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Show "It can be. I'm not nuts about your buddy Ben." "What's wrong with him?" "I just don't think he cares much, about other people. Other than himself." "That's just an act." "Is it?" "Sure. When I was sick and you called him, didn't he come?" "What else could he have done? And he brought you a jar of his mother's chicken soup, neither of which cost him much at all." "I still think it's more of an act than his real self." "I hope so. For Amelia's sake. Of course, she's no altruistic saint." Ben wanted to get married right away, pointing out that they would get an extra allowance from the G.I. Bill, that marriage was only a legal formality anyhow and would change nothing personal, and most important he wanted to get it over with before her parents got wind of it and tried to force a big wedding on them, all that meshugeneh business. Amelia argued for a June wedding, saying that if they married now her father would probably stop her allowance and then they'd really have to scrimp. She said they couldn't get the required tests and the license in time for next Saturday anyhow, so why not wait? Besides, her parents would never insist on a big wedding: they would respect her wishes. "Sure," said Ben. "Sure they will." Amelia couldn't find the time to get her blood test, there were other delays, and soon she announced that they had put it off till June. Ben had started cracking his knuckles and he cracked them then. "Of course. June's the only month to get married in." "Well," I said later to ( & & , "Ben's evidentally not selfish enough to get his own way." "A plague on both their houses. Those fools."1 When Amelia could repress herself no longer, and despite her worry about the shock to her father's heart, in a telephone conversation with her mother |