"Get drunk. Alone if! have to. Would you like to spend a lost weekend with me?"
She hesitated. "You'll be bitter."
"Yah, I probably will. Not fit to live with.. Hey, Janice. Do you know anything about how the long-distance displacement booths work?"
"No. Should I?"
"The mall riot couldn't have happened without the long-distance booths. That damn Wash Evans might at least have mentioned the fact. . except that I only just thought of it myself. Funny. There hasn't ever been a riot that happened that quick."
"I'll come with you," Janice decided.
"What? Good."
"You don't start drinking this early in the morning, do you?"
"I guess not. Are you free today?"
"Every day, during summer. I teach school."
"Oh. So what'll we do? San Diego Zoo?" he suggested at random.
"Sounds like fun."
They made no move to get up. It felt peaceful in Jerryberry's tiny kitchen nook. There was still coffee.
"You could get a bad opinion of me this way. I feel like tearing things up."
"Go ahead."
"mean it?"
"Me, too," she said serenely. "You need to tear things up. Fine, go ahead. After that you can try to put your life back together."
"Just what kind of school do you teach?"
Janice laughed. "Fifth grade."
There was quiet.
"You know what the punch line is? Wash Evans wants to interview me! After that speech he made!"
"That sounds like a good idea," she said surprisingly. "Gives you a chance to give your side of the story. You didn't really cause the mall riot, did you?"
"No!. . No. Janice, he's just too damn good. He'd make mincemeat of me. By the time he got through I'd be The Man Who Caused the Mall Riot in every English-speaking country in the world, and some others, too, because he gets translations-"
"He's just a commentator."
Jerryberry started to laugh.
"He makes it look so easy," he said. "A hundred million eyes out there, watching him, and he knows it. Have you ever seen him self-conscious? Have you ever heard him at a loss for words? My dad used to say it about writing, but it's true for Wash Evans. The hardest trick in the world is to make it look easy, so easy that any clod thinks he can do it just as well.
"Hell, I know what caused the mall riot. The news program, yes. He's right, there. But the long-distance displacement booth did it, too. Control those, and we could stop that kind of riot from ever happening again.
But what could I tell Wash Evans about it? What do I know about displacement booths?"
"Well, what do you know?"
Jerryberry Jansen looked into his coffee cup for a long time. Presently he said, "I know how to find out things. I know how to find out who knows most about what and then go ask. Legwork. They hammered at it in the journalism classes. I know legwork."
He looked up and met her eyes. Then he lunged across the table to reach the phone.
"Hello? Oh, hi, Jansen. Changed your mind?"
"Yes, but-"
"Good, good! I'll put you through to-"
"Yes, but!"
"Oh. Okay, go ahead."
"I want some time to do some research."
"Now, damn it, Jensen, you know that time is just what we don't have! Old news is no news. What kind of research?"
"Displacement booths."
"Why that? Never mind; it's your business. How much time?"
"How much can you afford?"
"Damn little."
"Bailey, C.B.A. upped my price to four thousand this morning. How come?"
"You didn't see it? It's on every screen in the country. The rioters broke through the police line. They've got a good section of Venice now, and there are about twice as many of them, because the police didn't shut down the displacement booths in the area until about twenty minutes too late. Twenty minutes!" Bailey seemed actually to be grinding his teeth. "We held off reporting the breakthrough until they could do it. We did. A.B. S. reported it live on all stations. That's where all the new rioters came from."
"Then. . it looks like the mall riot is going to last a little longer."
"That it does. And you want more time. Things are working out, aren't they?" Then, "Sorry. Those A.B.S. bastards. How much time do you want?"
"As much as I can get. A week."
"You've got to be kidding. You maybe can get twenty-four hours, only I can't make the decision. Why don't you talk to Evans himself?"
"Fine. Put him on."