minutes an automatic
camera photographed the deAngelis board, developed the film, and filed
the picture away in its storage vault.

King studied the photographs for quite awhile, then pulled his log book
over and made an entry. He wrote: 8:20:19:3142:1x. The last three digits
meant that he wasn't sure about the intensity, and the "x" signified a
continuous reading.

King turned to the audio controller, "Do me a favor, Gus, but strictly
unofficial. Contact everybody around us: Oakland, Squirrel Hill, Point
Breeze, Lawrenceville, Bloomfield ... everybody in this end of town.
Find out if they've got one low intensity reading that's been on for
hours. If they haven't had it since before midnight, I'm not
interested."

"Something up?" the controller asked.

"Probably not," said the operator. "I'd just like to pin this one down
as close as I can. On a night like this my screen shows nothing but
milk."

* * * * *

"Give you a lift home?" the older reporter asked.

"Thanks," said the cub shaking his head, "but I live out by the
Youghiogheny River."

"So?" the older man shrugged. "Half hour flight. Hop in."

"I don't understand," the cub said.

"What? Me offering you a lift."

"No," said the cub. "Back there in the station house. You know."

"You mean the deAngelis?"

"Not that exactly," said the cub. "I understand a deAngelis board;
everybody broadcasts emotions, and if they're strong enough they can be
received and interpreted. It's the cops I don't understand. I thought
any reading over eighty was dangerous and had to be looked into, and
anything over ninety was plain murder and had to be picked up. Here they
been ignoring eighties and nineties all night long."

"You remember that children's story you wrote last Christmas about an
Irish imp named Sean O'Claus?" his companion asked him.

"Certainly," the cub said scowling. "I'll sell it some day."

"You remember the Fashion Editor killed it because she thought 'See-Ann'
was a girl's name, and it might be sacrilegious."

"You're right I remember," the cub said, his voice rising.

"Like to bet you didn't register over ninety that day? As a matter of
fact, I'll head for the nearest precinct and bet you five you're over
eighty right now." He laughed aloud and the young man calmed down. "I
had that same idea myself at first. About ninety being against the law.
That's one of the main troubles, the law. Every damn state in the
d