nd I keep
forgetting to lay in a supply. Use my lighter over there."

"About the TV--"

Lois was wiping her hands on the paper towel she had brought with her.
"Replacement parts are hard to find for the older sets," she said.
"Anyway. I read today Channel Three finally went off the air. That
leaves only Two and Seven. And the programs aren't any good, now, are
they? All those commercials and all?"

"They do use a lot of old stuff I've already seen," the son admitted,
"but every once in a while there's something new."

"Let's talk about it some other time, Larry, O.K.?" Eddie said. "How's
that? It's almost your bed-time. Studies done?"

"All but the Library report."

"Well, finish it, and--"

"I got to read the book down there. Two classes assigned it and they
don't have the copies to let us check out. And I want to ask you about
something, Eddie."

"Daddy's tired. His dinner's on. Come on, Eddie. I'll set it right
now. And Larry, you've already eaten...."

* * * * *

After dinner, Eddie got back to the paper, the evening _Times_. It was
down to eight pages, mostly advertising. There was a front-page
editorial reluctantly announcing a price increase.

"They raise the price once more, and we'll just quit taking it," Lois
said. "You read about the airplane crash in Florida? Wasn't that
terrible? What do you think caused it?"

"Metal fatigue, probably," Eddie said. "It was a twenty-year-old jet."

"The company said it wasn't that at all."

"They always do," Eddie said.

"I don't guess the payroll check came today or you'd have mentioned
it."

"Payroll's still all balled up. Somebody pressed a wrong button on the
new machine and some fifty thousand uncoded cards got scattered all
over the office."

"Oh, no! What do the poor people, who don't have bank accounts, do?"

"Just wait, like we wait."

"You had a bad day," Lois said. "I can tell."

"No...." Eddie said. "Not really, I guess."

"Still working on Saturday?"

"I guess so. Nothing was said. Maybe it'll get easier after the end of
the month."

"You said it was all that new construction work in the Valley that's
making you so shorthanded."

"That's part of it."

"They're not scheduled to finish until ... when, sometime next year,
isn't it?"

"The end of '81 right now."

"Eddie! Listen to me! I hardly ever see you any more. You're not going
to have to put in all this overtime for the next two years!"

"O