An hour later, films of the last stages of the riot were being televised to 500,000,000 delighted viewers on the Eastern Seaboard.
In the stillness of the three-room Ford apartment on the 76th floor of Building 257, the television set had been left on. Once more the air was filled with the cries and grunts and crashes of the fray, coming harmlessly now from the loudspeaker.
The battle also appeared on the screen of the television set in the police station, where the Fords and their captors watched with professional interest.
Em and Lou, in adjacent four-by-eight cells, were stretched out peacefully on their cots.
"Em," called Lou through the part.i.tion, "you got a washbasin all your own, too?"
"Sure. Washbasin, bed, light--the works. And we thought _Gramps"_ room was something. How long has this been going on?" She held out her hand.
"For the first time in forty years, hon, I haven"t got the shakes--look at me!"
"Cross your fingers," said Lou. "The lawyer"s going to try to get us a year."
"Gee!" Em said dreamily. "I wonder what kind of wires you"d have to pull to get put away in solitary?"
"All right, pipe down," said the turnkey, "or I"ll toss the whole kit and caboodle of you right out. And first one who lets on to anybody outside how good jail is ain"t never getting back in!"
The prisoners instantly fell silent.
The living room of the apartment darkened for a moment as the riot scenes faded on the television screen, and then the face of the announcer appeared, like the Sun coming from behind a cloud. "And now, friends," he said, "I have a special message from the makers of anti-gerasone, a message for all you folks over 150. Are you hampered socially by wrinkles, by stiffness of joints and discoloration or loss of hair, all because these things came upon you before anti-gerasone was developed? Well, if you are, you need no longer suffer, need no longer feel different and out of things.
"After years of research, medical science has now developed _Super_-anti-gerasone! In weeks--yes, weeks--you can look, feel and act as young as your great-great-grandchildren! Wouldn"t you pay $5,000 to be indistinguishable from everybody else? Well, you don"t have to. Safe, tested _Super_-anti-gerasone costs you only a few dollars a day.
"Write now for your free trial carton. Just put your name and address on a dollar postcard, and mail it to "_Super_," Box 500,000, Schenectady, N. Y. Have you got that? I"ll repeat it. "_Super_," Box 500,000 ..."
Underlining the announcer"s words was the scratching of Gramps" pen, the one w.i.l.l.y had given him the night before. He had come in, a few minutes earlier, from the Idle Hour Tavern, which commanded a view of Building 257 from across the square of asphalt known as the Alden Village Green.
He had called a cleaning woman to come straighten the place up, then had hired the best lawyer in town to get his descendants a conviction, a genius who had never gotten a client less than a year and a day. Gramps had then moved the daybed before the television screen, so that he could watch from a reclining position. It was something he"d dreamed of doing for years.
"Schen-_ec_-ta-dy," murmured Gramps. "Got it!" His face had changed remarkably. His facial muscles seemed to have relaxed, revealing kindness and equanimity under what had been taut lines of bad temper. It was almost as though his trial package of _Super_-anti-gerasone had already arrived. When something amused him on television, he smiled easily, rather than barely managing to lengthen the thin line of his mouth a millimeter.
Life was good. He could hardly wait to see what was going to happen next.
--KURT VONNEGUT, JR.