She filed into the washroom with the other girls and carefully redid her face. It was getting hard to disguise the worry lines, to paint away the faint crow's-feet around her eyes.
She wasn't, she admitted to herself for the thousandth time, what you would call beautiful. She inspected herself carefully in her compact mirror. In a sudden flash of honesty, she had to admit that she wasn't even what you would call pretty. Her face was too broad, her nose a fraction too long, and her hair was dull. Not homely1, exactly—but not pretty, either.
Conversation hummed around her, most of it from the little group in the corner, where the extreme few who were married sat as practically a race apart. Their advice was sought, their suggestions avidly2 followed.
"Going out tonight, Phyl?"
She hesitated a moment, then slowly painted on the rest of her mouth. The question was technically3 a privacy violator, but she thought she would sidestep it this time, instead of refusing to answer point-blank.
"I thought I'd stay home tonight. Have a few things I want to rinse4 out."
The black-haired girl next to her nodded sympathetically. "Sure, Phyl, I know what you mean. Just like the rest of us—waiting for the phone to ring."
Phyllis finished washing up and then left the office, carefully noting the girl who was waiting for the boss. The girl was beautiful in a hard sort of way, a platinum5 blonde with an entertainer's busty figure. Waiting for a plump, middle-aged6 man like a stagestruck kid outside a theatre.
At home, in her small two-room bachelor-girl apartment, she stripped and took a hot, sudsing shower, then stepped out and toweled herself in front of a mirror. She frowned slightly. You didn't know whether you should keep yourself in trim just on some off-chance, or give up and let yourself go.
She fixed7 dinner, took a moderately long time doing the dishes, and went through the standard routine of getting a book and curling up on the sofa. It was a good book of the boot-legged variety—scientifically written with enough surplus heroes and heroines and lushly described love affairs to hold anybody's interest.
It held hers for ten pages and then she threw the book across the room, getting a savage8 delight at the way the pages ripped and fluttered to the floor.
What was the use of kidding herself any longer, of trying to live vicariously and hoping that some day she would have a home and a husband? She was thirty now; the phone hadn't rung in the last three years. She might as well spend this evening as she had spent so many others—call up the girls for a bridge game and a little gossip, though heaven knew you always ended up envying the people you were gossiping about.
Perhaps she should have joined one of the organizations at the office that did something like that seven nights out of every seven. A bridge game or a benefit for some school or a talk on art. Or she could have joined the Lecture of the Week club, or the YWCA, or any one of the other government-sponsored clubs designed to fill the void in a woman's life.
But bridge games and benefits and lectures didn't take the place of a husband and family. She was kidding herself again.
She got up and retrieved9 the battered10 book, then went over to the mail slot. She hadn't had time to open her mail that morning; most of the time it wasn't worth the effort. Advertisements for book clubs, lecture clubs, how to win at bridge and canasta....
Her fingers sprang the metal tabs on a large envelope and she took out the contents and spread it wide.
She gasped11. It was a large poster, about a yard square. A man was on it, straddling a tiny city and a small panorama12 of farms and forests at his feet. He was a handsome specimen13, with wavy14 blond hair and blue eyes and a curly mat on his bare chest that was just enough to be attractive without being apelike. He held an axe15 in his hands and was eyeing her with a clearly inviting16 look of brazen17 self-confidence.
It was definitely a privacy violator and she should notify the authorities immediately!
Bright lettering at the top of the poster shrieked18: "Come to the Colonies, the Planets of Romance!"
Whoever had mailed it should be arrested and imprisoned19! Preying20 on....
The smaller print at the bottom was mostly full of facts and figures. The need for women out on the colony planets, the percentage of men to women—a startling disproportion—the comfortable cities that weren't nearly as primitive21 as people had imagined, and the recently reduced qualifications.
She caught herself admiring the man on the poster. Naturally, it was an artist's conception, but even so....
And the cities were far in advance of the frontier settlements, where you had to battle disease and dirty savages22.
It was all a dream. She had never done anything like this and she wouldn't think of doing it now. And had any of her friends seen the poster? Of course, they probably wouldn't tell her even if they had.
But the poster was a violation23 of privacy. Whoever had sent it had taken advantage of information that was none of their business. It was up to her to notify the authorities!
She took another look at the poster.
The letter she finally finished writing was very short. She addressed it to the box number in the upper left-hand corner of the plain wrapper that the poster had come in.
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1
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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avidly
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| adv.渴望地，热心地 | |
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3
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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4
rinse
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| v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗 | |
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5
platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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7
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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8
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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9
retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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10
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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11
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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12
panorama
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| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
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13
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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14
wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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15
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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16
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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17
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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18
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
preying
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| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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21
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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22
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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