Today was her appointment day, and the new one would be there, blond and young and smiling at her with the innocent face. There was something wrong with the new one; she could see that. In the old country there were stories-- _Are you, Marie Wladek, afraid of a young woman? Does your age count for nothing? Does your experience and knowledge count for nothing?_ And yet, she had to admit to herself that she was afraid, and that she was afraid of giving a name to her fear. Only a fool could mock at the stories told in the old country, and Mrs. Wladek knew of such a fool; he had died with mockery on his lips, but all had known what had killed him. _Can you not battle a young woman, and win, Marie Wladek?_ And yet the young woman had something strange about her, and Mrs. Wladek remembered the old stories, and thought of witchcraft. Who could fight witchcraft? Even when the witch was a young girl without experience, and with an innocent face and blond hair-- Mrs. Wladek looked at the mantel clock she had brought with her across the ocean. It told perfect time; it was as good as everything from the old country. Here in America they had no such clocks. Here everything ran by electricity, and when you touched it there was a shock, which was unnatural. The old clock told the time: nine-thirty. Appointment hour was approaching. Mrs. Wladek did not want to leave the house. She did not want to face this new case worker. But, all the same, one had to have money to live. That they should force an old woman to travel across the city and to speak with a girl, by appointment, solely in order to get the money which should have been hers by right! Cossacks! Monsters! _Name:_ GIRONDE, JOSE R. _Address:_ 1440 Hamilton Street _Borough:_ New York _Phone:_ None _Complaint:_ Client is over fifty, without work for eight months--last worked in October--due to recurrent difficulty regarding back. Sole support wife and wife's sister. One child (Ramon, 27), living on West Coast. Preliminary inquiries fail to locate child. _Remarks:_ NPH. Examination needed. Is back injury chronic? There was a great deal of paper work needed, Gloria realized. At first she hadn't liked the paper work at all, but she could see now how necessary it was. After all, everybody wasn't like her; the other workers, she knew, didn't have her particular talent, and they had to write things down for fear they'd forget. Sometimes Gloria felt very sorry for the other case workers. But she knew they were doing their very best, and they were, after all, helping people. That was the only important thing: to help people, to make them better members of society. Now, Jose Gironde's back injury was certainly chronic. Gloria tried to remember the medical term for it: it was something to do with a lordosis. She'd paid no attention to that, since she had been trying to fix up the back instead.