He met Charlie Adcock near the steps of the hotel. Charlie carried his shirt under one arm and was scowling. "You know," he said, "songs and pictures are funny things. They sure can fool a guy sometimes."
"Yeah," said Marsden.
"I don't know, Harry. I'm still glad they came. We were busting to see something different, either to have them come here or maybe to take off and forget all about Talbor."
"What do you mean, forget about Talbor? Talbor's a pretty nice place. You work all day, sure, but it's good, clean work and you know your friends are working too, and then Saturday night you can go into town hooting and hollering and no one cares."
"Yeah, Harry. Sure. That's what I mean. You know what? Those women of Earth are kind of skinny."
"It was an accident they came when they did," said Marsden. "A lucky accident. I like Talbor now. I wouldn't change places with anyone."
"It's still nice looking at pictures and singing songs, I guess, if we can forget about the real women of Earth."
"A lucky accident," said Marsden again. "Just when we got all starry-eyed about things that didn't matter, they came and showed us what we really had."
"Well, see you."
Later, after Marsden returned to his cabin, Marie said: