an operation, but you could still easily be
fooled. Only keep company with our own women. They'll try to lead you
off if they can. They love getting strange men."
36 The men in the party all nodded. Bullet stayed close to The Young
Speaker. The City Speaker's young Lover, dressed in a girl's dancing
gown and covered in jewelry, came over. "Do you have everything you
desire?" he asked. "We are pleased that you accepted our invitation. My
mate has long desired to meet you. We do wish you were a little more
liberal and understood our feelings better."
37 "Insanity," insisted The Young Speaker, "is something that the sane
can never understand. If I had what I wanted, you'd be wearing a shirt
and pants and walking some young girl in the park, romancing her."
38 "You're our guests," the young man hissed, "that gives you no right
to be rude. I'm perfectly comfortable with the way I dress, and I don't
have to be bound by ridiculous superstitions. I can enjoy my life any way I please."
39 "There will come a day," predicted The Young Speaker, "when you will
NOT be pleased, when you will know what it is to touch a woman and
want her, and wonder how you could ever have been the way you are now."
40 "Damn you!" the young man cursed and walked off.
41 They wandered through the crowd and were stopped at the punch bowl
when their host appeared. "You don't want THAT watery stuff!" he
suggested, "That's only for the timid. We've got some real drink in the
other room, and some other things that will really make you fly. Come
on in, and enjoy yourselves!"
42 "What we have here," insisted The Young Speaker, "is excellent. We
don't need to pollute our temples with