I led off, “Hello, Pinocchio. Do you look smooth! Who takes the dents out of your fenders these days?” I was surprised to notice Gwen sit back in her chair, interested but not so fearful looking any more. Tommy glared for a second, then he said, “You!” “Right,” I admitted. “I see your headlights are adjusted, too. Well, if you people are going out for the evening, I guess I’ll go home and rest up. See you tomorrow, Gwen.” Science is wonderful. They’ve even improved on a man’s sneer. Tommy’s lips twisted into something like what a pretzel-maker would dream about. Deep down in his rubber throat he said, “This is what you asked for.” I dived over the sofa and yelled, “Take it easy, you lug. What are you going to do?” * * * * * I let him catch me the third time around the sofa. He knocked down the few feeble cracks I took at him, then he got ahold of my throat. I wilted and waited. Here was the answer. [Illustration] A proxy breathes, but only for the purpose of talking. All the vital arteries and nerve threads being buried good and deep, it was easy to let his fingers gouge in. All I felt was the surface pain which there was plenty of. Just when my eyes were supposed to come popping out of my head I quit play-acting. I reached up and scrubbed my red star clean for Tommy to look at. “Leggo my tie,” I commanded, and he did. “That’s--illegal!” he gagged. It was surprising how fast he cooled off. Of course he’d been meaning to break a rule or two himself, and it was only my Trojan Horse in reverse that had stopped him. He turned on Gwen and shouted, “That’s a fine sweetheart you are! Why didn’t you warn me?” “Why Tommy, against what?” she asked innocently. “Besides, I didn’t know for sure. I only guessed.” “I don’t know what you can see in a Venusian mud mucker, but if you want him take him.” “Thank you,” Gwen said. “Maybe it’s his ethics I like. Don’t bother dropping in at the wedding.” For a second I thought Tommy was going to throw his proxy into battle, but I guess he reconsidered the fact that with my proxy I had gotten back my old muscle ratio in proportion to his somewhat puny one. Knowing how hard he was going to take this jilt, I wouldn’t even have kicked him in the pants if he hadn’t used a dirty word on the way out. Gwen shut the door after him and said, “He meant to kill you.” I asked her, “Were you serious about that wedding?” “You just ruined the self-respect of my only other prospect. Do I have to get down on my hands and knees?” “I guess that does leave me a clear field, doesn’t it?” She looked at me half smiling and half not smiling. “Well, Bill, what have I done to deserve all that enthusiasm? Come to think of it, this was my idea, wasn’t it?” Right here I was supposed to say something and put it all right, but the something wouldn’t come. Gwen came over and turned up her face. If those had been her real eyes they’d have had tears in them.