Arl turned to Myra. "Myra, do you want me to go back?"
"Yes. Yes, I suppose so. You know more about this than we do, but my husband can be so obstinate—"
"I'm not being obstinate. This was all your idea, and now I want to see what happens."
Arl said, "There'll be quite a mess. Not only will Narka be angry with us, but the call will be coming through from all over, and none of our subjects can go over without my permission. You know what that means?"
George asked him what.
"That means that there'll be a lot of situations where poltergeists should have appeared, sort of like the old deux ex machina of your early literature, only they won't. That, my friend, will cause a mess."
George laughed. "I don't know. I've known a lot of people to get along well enough without your poltergeists. Everyone I've ever known, in fact. All my life."
Myra shrugged helplessly. "Honest, Arl, I'm sorry. It's just that George is so ordinary."
George scowled. He had been on the verge of relenting. He definitely had been on the verge of relenting. But that did it. He wouldn't relent now.
"Can't you make him?" Myra demanded.