knitted tie.

"Hello," he said. He looked at Mildume. "So who is this?"

"He says he has monsters for the dream sequence in his back yard,"
explained Harold. "_Real_ ones."

"Look," said Mr. Untz, "kindly ask the gentleman to get lost, will
you, Harold?"

"No, wait," Harold said. "He may have something. He explained some of
it to me. It sounds almost possible. We can't lose much by taking a
look."

"Only a few thousand dollars a minute," said Mr. Untz.

"_Bah--money!_" said Dr. Mildume. "Which reminds me--these monsters of
mine are going to cost you. Let's have that understood, right now."

* * * * *

Mr. Untz's eyebrows went up. This kind of talk he understood. He
reached into the side pocket of the gabardine for his cigarette case.
He kept a separate gold case in each suit.

"_Yeeeeow!_" said Mr. Untz.

His hand came out of the pocket with a small green snake in it.

"Drop it! Stand back!" said Harold, being cool.

"Don't worry about it," said Dr. Mildume in a calmer voice. He was
blinking mildly at the snake. "It's merely an ordinary species of
garden snake, sometimes erroneously called garter snake. Curious it
should be there."

Harold looked at Dr. Mildume sharply. "This teleportation of yours
wouldn't have anything to do with it by any chance?"

"Of course not," snapped Mildume.

"_I_ know how it got here!" said Mr. Untz, his jowls trembling. He had
already dropped the snake. "A certain child star whose initials are
Jimsy LaRoche! Last week he gives me a hotfoot. Monday a wet
seat--soaked newspapers in my chair under one thin dry one. Yesterday
a big frog in my shower. I should take that brat over my knee and
spank him to his face!"

"Mm--ah--of course," said Dr. Mildume without much interest in the
topic. "Shall we go to inspect the monsters now?"

Mr. Untz thought it over, only long enough to keep himself within the
time limits of a Man of Decision. Then he said, "Okay, so we'll go
now."

They passed Jimsy LaRoche on the way out. He was drinking pineapple
juice and sitting with his tutor, studying his lines. He smirked as
Mr. Untz passed. Mr. Untz scowled back but didn't say anything. In
Jovian silence he led the way to his car.

It turned out to be a longer ride than they had expected. Dr. Mildume
lived in Twenty-nine Palms and, as Mr. Untz explained it, this was too
short for an airplane and too long for an automobile. Mr. Untz was
not in his best humor