered, his ears turning pink. “I thought you were a sightseer.”
“A natural error. Mr. Greenberg, this is the Stuart boy. . . John Thomas Stuart. Young man, this is the Honorable Sergei Greenberg, Special Commissioner for the Department of Spatial Affairs.” He looked around. “Oh yes. . . this is Miss Betty Sorenson, Mr. Commissioner. Betty, why have you done those silly things to your face?”
She ignored him with dignity. “Honored to meet you, Mr. Commissioner.”
“Just ‘Mr. Greenberg,’ please, Miss Sorenson.” Greenberg turned to Johnnie. “Any relation to the John Thomas Stuart?”
“I’m John Thomas Stuart the Eleventh,” Johnnie answered simply. “I suppose you mean my great-great-great grandfather.”
“I guess that would be it. I was born on Mars, almost within sight of his statue. I had no idea your family was mixed up in this. Perhaps we can have a gab about Martian history later.”
“I’ve never been to Mars,” Johnnie admitted.
“No? That’s surprising. But you’re young yet.”
Betty listened, ears almost twitching, and decided that this judge, if that was what he was, would be an even softer mark than Judge O’Farrell. It was hard to remember that Johnnie’s name meant anything special. . . especially since it didn’t. Not around Westville.
Greenberg went on, “You’ve made me lose two bets, Mr. Stuart.”
“Sir?”
“I thought this creature would prove not to be from ‘Out There.’ I was wrong; that big fellow is certainly not native to Earth. But I was equally sure that, if he was e.-t., I could attribute him, I’m not an exotic zoologist, but in my business one has to keep skimming such things. . . look at the pictures at least. But I’m stumped. What is be and where did he come from?”
“Uh, why, he’s just Lummox. That’s what we call him. My great grandfather brought him back in the Trail Blazer. . . her second trip.”
“That, long ago, eh? Well, that clears up some of the mystery; that was before DepSpace kept records. . . in fact before there was such a department. But I still don’t see how this fellow could have missed making a splash in the history books. I’ve read about the Trail Blazer and I remember she brought back many exotica. But I don’t remember this fellow. . . and, after all, extra-terrestrials were news in those days.”
“Oh, that. . . Well, sir, the captain didn’t know Lummox was aboard. Great-granddad brought him aboard in his jump bag and sneaked him off the ship the same way.”
“In his lump bag?” Greenberg stared at Lummox’s out-sized figure.
“Yes, sir. Of course Lummie was smaller then.”
“So I am forced to believe.”
“I’ve got pictures of him. He was about the size of a collie pup. More legs of course.”
“Mmmm, yes. More legs. And he puts me, more in mind of a triceratops than a collie. Isn’t he expensive to feed?”
“Oh, no, Lummie eats anything. Well, almost anything,” John Thomas amended hastily, glancing self-consciously at the steel bars. “Or he can go without eating for a long time. Can’t you, Lummie?”
Lummox had been lying with his legs retracted, exhibiting the timeless patience which he could muster when necessary. He was listening to his chum and Mr. Greenberg while keeping an eye on Betty and the judge. He now opened his enormous mouth. “Yes, but I don’t like it.”
Mr. Greenberg raised his eyebrows and said, “I hadn’t realized that he was a speech-center type.”
“A what? Oh, sure. Lummie’s been talking since my father was a boy; he just sort of picked it up. I meant to introduce you. Here, Lummie. . .I want you to meet Mr. Commissioner Greenberg.”
Lummox looked at Greenberg without interest and said, “How do you do, Mr. Commissioner Greenberg,” saying the formula phrase clearly but not doing so well on the name and title.
“Uh, how do you do, Lummox.” He was staring at Lummox when the courthouse clock sounded the hour. Judge O’Farrell turned and spoke to him.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102