encroaching upon the sidewalk, were
deeply virescent.

The Metamorphizer worked.

The Metamorphizer not only worked, but it worked with unbelievable
rapidity. Overnight. I knew nothing about the speed at which ordinary
fertilizers, plant stimulants or hormones took hold, but commonsense
told me nothing like this had ever happened so quickly. I had been
indulging in a little legitimate puffery in saying the inoculant worked
miracles, but if anything that had been an understatement. It just went
to show how impossible it is for a real salesman to be too enthusiastic.

Nerves in knees and fingers quivering, I walked over to join the group
curiously inspecting the translated lawn. I, _I_ had done this; out of
the most miserable I'd made the loveliest--and for a paltry five
dollars. I tried to recapture the memory of what it had looked like in
order to relish the contrast more, but it was impossible; the vivid
present blotted out the decayed past completely.

"Overnight," someone said. "Yessir, just overnight. Wouldnt of believed
it if I hadnt noticed just yesterday how much worse an the city dump it
looked."

"Bet at stuff's ten inches high."

"Brother, you can say that again. Foot'd be closer."

"Anyhow it's uh fattestlookin grass I seen sence I lef Texas."

"An the greenest. Guess I never did see such a green before."

While they exclaimed about the beauty and vigor of the growth, my mind
was racing in high along practical lines. Achievement isnt worth much
unless you can harness it, and in today's triumph I saw tomorrow's
benefit. No more canvassing with a pump undignifiedly on my back, no
more manual labor; no, bold as the thought was, not even any more direct
selling for me. This was big, too big to be approached in any cockroach,
build-up-slowly-from-the-bottom way. It was a real top deal, in a class
with nylon or jukeboxes or bubblegum. You could smell the money in it.

First of all I'd have to tie Josephine Francis down with an ironclad
contract. Agents; dealerships; distributors and a general salesmanager,
Albert Weener, at the top. Incorporate. Get it all down in black and
white and signed by Miss Francis right away. For her own good. An
idealistic scientist, a frail woman, protect her from the vultures who'd
try to rob her as soon as they saw what the Metamorphizer would do. Such
a woman wouldnt have any business sense. I'd see she got a comfortable
living out of it and free her from responsibility. Th