"Stoops!" he cried, robbed of slamming the door because of the automatic permaglass cushion. Timmy scurried away, frightened at this aspect of his father. "The psychocenter we've got to go to yet!" The electrocooker had dinged a minute ago, and Mrs. Briggs was ready to take everything out and put it on the table, but she could only look at him in amazement. "You're not making sense!" "Ha!" George's heavy eyebrows hovered high in his forehead, then plunged down over his eyes. His big face was crimson, his blue eyes steely. "Neither are they, and they called just before I left the office. Wouldn't tell me why. Have you done anything?" "Well--" Mrs. Briggs started tentatively and he gave her a sharp look. "It's about the Elroom." "The Elroom!" She told him about the visit of Miss Pomeroy. "She must have reported it." "Then we'll get rid of the damned thing!" His eyes brightened. "I told you we should have gotten a new car instead." "But we've got a car, George." "Not a good one." He leaned against the cooker, his face blissful. "Imagine us--_us_--driving a new _Caddie_ gyro--room for eight, you know--supersonic drive--sleek, too--we could get a red one--you'd like red, wouldn't you?--a thousand horsepower with twin turbos for level flight--and those off-center firing tubes with folding back overhead vertical flight pins--Gad!" "Our present car--" "Junk!" "But it runs, and we don't need a car like that for just in-town driving." "But what about our vacation? Think of it, Laura: We could make it to Alaska, Tibet, Africa--we could go around the world in our three weeks." "We could do the same with the Elroom, George. And there are a lot more things besides travel." Mrs. Briggs's lower lip was trembling. "You're siding with those nasty school people. You think they're right about Timmy." "Where is he?" Timmy stuck his head up from behind the lounge. His big eyes were wide. "Look at him, George. Ever seen a more normal boy? How could they think a boy like that could get so involved in a program he'd think he was living it." "Yeah, but if those school people--" Her eye caught the clock and she drew in her breath quickly. "Say! We've got to hurry if we're going to see _Cameron Capers_." * * * * * Dr. Vincent Potter was a large man with a shining expanse of flesh between two islands of black, bristling hair above heavy brows that met over his nose and almost concealed the bright, intelligent eyes that glittered beneath them. "So. You cannot understand. Yes." He nodded his head, made a tent with his hands, and rocked. "But this is what we are for. To understand. For you." He smiled. "If understanding easily came, then we would be not needed. No? You see?" He laughed a little, jerked upright. The movement nearly made the three of them jump. "Doctor," George said. "There are millions of kids in Elrooms all over the country."