d make good show
material--an odd name or occupation--or somebody with twenty kids.
Something of that nature.

I looked at the card for the tip off. "Mrs. Freda Dunny," the card said.
"Ask her where she comes from."

I smiled at the contestant again and took her by the hand. The tally
light went on again and I grinned into the camera.

"Well, now, we're all set to go ... and our first contestant today is
this charming little lady right here beside me. Mrs. Freda Dunny." I
looked at the card. "How are you, Mrs. Dunny?"

"Fine! Just fine."

"All set to answer a lot of questions and win a lot of prizes?"

"Oh, I'll win all right," said Mrs. Dunny, smiling around at the
audience.

The audience tittered a bit at the remark. I looked at the card again.

"Where are you from, Mrs. Dunny?"

"Mars!" said Mrs. Dunny.

"Mars!" I laughed, anticipating the answer. "Mars, Montana? Mars, Peru?"

"No, _Mars_! Up there," she said, pointing up in the air. "The planet
Mars. The fourth planet out from the sun."

My assistant looked unhappy.

I smiled again, wondering what the gag was. I decided to play along.

"Well, well," I said, "all the way from Mars, eh? And how long have you
been on Earth, Mrs. Dunny?"

"Oh, about thirty or forty years. I've been here nearly all my life.
Came here when I was a wee bit of a girl."

"Well," I said, "you're practically an Earthwoman by now, aren't you?"
The audience laughed. "Do you plan on going back someday or have you
made up your mind to stay here on Earth for the rest of your days?"

"Oh, I'm just here for the invasion," said Mrs. Dunny. "When that's over
I'll probably go back home again."

"The invasion?"

"Yes, the invasion of Earth. As soon as enough of us are here we'll get
started."

"You mean there are others here, too?"

"Oh, yes, there are several million of us here in the United States
already--and more are on the way."

"There are only about a hundred and seventy million people in the United
States, Mrs. Dunny," I said. "If there are several million Martians
among us, one out of every hundred would have to be a Martian."

"One out of every ten!" said Mrs. Dunny. "That's what the boss said just
the other day. 'We're getting pretty close to the number we need to
take over Earth.'"

"What do you need?" I asked. "One to one? One Martian for every
Earthman?"

"Oh, no," said Mrs. Dunny, "one Martian is worth ten Earthmen. The only
reason we're waiting is we don'