"Sore at you?" the judge said. "Why should I be sore at you? As a matter of fact I'll tell you a little secret." Abandoning the bench and descending to the floor, he lifted his robes to display a pair of bare and knobby knees. "On warm days I never wear pants!" he chortled. "My gosh!" the nudist said. "Hey, what about us?" Hotstuff said. "Are you going to let them off and send us up for taking pot shots at Mario?" "Did you do _that_!" the judge said delightedly. "Of course I don't know this Mario of yours, but I'm sure it did the scamp a world of good to have his pot shot at." He looked around fondly at the assemblage. "But what are we all doing indoors on a lovely day like this? Why don't we all go on a picnic or something?" "Then you mean we're all dismissed?" Toffee asked. "We can go?" "Why certainly, you lovely child," the judge said benignly. "Run along and get into some sort of beautiful mischief. And if there's anything I can do to help...." "You've already done it," Toffee said. She turned to Marc. "Come on!" But Marc was watching Julie as she turned and started disconsolately to leave the court. "Julie!" he called. "Julie!" "Hey, now," Toffee said, "don't tell me you're going to go chasing after that thin blonde just because you married her once!" Marc remained heedless. "Julie!" he cried, starting after her. "Wait a minute!" "Oh, yeah!" Toffee said and, deftly, she put her foot in front of his. Marc shot out into space head first and came up abruptly against the leg of a table. He dropped to the floor, made a small twitching movement and went limp. "Julie!" he murmured. "That'll show you, you big stiff," Toffee said. "You can't just toss me aside like a...." And then, as Marc passed out, she, like the words she never finished, faded away into nothing.... "What a stunning girl," the judge murmured thoughtfully. "There's something so elusive about her." At his side, Sergeant Feeney fainted dead away. * * * * * In his subconscious world of gently-sloping knolls and strange feathery trees, Marc lounged on the cool greenness and smiled up at Toffee. "Sometimes," he said, "I'm not certain which is truly real, this world or the other." "Reality is only relative," Toffee said sagely. "After all, if you didn't believe in me, I wouldn't exist." She leaned down close and brushed her lips across his. "You wouldn't even be able to feel my kiss. Reality can be happy or sad, depending on how you look at it. If you see only the happy side of things...." She paused as the light began to flicker uncertainly in the glowing sky above them. "It's time for you to go back now; I'll have to continue this little sermon another time." She touched his cheek. "It's been a lovely day, Marc. Goodbye--until we can do it all over again...." "Goodbye," Marc said, "and thanks." The light flickered again and was gone. Marc felt himself begin to drift. "Goodbye...." * * * * *