Also, the platforms and general tendencies. Now, the possible Democratic party candidates are....

And again, There might be another change in Soviet politics, but in the articles in Time and in The Reporter the writers say that the present group is likely to continue in power for at least a while. However, if he should ask about something which sounds as if it went in that direction, I could assume that the present premier might die; he's old, and can't live much longer.

Don had always been a baseball fan, and his opinions in that area were firmly rooted in both his own past and in the thick file of sports pages of newspapers. The Dodgers will probably win the pennant, and the Giants will probably sell their pitcher Joe Kenner. In boxing....

He was fairly certain about the outcome of various sports events. But when it came to science, he discovered whole worlds of which he had only heard vaguely before. There were things which he understood only with difficulty, and he began to realize, with a sense of shock, how inadequate his school "science" classes had been. But he didn't worry; he could easily predict that this class of question would have to do either with something medical or something about atomics. He found a great deal of already predicted material in both those fields; every magazine had a doctor writing about which disease would be conquered next, and how soon; and a number of articles gave details on how soon atomic power plants would be running, and what kinds of bombs would be tested next.

Don's choice of accountancy had been motivated by a liking for logic and orderliness; he began to find a fascination in the logic and orderliness of science. His picture of a scientist had been vague at best, a picture formed from newspaper photos of Einstein, with his white hair blowing, and of movie scientists, bending over strange machines and creating monsters.

At one point Don found the history and viewpoints of science drawing him into reading that could not possibly be used in the questioning. Reluctantly, and resolving to go back to that area, he moved on.

The oil workers union has a contract which runs out next month, he wrote, and they have always had a strike at this point in their last few years. If they do strike, there will probably be a temporary shortage of fuel and gasoline. This might be the right answer if the question is, What strike is affecting the country most now?

Back into politics once more, Don began to extend his guessing, as he 

 Prev. P 6/9 next