In mad, green streaks of letters:
Bild-A-Man Set #3. This set is intended solely for the use of children between the ages of eleven and thirteen. The equipment, much more advanced than Bild-A-Man Sets 1 and 2, will enable the child of this age-group to build and assemble complete adult humans in perfect working order. The retarded child may also construct the babies and mannikins of the earlier kits. Two disassembleators are provided so that the set can be used again and again with profit. As with Sets 1 and 2, the aid of a Census Keeper in all disassembling is advised. Refills and additional parts maybe acquired from The Bild-A-Man Company, 928 Diagonal Level, Glunt City, Ohio. Remember—only with a Bild-A-Man can you build a man!
Weber squeezed his eyes shut. What was that gag in the movie he’d seen last night? Terrific gag. Terrific picture, too. Nice technicolor. Wonder how much the director made a week? The cameraman? Five hundred? A thousand?
He opened his eyes warily. The box was still a squat cube in the center of his room. The book was still in his shaking hand. And the page read the same.
“Only with a Bild-A-Man can you build a man!” Heaven help a neurotic young lawyer at a time like this!
There was a price list on the next page for “refills and additional parts.” Things like one liter of hemoglobin and three grams of assorted enzymes were offered for sale in terms of one slunk fifty and three slunks forty-five. A note on the bottom advertised Set #4: “The thrill of building your first live Martian!”
Fine print announced pat. pending 2348.
The third page was a table of contents. Sam gripped the edge of the mattress with one sweating hand and read:
Chapter I—A child’s garden of biochemistry. Chapter II—Making simple living things indoors and out. Chapter III—Mannikins and what makes them do the world’s work. Chapter IV—Babies and other small humans. Chapter V—Twins for every purpose: twinning yourself and your friends. Chapter VI—What you need to build a man. Chapter VII—Completing the man. Chapter VIII—Disassembling the man. Chapter IX—New kinds of life for your leisure moments.
Sam dropped the book back into the box and ran for the mirror. His face was still the same, somewhat like bleached chalk, but fundamentally the same. He hadn’t twinned or grown himself a mannikin or devised a new kind of life for his leisure moments. Everything was snug as a bug in a bughouse.