Part 25 (1/2)

”Total recall?” I asked.

He said, sputtering with eagerness, ”The up welling of the unconscious!

The ability to remember everythinga”the eidetic memory of an idiot savant and the indexing system of a quiz winner. You want to know the first six kings of England? Egbert, Ethelwulf, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Elthelred and Alfred. You want to know the mating call of a ruff-necked grouse?” He demonstrated the call of the ruff-necked grouse.

”Oh,” said Margery, coming back into the room with the freshly diapered baby. ”Bird imitations.”

”And more!” cried Winnie. ”Do you know about the time the United States had two presidents?

”No, buta””

”March the third,” he said. ”Eighteen seventy-seven. Rugherford B.

Hayesa”I'd better say Rutherford Birchard Hayesa”was about to succeed Grant, and he was sworn in a day early. I ought to explain thata””

”No,” I said. ”Don't explain.”

”Well, how about this? Want me to name the ABC bowling champions from 1931 to date? Clack, Nitschke, Hewitt, Vidro, Brokaw, Gagliardi, Andersona”oh, wait a minute. I forgot 1936. That's Warren. Then Gagliardi, Anderson, Daneka””

”Winnie,” I said, ”cut it out, will you? This has been a tough day.”

”But this is the key to conquering the world!”

”Hah,” I said. ”You're going to bore everybody to death by naming bowling champions.”

”Knowledge is power, Harlan.” He rested his head on his palms briefly.

”But it does make my head ache.”

I took my hand off the k.n.o.b of the door.

I said grudgingly, ”Sit down, Winnie. I admit you've got me interested.

I can't wait to hear what the swindle is.”

”Harlan!” warned Margery.

Winnie said: ”There's no swindle, I promise you. But think what it can mean! Knowledge is power, Harlan, as I say. Why, with my superbrain we can outwit the rulers of any country anywhere. We can own the world!

Anda”money, you say? Knowledge is money too. For instance”a”he winkeda””worried about taxes? I can tell you the minority opinion in U.S.

Government versus Oosterhagen, 486 Alabama 3309. There's a loophole there you could drive an armored truck through!”

Margery sat down with a cigarette in the long, long holder I'd bought her to square a beef the year after we were married. She looked at me and then at the cigarette; and it penetrated, and I raced over with a match.

”Thank you, darling,” she said throatily.

She had changed herself as well as the baby. She now wore something more suitable for a coheiress of a big fat hunk of money entertaining an ex-husband. It was a gold lame housecoat, and she had bought it, within an hour of the time the a.s.sociated Press man had called, on a charge account we'd never owned until the early editions of the papers. .h.i.t the stores around Levittown.

And that reminded me. Money. Who needed money? What was the use of inheriting all that loot from Uncle Otto if I couldn't throw Winnie out on his ear?

Politeness made me temporize: ”All this is very interesting, Winnie, buta””

”Harlan, the baby!” Margery yelled. ”Get him out of the pretzels!”

I did, while Winnie said faintly behind me: ”The shape of a pretzel represents children's arms folded in prayera”or so it was thought in the seventeenth century. A good pretzel bender can bend more than thirty-five a minute. Of course, machines are faster.” I said, ”Winniea””

”Like to know the etymology of the word navvy? Most people think it has something to do with sailors.”

”Winnie, listen to mea””

”It doesn't, though. It comes from the laborers on the Inland Navigation Ca.n.a.lsa”eighteenth-century England, you know. Well, the laborersa”” I said firmly, ”Winnie, go away.”

”Harlan!”

”You stay out of this Margery,” I told her. ”Winnie's after my dough, that's all. Well, I haven't Had it long enough to want to throw it away. Besides, who wants to rule the world?”

”Well . . .” Margery said thoughtfully.

”With all our money?” I cried. ”Who needs it?”

Winnie clutched at his head. ”Oh,” he moaned. ”Wait, Harlan. All I need is a stake. I've got the long-term cycles of every stock on the Exchange down in my heada”splits and dividends and earnings records since 1904! I know the private brokers' hand signals on the Curba”wave up for buy, wave down for sell; look, see how my fingers are bent? That means the spread between bid and asked is three-eights of a point. Give me a million dollars, Harlan!”

”No.”

”Just a million, that's all. You can spare it! And I'll double it in a week, quadruple it in a montha”in a year we'll have a billion. A billion dollars!”

”I shook my head. ”The taxesa””

”Remember U.S. Government versus Oosterhagen!” he cried. ”And that's a bare beginning. Ever think what a billion dollars could do in the hands of a supergenius!” He was talking faster and faster, a perfect diarrhea of words, as though he couldn't control the spouting. ”Here!” he yelled, clutching at his temple with one hand, pulling something out of his pocket with the other. ”Look at this, Harlan! It's yours for a million dollarsa”no, for a hundred thousand. Yes, a hundred thousand dollars and you can have it! I'll sell it for that, and then I won't split with youa”we'll both be supergeniuses. Eh? Fair enough?”

I was trapped by my own curiosity. ”What is it?” I asked. He waved it at mea”a squat little bottle half filled with pale capsules.

”Mine,” he said proudly. ”My hormone. It's a synapse relaxer. One of these and the blocks between adjoining cells in your brain are weakened for an hour. Three of them, for every twenty pounds of body weight, and you're a supergenius for life. You'll never forget! You'll remember things you think have pa.s.sed out of your recollection years ago! You'll recall the postpartum slap that started you breathing, you'll remember the name of the nurse who carried you to the door of your father's Maxwell. Oh, Harlan, there is no limit toa””

”Go away,” I said, and pushed him.

Patrolman Gamelsfelder appeared like a genie from a lamp.

”Thought so,” he said somberly, advancing on Winnie McGhee. ”Extortion's your game, is it? Can't say I blame you, brother, but it's a trip to the station house and a talk with the sergeant for you.”

”Just get rid of him,” I said, and closed the door as Winnie was challenging the cop to name an opera by Krenek, other than Johnny Spielt Auf.

Margery put the baby down, breathing hard.

She said: ”Scuffling and pus.h.i.+ng people around and bad manners. You weren't like this when we were married, Harlan. There's something come over you since you inherited that money!” I said, ”Help me pick these things up, will you?” I hadn't pushed him hard, but all the same, those pills had gone flying.