That night after Taps I told Ruth about the Council meeting and about my chat with Hoppy at the ship. She came and sat beside me and, in the age-old manner of a loyal wife, assured me that everything was going to be all right.
I stood up and began prowling around the room. "It's not all right. The plain and simple truth is that we've thrown away twenty years on this pipe dream. All for nothing!"
"You don't mean that, Harry. Not for nothing."
"The hell I don't! Remember how skeptical we were when we first heard about this place? Then old Hogarth, Daddy-Two, came to see us. Remember how we fell for it? We were going to be doing something important! We were the vanguard of a world revolution—the greatest thing since the invention of people. A great sociological advancement.... What a laugh! Fairyland is nothing but a—an orphan home! And mark my words, sooner or later they're going to come and close the place down!"
Ruth patted the seat beside her. "Harry, come back and sit down."
I scowled at her. But I sat.
"Harry," she said, "I'm just a woman. I don't know much about world revolutions or sociology. But I know one thing. No matter what happens, these twenty years haven't been wasted. We've been happy, Harry. And so have the Kids."
"I wonder.... Are they happy, Ruth? Do we even know what happiness is?"
She smiled. "Darling, please don't go abstract on me. I know they're happy."
"And what about Adam?"