TIPPY.  That’s it.  The trouble is you’ve got it too good!

KEN.  That’s right.  Maybe I’ve got it too good, [TED enters.  Now has new hat, brown; better taste, better fit, and more becoming.  He and KEN greet each other with a little restraint.] Hello, Ted.

TED. Hello.  You look fine.  Married life must agree with you.

KEN.  Nothing like it.  Married life, and work.

TED. Oh yes, work.  You do have a job, haven’t you?

KEN.  Yes, you bet I have.

TED. And a job’s a job, even if it falls from the moon.

TIPPY.  The moon?  Are there capitalists on the moon?

TED. Do all jobs come from capitalists?

TIPPY.  Don’t they?

TED. Ask Martin.  He says there are no capitalists in Russia but lots of jobs.

KEN.  God, are you going Red, Ted?

TIPPY.  Ted’s not going anywhere, but I’m going to the kitchen to start the muffins.  The rest of the dinner is on the way, Ted.  So lick your chops for a feast.

[He goes.  There is an awkward pause, during which TED self-consciously removes his coat under KEN’S curious eyes.]

KEN.  Nice outfit.

TED. Glad you like it.—­Going to be like old times.  Regular reunion of the Class of ’29.

KEN.  Yes.

[Pause.]

TED. Where’s Laura?

KEN.  She’s gone out to do some shopping.

TED. Oh.  With Kate?

KEN.  No.  Kate wasn’t here.

TED. She was here before.

KEN.  She wasn’t when we came.

TED. Oh!

KEN.  Laura went with Martin.

TED. Shopping?

KEN.  That’s right.

[Pause.]

TED. Great to have the whole bunch together again, huh?

KEN.  Yes, great.

[Pause.]

TED. You seem satisfied with your job.

KEN.  Hell yes.  It’s a great job.  The salary isn’t anything to boast of—­yet.  But the future looks like a million.  You see, Prescott didn’t hire me for any routine detail.  He has men for that.  His object in taking me on was to develop for him my plans for fabricated housing.

TED. Sounds fine.

KEN.  Christ, Ted, do you realize what it means, after you’ve wasted years, to get back and do real work?

TED. Must feel great.

KEN.  Ted, why don’t you get a job?

TED. I haven’t turned down any.

KEN.  But have you been going about it in the right way?  Of course I realize you haven’t any real professional training.  But you know the rare books racket.  There must be a lot of money in publishing limited editions.  What’s wrong with that business?

TED. Unfortunately, the people I know don’t consider me a business man.

KEN.  What you are and how you’re considered isn’t important.  It’s the way you go after things.—­The trouble with you is you got started down and just kept on going down.—­Oh, I know how that is.  It looked that way for me once.  Things were awful.