"Isn't that just like a man?" she scoffed. "You know very well _I've_ got _seventy_ years to go--five still to wait before I can even have my first child! You're just being selfish!" They glowered at each other. Then Les rubbed her cheek with the back of his hand, and smiled. "Thanks, kid," he said. "You really had me going for a minute. Now I feel better!" * * * * * Pleased with the compliment, Janet concocted an extra-fancy combination of films to spray on herself for the morning's wear. When it was in place, she ordered a large breakfast and arranged to have the waiter-doll do a special dance-routine while serving. But Les's smile had vanished with the whiskers he'd rubbed off. He picked at his food, turned his back on the dancing, and afterward yawned away the few minutes they spent on their apartment's terrace, stared at by fifty thousand neighbors who lacked anything better to do. When Les wandered idly off, Janet followed. Les went to the living room, projected a book onto the ceiling, switched it off without reading, played with the glowing phosphors that lighted the room in colors he varied jarringly, fiddled with the console of the perfume aerosol and created a stink, and then, in sheer despair, turned on the puppet-set. Its lighted screen listed the necessary dolls and props, so he laid them out. Soon the three-foot stage reflected a broadcast picture of the State Executive Office. A stringless, formally-dressed puppet sat at a desk, its blank face a transmitted facsimile of the Governor's. "... the last time I can make this announcement," the Governor was saying into a hidden microphone. "The tests are to begin at noon. Jobs are now open! I repeat: jobs are now open! Men only, of course. But if any of you fellows out there suffer from boredom--and who doesn't in this wonderful State of ours that by virtue of the New Energy-Sources guarantees leisured security to each citizen--if, I repeat, you suffer from ennui, then why not apply for a job? "Do it now--no further vacancies will occur for years, and we have some really desirable positions open this morning. Appointments will be made strictly on merit, as usual, with a job for every applicant and the best job for the top man. "Though it's true that losers in this competition are required to assume for life the less desirable duties that our civilization imposes, I assure you that isn't as bad as it sounds. I was pretty far down the list in my day, yet I only have to be Governor.... "So won't you please apply? I want a _lot_ of competition!" * * * * * The stage darkened, and the puppet got up and walked to its box. Before the lights could go up on the next program, Les switched the set off. "What do you think?" he asked Janet. "I don't know," she said. "Nobody in _my_ family has ever worked."