He eyed her steadily. "What's so thrilling about being sixty plus?" "You've just got to accept," she continued glibly, as though it had been memorized, "the fact that it's a young people's world, now. Live for the day! That should be our motto." She smiled placidly at him. "That's the way I've been living this past year. As though each day was completely separate from the one before it--and the one after. In a young people's world--what else is there to do?" Eleanor patted her husband's cheek, and then looked past him into the living room, a shocked expression on her face. "Why Syd, have you been sitting here all alone without the T.V. on? Goodness, that's enough to make anyone start thinking! You march right in there and turn it on." He turned, with a slight shrug, to comply, and Eleanor started to fix dinner. The T.V. screen was in full view of the kitchen cubicle, of course. Apartments had been designed that way for years now. So, she was able to open the few cans and containers that constituted dinner, with her eyes almost entirely on the T.V. Sydney gave it a glance or two as he set the table. But he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to enjoy the programs as much as he usually tried to. He wondered why this day to day living didn't seem to be as much fun to him as it did to others. He fingered the "Sixty-Plus" insignia sewn onto his shirt sleeve. To him, it had turned out to be merely a matter of waiting. Eleanor was fixing a salad, with hardly a glance at what she was doing, so automatically did her fingers accomplish their task. He looked at her, cheerfully doing what the times and fashion decreed, and wished he could accept things the way she did. He was very fond of her. Now that he had been retired, they should have had time to enjoy each other. But something was wrong. Most people tried to have fun while they were waiting. Their closest friends, Eddie and Jean, seemed to be enjoying their retirement period. Or were they really, he asked himself, remembering a few times in past conversations when the talk had verged momentarily in that direction, only to break off guiltily. They sat down to eat at the table in front of the screen, sitting side by side, of course, so they wouldn't miss any of the programs during dinner. Part way through the meal the phone rang. Sydney quickly got up to answer it. He knew Eleanor hated to be disturbed during a T.V. program. "Hello, Jean," he said pleasantly, recognizing her voice at once. "What's the matter? You sound so--" His lips remained open, unexpectedly. Then, he put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. "Ellie!" he called so sharply that she turned at once. "What is it?" she snapped back at him between mouthfuls. "It's Jean. She says Eddie's gone out for 'fair game'!" His voice faded to a whisper. "Good God, Ellie. I don't know what to say to her!"