Year of the Jackpot 12

confuse her. "They sort of bunch up over at the right end."
"You're dem tootin' they dol See that dotted vertical line?
That's right nowand things are bad enough. But take a
look at that solid vertical; that's about six months from now
and that's when we get it. Look at the cyclesthe long
ones, the short ones, all of them. Every single last one of
them reaches either a trough or a crest exactly onor almost
onthat line."
"That's bad?"
"What do you think? Three of the big ones troughed in
1929 and the depression almost ruined us . . . even with
the big 54-year cycle supporting things. Now we've got the
big one troughingand the few crests are not things that
help. I mean to say, tent caterpillars and influenza don't do
us any good, Meade, if statistics mean anything, this tired
old planet hasn't seen a jackpot like this since Eve went into
the apple business. I'm scared."
She searched his face. "Pottyyou're not simply having
fun with me? You know I can't check up on you."
"I wish to heaven I were. No, Meade, I can't fool about
numbers; I wouldn't know how. This is it. The Year of the
Jackpot."
She was very silent as he drove her home. As they ap-
proached West Los Angeles, she said, "Potty?"
"Yes, Meade?"
"What do we do about it?"
"What do you do about a hurricane? You pull in your
ears. What can you do about an atom bomb? You try to
out-guess it, not be there when it goes off. What else can
you do?"
"Oh." She was silent for a few moments, then added,
"Potty? Will you tell me which way to jump?"
"Hub? Oh, sure! If I can figure it out."
He took her to her door, turned to go. She said, "Pottyl"
He faced her. "Yes, Meade?"
She grabbed his head, shook itthen kissed him fiercely
on the mouth. "Thereis that just a statistic?"
"Uh, no."
"It had better not be," she said dangerously. "Potty, I
think I'm going to have to change your curve."
II
"RUSSIANS BEJECT UN NOTE"
"MISSOURI FLOOD DAMAGE EXCEEDS 1951 BECORD"
"MISSISSIPPI MESSIAH DEFIES COURT"
"NUDIST CONVENTION STORMS BAILEY'S BEACH"
"BBITISH-IRAN TALKS STILL DEAD-LOCKED"