“Joanie, my not-so-bright old friend,” she had been thinking, “you’ve simply got to cut out this silly damn foolishness and act your age. You _must not_ fall in love with him; there’d be nothing in it for either of you. You are thirty-four years old and he has had his Jo.” “Storm!” she snapped. “Answer me! Or did. . . .” Her tone changed remarkably: “. . . did something . . . happen to you?” “No, Joanie.” He shook his head and wrenched his attention back to reality. “But first, is whatever I’m doing really a mind-block, and is it really holding?” “Yes—to both—curse it! And ‘Joanie’, eh? You _did_ get in. How did it go?” “Not so good. Barely a touch. It didn’t spread after we got it started. Just one flash and it went out.” “Hm . . . m . . . m. That’s funny. . . . Not the way it worked with me at all. However, I don’t see that it makes any difference whether you get it by drips and driblets or all at once, just so you get the full ability eventually. What was it you picked up the first time, Storm?” “That’s one thing you’ll never know, if I have to hold this block forever.” “Oh.” Joan blushed, vividly. “I know what it was, then, I think. But don’t you see. . . ?” “No, I don’t see,” Cloud interrupted. “All I see is that it’s worse than being a Peeping Tom in a girls’ dormitory. I don’t like it. I don’t like any part of it.” “You wouldn’t, of course—at first. Nevertheless, Storm, you and I have _got_ to work together, whether either of us likes what happens or not. So let’s get at it. Bring it out and look at it—let’s see if it’s so bad, really. It was just that I was afraid maybe I was going to fall in love with you and get burned to a crisp around the edges, wasn’t it?” “That was part of it. You were wrong in two things, though. No matter how much I loved Jo—and I really did love her, you know. . . .” “I know, Storm.” Her voice was very gentle. “Everybody knows you did. Not only did—you still do.” “Yes. So much so that I thought I’d never be able to talk about her without going off the deep end. But I can, now. I’m beginning to think that perhaps Phil Strong was right. Perhaps a man can love twice in his life, in exactly the same way.” The woman caught her breath and started to say something, then changed her mind. The man went on: “The second point in error is that a woman at age thirty-four is not necessarily a doddering wreck with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.” “Oh . . . I’m _so_ glad, Storm!” she breathed; then changed mood with an almost audible snap. “There! It’s done and your guard is down. It wasn’t too bad, was it?” “Not a bit.” Cloud was surprised at how easily the thing had been ironed out. “You’re a prime number, Joanie—a slick, smooth operator. As smooth as five feet and two inches of tan velvet.” “Uh-uh. Not me, so much; it’s just that we’re a very nicely-matched pair. But I think we’d better lay off a while before trying it again, don’t you?”