Bread Overhead | Page 7

bread balloons will be the big event of the day for
kiddies. It'll make the carry-home shopping load lighter too! I'll issue
orders at once--"
* * * * *

He broke off, looking at Phineas T. Gryce, said with quiet assurance,
"Excuse me, sir, if I seem to be taking too much upon myself."
"Not at all, son; go straight ahead," the great manager said approvingly.
"You're"--he laughed in anticipation of getting off a memorable
remark--"rising to the challenging situation like a genuine Puffyloaf."
Megera Winterly looked from the older man to the younger. Then in a
single leap she was upon Roger, her arms wrapped tightly around him.
"My sweet little ever-victorious, self-propelled monkey wrench!" she
crooned in his ear. Roger looked fatuously over her soft shoulder at Tin
Philosopher who, as if moved by some similar feeling, reached over
and touched claws with Rose Thinker.
This, however, was what he telegraphed silently to his fellow machine
across the circuit so completed:
"Good-o, Rosie! That makes another victory for robot-engineered
world unity, though you almost gave us away at the start with that
'bread overhead' jingle. We've struck another blow against the next
world war, in which--as we know only too well!--we machines would
suffer the most. Now if we can only arrange, say, a fur-famine in
Alaska and a migration of long-haired Siberian lemmings across
Behring Straits ... we'd have to swing the Japanese Current up there so
it'd be warm enough for the little fellows.... Anyhow, Rosie, with a spot
of help from the Brotherhood, those humans will paint themselves into
the peace corner yet."
Meanwhile, he and Rose Thinker quietly watched the Blonde Icicle
melt.
--FRITZ LEIBER

Transcriber's Note
This etext was produced from Galaxy February 1958. Extensive

research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have
been corrected without note.

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