"John!" Ann said primly. "John Ward, you stop!" She went out of the room and returned with a glass half full of whisky.
Ward got up from the floor and weakly slouched in a chair. He took a long drink from the glass, lit his pipe with great deliberation, and spoke very softly. "Well," he said, "I think we've got the answer."
"Have we?"
"Sure. It was there all the time and I couldn't see it. I always thought it was strange we couldn't get in touch with the Outspacers. I had Bobby try tonight—he couldn't do anything either. I thought maybe he wasn't trying—or that he was one of them and didn't want to let me in on it. He said they sounded—funny. By that, he meant strange or alien, I thought."
"Well, I'm sure they must be," Ann said, relaxed now that John's outburst was over.
"Yes. But that's not what he meant—he's just a normal human genius. He meant funny." He lifted his hand. "Know what this is?" He held up the strange object on the string. "It's a yo-yo. An extra-dimensional yo-yo. And you were right—that thing is a comic book. Look," he said. He held the odd object toward her. "See this? J.H.—Jacky Hodge, one of the stupidest ones. It's his yo-yo. But I was right about one thing. We are being invaded. It's probably been going on for centuries. Invaded by morons, morons with interstellar drives, super-science—super-yo-yos! Morons from the stars!"
He began to laugh again. Ann went out to the kitchen for another glass. Then, after a while, she went back for the bottle.