“No, of course not,” said Patricia, pinching his ear, “you know I’m never happy with you, Mort.”
“Aren’t you getting a little tired of putting the world in order?”
“Oh, yes. But young people are so provoking. They can never make up their own minds, and you know somebody has to do it for them.”
“Haven’t you ever wondered how the world would get on without you?”
“No, but sometimes I’ve wondered how you would.”
“I? Ah! I wouldn’t get on at all. And yet you know there’s a responsibility in being married to a Dea ex Machina.”
“What, please?”
“The machinery may run down.”
“And then?”