Page 51 - Three Adventures

Deflator Mouse

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“Ken, I’ve never seen you play volleyball so hard.” Cindy flopped
down on a beach towel and began rummaging in her designer duffel
bag for hair-brush and make-up.
“Well, I feel pretty good; I guess it shows in my game.” He put on
his dark glasses, raised himself up on his elbows, and surveyed the
Saturday surfers.
“What’s up? Did you get a raise or something?”
“No such luck! No, I didn’t win the lottery, either. But something
good is going to happen where I work. Makes me very happy.”
“Oh, I love to hear good news, Ken. Can you tell me what it is?”
Cindy rolled over on her side, covering Ken’s knee with one of her
own.
“Uh...” Well, why not, Ken mused; just don’t say anything
incriminating. “Okay. I don’t think I’ll be giving away any great
national secrets. You know I work in a sort of think-tank, right? A lot
of brilliant minds with nothing to do but come up with original ideas
for the betterment of mankind, right? Well, it isn’t exactly like that.
After I was working there a couple of months on a satellite
communications system, the company got a government contract to
develop a new high-tech device for the Defense Department.”
“You mean like Star Wars?” Her eyes widened.
“No, not like that. This was designed by men whose feet were on
the ground, not out in space. The thing was supposed to come
climbing out of the ocean after a nuclear war and declare all of what
was left of the planet as American territory. Really a dumb idea, don’t
you think?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Ken. I thought nobody could win a nuclear
war. We just have to have enough bombs of our own to prevent one
from starting.”
Ken rolled his eyes and squeezed them tightly closed behind his
shades. Patience, he told himself; she doesn’t know more than the
television news. “Well, we don’t have to get into the strategic
implications of this thing, Cindy. The main point—for me, at least—
is that a lot of money and effort were going into a useless project—
and that’s partly your money and my effort.”
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