ck to work. As near as I could make out, he
was a test-pilot, or something like it, for a small experimental
aircraft plant near the city. He lived not too far from where I was
staying, and he wanted to see me that evening.

I hadn't told him where the motel was, and I had at least enough
caution left not to tell him, even then. I did agree to meet him at
the diner, but for lunch the next day again, instead of that evening.
For one thing, I had a lot to do; and for another, I'd seen enough on
television shows to know that an evening date was likely to be pretty
long-drawn-out, and I wasn't sure I could stand up under that much
close scrutiny. I had some studying-up to do first. But the lunch-date
was fine; the thought of not seeing him at all was terrifying--as if
he were an old friend in a world full of strangers. That was how I
felt, that first time, maybe just because he was almost as small as I.
But I think it was more than that, really.

* * * * *

I drove downtown again, and found a store that seemed to sell all
kinds of clothing for women. Then when I got inside, I didn't know
where to start, or what to get. I thought of just buying one of
everything, so as to fill up a suitcase; the things I had on seemed to
be perfectly satisfactory for actual _wearing_ purposes. They were
quite remarkably--when you stopped to think of it--similar to what
most of the women I'd seen that day were wearing, and of course they
weren't subject to the same problems of dirtying and wrinkling and
such as the clothes in the store were.

I walked around for a while, trying to figure out what all the
different items, shapes, sizes, and colors, were for. Some racks and
counters had signs, but most of them were unfamiliar words like
_brunchies_, or _Bermudas_ or _scuffs_; or else they seemed to be
mislabeled, like _dusters_ for a sort of button-down dress, and
_Postage Stamp Girdles_ at one section of a long counter devoted to
"Foundation Garments." For half an hour or so, I wandered around in
there, shaking my head every time a saleswoman came up to me, because
I didn't know, and couldn't figure out, what to ask for, or how to ask
for it.

The thing was, I didn't dare draw too much attention to myself by
doing or saying the wrong things. I'd have to find out more about
clothes, somehow, before I could do much buying.

I went out, and on the same block I found a show-window full of
suitcases. That was