pack them.â
He held out a package and it wasnât until then that he saw the room.
âUnk!â he yelled. âWhat happened? You got the place cleaned up!â
Packer shook his head in bewilderment. âSomething funny, Tony.â
Tony walked in and stared around in admiration and astonishment.
âYou sure did a job,â he said.
âI didnât do it, Tony.â
âOh, I see. You hired someone to do it while you were up at our place.â
âNo, not that. It was done this morning. It was done by that!â
He pointed at the basket.
âYouâre crazy, Unk,â said Tony, firmly. âYou have flipped your thatch.â
âMaybe so,â said Packer. âBut the basket did the work.â
Tony walked around the basket warily. He reached down and punched the yellow stuff with a stuck-out finger.
âIt feels like dough,â he announced.
He straightened up and looked at Packer.
âYou arenât kidding me?â he asked.
âI donât know what it is,â said Packer. âI donât know why or how it did it, but Iâm telling you the truth.â
âUnk,â said Tony, âwe may have something here!â
âThere is no doubt of that.â
âNo, thatâs not what I mean. This may be the biggest thing that ever happened. This junk, you say, will really work for you?â
âSomehow or other,â said Packer. âI donât know how it does it. It has a sense of order and it does the work you want. It seems to understand youâit anticipates whatever you want done. Maybe itâs a brain with enormous psi powers. I was looking at a cover the other night and I saw this yellow stamp â¦â
Packer told him swiftly what had happened.
Tony listened thoughtfully, pulling at his chin.
âWell, all right, Unk,â he said, âweâve got it. We donât know what it is or how it works, but letâs put our thinking into gear. Just imagine a bucket of this stuff standing in an officeâa great big, busy office. It would make for efficiency such as you never saw before. It would file all the papers and keep the records straight and keep the entire business strictly up to date. Thereâd never be anything ever lost again. Everything would be right where it was supposed to be and could be located in a second. When the boss or someone else should want a certain fileâbingo! It would be upon his desk. Why, an office with one of these little buckets could get rid of all its file clerks. A public library could be run efficiently without any personnel at all. But it would be in big business officesâin insurance firms and industrial concerns and transportation companiesâwhere it would be worth the most.â
Packer shook his head, a bit confused. âIt might be all right, Tony. It might work the way you say. But who would believe you? Who would pay attention? Itâs just too fantastic. They would laugh at you.â
âYou leave all that to me,â said Tony. âThatâs my end of the business. Thatâs where I come in.â
âOh,â said Packer, âso weâre in business now.â
âI have a friend,â said Tony, who always had a friend, âwhoâd let me try it out. We could put a bucket of this stuff in his office and see how it works out.â
He looked around, suddenly all business.
âYou got a bucket, Unk?â
âOut in the kitchen. Youâd find something there.â
âAnd beef broth. It was beef broth, wasnât it?â
Packer nodded. âI think I have a can of it.â
Tony stood and scratched his head. âNow letâs get this figured out, Unk. What we want is a sure source of supply.â
âI have those other covers. They all have stamps on them. We could start a new batch with one of them.â
Tony gestured impatiently. âNo, that wouldnât do. They are our