Well, I'm glad it was Lambertson that went to Boston and not me, for
Aarons' sake. And if Aarons tries to come down here to work with me,
he's going to be wasting his time, because I'll lead him all around
Robin Hood's Barn and get him so confused he'll wish he'd stayed home.
But I can't help but wonder, just the same. _Am_ I a cripple like Aarons
said? Does being psi-high mean that? _I_ don't think so, but what does
Lambertson think? Sometimes when I try to read Lambertson I'm the one
that gets confused. I wish I could tell what he _really_ thinks.
* * * * *
_Wednesday night._ I asked Lambertson tonight what Dr. Custer had said.
"He wants to see you next week," he told me. "But Amy, he didn't make
any promises. He wasn't even hopeful."
"But his letter! He said the studies showed that there wasn't any
anatomical defect."
Lambertson leaned back and lit his pipe, shaking his head at me. He's
aged ten years this past week. Everybody thinks so. He's lost weight,
and he looks as if he hasn't slept at all. "Custer's afraid that it
isn't a question of anatomy, Amy."
"But what is it, then, for heaven's sake?"
"He doesn't know. He says it's not very scientific, but it may just be
that what you don't use, you lose."
"Oh, but that's silly." I chewed my lip.
"Granted."
"But he thinks that there's a chance?"
"Of course there's a chance. And you know he'll do everything he can.
It's just that neither of us wants you to get your hopes up."
It wasn't much, but it was something. Lambertson looked so beat. I
didn't have the heart to ask him what Aarons wanted, even though I know
he'd like to get it off his chest. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
I spent the day with Charlie Dakin in the lab, and did a little work for
a change. I've been disgustingly lazy, and poor Charlie thinks it's all
his fault. Charlie reads like twenty-point type ninety per cent of the
time, and I'm afraid he knows it. I can tell just exactly when he stops
paying attention to business and starts paying attention to _me_, and
then all of a sudden he realizes I'm reading him, and it flusters him
for the rest of the day. I wonder why? Does he really think I'm shocked?
Or surprised? Or _insulted_? Poor Charlie!
I guess I must be good enough looking. I can read it from almost every
fellow that comes near me. I wonder why? I mean, why me and not Marjorie
over in the Main Office? She's a sweet girl, but she never gets a second
look from the guys. There must be some fine differential point I'm
missing somewhere, but I don't think I'll ever understand it.
I'm not going to press Lambertson, but I _hope_ he opens up tomorrow.
He's got me scared silly by now. He has a lot of authority around here,
but other people are paying the bills, and when he's frightened about
something, it can't help but frighten me.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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