"All this has been said," he explained. "Millions of times. Do not use cliches."

He went on to explain that the red spot of Jupiter need not be called a malevolent red eye, that Saturn's rings don't necessarily resemble a halo, and that the inhabitants of Venus are not Venetians.

"All common errors," he said. "I want a thousand words from each of you next time. I suggest that you choose a planet and write a fresh study of it, avoiding with care all the cliches I mentioned. Class dismissed."

"Well, whadja think?" Mort asked Eddie in the hall. "Isn't he great? I mean, he really knows!"

"I'm dropping out of the class," Eddie said, making up his mind.

"What! Why?"

"Well," Eddie said, "There's no reason why I shouldn't call the red spot on Jupiter a malevolent red eye. I put that in a story last month, and it sounded good. And that Venetian Threngener—I think it's a monstrosity, and I'm going to write about it that way."

He paused, and his face hardened with conviction.

"But the real reason—well, I'm just not interested in journalism. I'm dropping Carner's course in fact feature-article writing, because I want to write fiction!"

 Prev. P 3/3