sty weapons. I removed mine. Simultaneously each belt joined
its corresponding pile of weapons and other belongings.

She shook her head, not in any sort of negation, and ran her fingers
into the black hair at several points, to show me it hid no weapon, then
looked at me questioningly. I nodded that I was satisfied--I hadn't seen
anything run out of it, by the way. Then she looked up at my black
skullcap and she raised her eyebrows and smiled again, this time with a
spice of mocking anticipation.

In some ways I hate to part with that headpiece more than I do with
Mother. Not really because of its sandwiched lead-mesh inner lining--if
the rays haven't baked my brain yet they never will and I'm sure that
the patches of lead mesh sewed into my pants over my loins give a lot
more practical protection. But I was getting real attracted to this girl
by now and there are times when a person must make a sacrifice of his
vanity. I whipped off my stylish black felt and tossed it on my pile and
dared her to laugh at my shiny egg top.

Strangely she didn't even smile. She parted her lips and ran her tongue
along the upper one. I gave an eager grin in reply, an incautiously wide
one, and she saw my plates flash.

* * * * *

My plates are something rather special though they are by no means
unique. Back toward the end of the Last War, when it was obvious to any
realist how bad things were going to be, though not how strangely
terrible, a number of people, like myself, had all their teeth jerked
and replaced with durable plates. I went some of them one better. My
plates were stainless steel biting and chewing ridges, smooth continuous
ones that didn't attempt to copy individual teeth. A person who looks
closely at a slab of chewing tobacco, say, I offer him will be puzzled
by the smoothly curved incision, made as if by a razor blade mounted on
the arm of a compass. Magnetic powder buried in my gums makes for a real
nice fit.

This sacrifice was worse than my hat and Mother combined, but I could
see the girl expected me to make it and would take no substitutes, and
in this attitude I had to admit that she showed very sound judgment,
because I keep the incisor parts of those plates filed to razor
sharpness. I have to be careful about my tongue and lips but I figure
it's worth it. With my dental scimitars I can in a wink bite out a chunk
of throat and windpipe or jugular, though I've never had occasi