up with a skinned knee and collected from five
hundred to eight hundred and fifty points. He was learning, Penelope
assured him when he gleefully showed her his card at the end of the day.
Mark was elated. That day he had gathered fifty-one hundred points.

"But this can get monotonous, too," Penelope said. "Anyway, you can't go
around forever with a sandpapered knee. You're learning fast, and you're
learning right. Old Point-a-Minute Charlie was the best there was, in
his day, and he always said you make more points guessing character than
you do falling down. Know your victim before you have an accident, and
then hit him for all he will pay and hit him quick--the way I did you."
She chuckled. "My commission for today is one thousand and twenty
points. Here, sign my slip, please."

Mark signed. It was a cheap price to pay for the fact that life was no
longer pointless. He decided he'd try to gather a credit of one hundred
thousand points.

He worked on bigger stuff. He didn't try just everybody. He picked his
signers with care. He slept until nine every morning and he and Penelope
played two-handed bridge at a tenth of a point a point until midnight.
He felt sorry for the poor suckers who had to get out at sunup and tread
the sidewalks until dark to get enough points to satisfy Central. They
were working like slaves, while he was living the life of Point-a-Minute
Charlie.

It was a lovely existence. He forgot about Penelope's slip for
thirty-five thousand. He could almost pay it off anyway. Then came the
day when he pulled his grand coup.

He spent a week planning it, with Penelope's shrewd advice. He
remembered what she had said about the man on the ladder in the
nineteen-forties. He sandpapered his back and painted an irregular spot
with merthiolate and iodine, and practiced twisting his back until it
looked out of shape. Then he went out and watched for an absent-minded,
nervous, excitable-looking man to try his next effort on.

Penelope's biggest advice was, "Preparation is half the points," so it
was three days before Mark found the right person. After he found him it
was very simple. He signaled Penelope to follow, and then he walked
behind the man until they came to a high curb.

Mark moved out to the left. The man started to step up on the curb. Mark
darted across in front of the man just as the man raised his foot. Mark
managed to stumble exactly in front of the man. His arms went out and
one hand caug