Say I had only twenty more years; I spent a
quarter of them playing town drunk here. I'm the one who ought to be
in a rush and howling about lost time, not you. I ought to be in such
a hurry I'd take the _Simon Bolivar_ to Terra and let this place go
to--to anywhere you might imagine to be worse."
"You know, I don't think you like Fenris."
"I don't. If I were a drinking man, this planet would have made a
drunkard of me. Now, you forget about these six years chopped out of
your busy life. When you get back here, with an education, you'll be a
kid of twenty-four, with a big long life ahead of you and your mind
stocked with things you don't have now that will help you make
something--and more important, something enjoyable--out of it."
* * * * *
There was a huge crowd at the spaceport to see us off, Tom and Bish
Ware and me. Mostly, it was for Bish. If I don't find a monument to
him when I get back, I'll know there is no such thing as gratitude.
There had been a big banquet for us the evening before, and I think
Bish actually got a little tipsy. Nobody can be sure, though; it might
have been just the old actor back in his role. Now they were all
crowding around us, as many as could jam in, in the main lounge of the
_Peenemuende_. Joe Kivelson and his wife. Dad and Julio and Mrs. Laden,
who was actually being cordial to Bish, and who had a bundle for us
that we weren't to open till we were in hyperspace.
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