"This phase of the hysteria takes an entirely different turn. It seems now that these otherwise entirely reliable citizens are seeing other citizens explode and vanish into thin air. The police and the newspapers have been deluged with frantic telephone calls. In the public interest, we have several persons here in the studio who claim to have seen this phenomena. Your commentator will now interview them over the air. You--you, sir--what is your name?" "Sam--Sam Glutz." "Thank you, Mr. Glutz. And will you tell the radio audience what you saw?" "It wasn't nothing--nothing at all. That is--this guy was running down the street like maybe the cops was after him--I don't know. Then--there wasn't nothing." "You mean the man disappeared?" "He went pop, kind of--like a firecracker only not so loud--and then pieces of him flew all over and they disappeared and there wasn't nothing--nothing at all." "Thank you, Mr. Glutz. And now this lady--" "Turn it off," Joy snapped. "The blonde's pulling up." * * * * * This was evident to all three of us. "And by a cop yet," Bag Ears marveled. "Looks like they're going to give theirselves up." It was Uncle Peter who got out of the car and approached the traffic officer standing at the intersection. "What'll we do?" Joy asked. "Do you want to try and keep the old goat out of jail or shall we let him go to the chair as he deserves?" The possibility stunned me to a point where it was hard to think clearly. "Good Lord, Joy! Think of the scandal! I don't care about myself, but Aunt Gretchen would never live it down! She'd be black-balled at all her clubs and--" "Then," Joy replied sweetly, "I'd suggest you get out and slug that cop quick and grab Uncle Peter before he makes a confession." I had come to the cross-roads, so to speak. The necessity of a weighty decision lay upon my shoulders. Was blood thicker than water? Was I justified in breaking the law--assaulting an officer in order to keep my uncle from becoming a blot on the family name? I decided, grimly, that one owed all to one's relatives and I was halfway out of the car. Then I paused. Uncle Peter did not seem to be making a confession at all. He chatted easily with the officer and indicated my Cadillac with a movement of his thumb. Something passed from his hand to the hand of the policeman and the latter looked toward us and scowled. "Uncle Peter is pulling a fast one," Joy said. "The cop's coming after _us_!" I was uncertain as how to proceed now. I watched the scowling policeman approach our car while Uncle Peter got back in with the blonde Cora and drove away. "Are you going to hang one on him, sweetheart?" Joy asked. "What--what do you recommend?" "I've got a hunch that if you don't, we go to the pokey and Uncle Peter will be left free to blow up everybody in town." I don't believe the officer meant to arrest us but at the moment my mind wasn't too clear and I accepted Joy's point of view.