so I can't wait to catch one of their performances! It should be very exciting. I can't wait to go!"
"I can remember," Horton told them, "when groups used to come up here and stay a week, drawing such big audiences they could hardly fit in the auditorium, then continue their tour and circle the country, sometimes, the world!"
"Will things ever be that way again, doc?" Jeanie asked, sadly.
"Well, maybe, if this fuel problem can be licked by that machine you young people are working on. I still find it hard to believe that the whole world was brought to a standstill by a little bug no one can see or hear! Good thing the bacteria the Soviets invented to destroy oil only liked crude instead of the refined stuff! What they didn't count on, was it destroyed their supplies, too, after it was accidentally released in their atmosphere!"
"Wow!" said Mike, "History sure is terrible, but fascinating. Right now, though, I'm hungry! I think it's time for a snack before I go back home!"
Jeanie shook her head in exasperation and disbelief. "See you later," she told them.
"You sure you're all right now, Mike?" Horton asked as Jeanie went out the door.
"Yeah, don't worry, doc. I'll check in with you later, as usual."
When Mike finally reached the cafeteria and at last managed to sit down with his heavy tray, he discovered he was sitting beside an older woman Jeanie knew from the housekeeping department. They talked a while, and Mike asked her if she knew Arthur Moore, and what he was like.
"Oh, don't know much about that man, just heard of his bad reputation with women. Don't have no respect for them, that one!" She shook her head back and forth slowly and clicked her tongue against her cheek in disgust.
"Well, he'd better get some if he's going out with Jeanie!" Mike growled. "If he doesn't, I could fix it so he doesn't have any more dates!"
The woman chuckled. "Now, now!" she said, "Don't get too carried away, young man!"
"Don't worry," he answered her, "I won't, but Arthur might!"
They both burst into laughter at the thought.
"See you later," Mike told the maid after he'd finished his meal. "I've got to go clean up my apartment, and it's going to be quite a job."
"I know all about it," the woman said, "the majority of apartments I clean up around here are bachelor apartments, and they all look like disaster areas when I get there every week!"
Mike sighed when he finally shut the door of his apartment behind him.
"Well, here goes nothing!" he said aloud, after glancing at the clock. He started doing the dishes, scrubbed the sink, the counter, his cupboards, cleaned out his kitchen drawers, scrubbed the toilet and his little bathroom sink, wiped his mirror spotless,