Hal Annas

“ We assume that the wetness weighed half an ounce."
"I don't like skinny females."
"We have another one, less brilliant, but who meets all physical requirements other than weighing a hundred and twenty-three pounds and four ounces."
"Too fat. Can't stand fat women."
"Would you permit Lucy Hollowell to gain half an ounce consciously? She can do it in a few hours. Has a brilliant mind. Can regulate her own glandular flow."
"No. I don't want to marry a woman who is always thinking about her weight, and if she starts now—"
"You're very exacting, Mr. Cornith!" ”

“ Cornith, there is one little thing which the Foundation has decided that you implanted in your thoughts by suggestion before taking the test. They decided that you were being facetious. I am alluding to the specified requirements that your wife must be able to wiggle her ears, throw her voice and perform sleight-of-hand tricks, among other curious things. The Foundation says that these things may not be essentially required. But they do admit the requirement that she must be eager to please you at all times. ”

“ The requirements of Lucy Hollowell demand an exacting man. At least that's what the Foundation reports."
"Then you are giving her serious thought?"
"None whatever! She's too skinny. If she just had an ounce more meat on her bones, I'd marry her and not even ask her name. But I don't want to live the balance of my days with a female who looks like an animated skeleton, who has to stand twice in the same spot to cast a shadow, who has to drink tomato juice to keep you from looking through her."
"How about the woman of the same height who weighs a hundred and twenty-three pounds, four ounces." ”

“ Lucy said understandingly. "You still think those examinations and tests and specifications are stupid. I understand. And you put in a lot of things you didn't want. But I had to meet the requirements, and my reactions and responses had to be some actual part of me, not ad lib. I can change them in time."
"She's very understanding, Mr. Cornith, and eager to please."
"But it's all nonsense," Cornith insisted.
"Of course it is," Lucy said sympathetically. "It isn't right for you to have to marry a girl who meets all of the requirements you didn't want. ”

“ Lacks an ounce of being the right weight."
The willowy blonde behind the desk blinked blue eyes and frowned. "But Mr. Cornith," she insisted, "you fit Miss Lucy Hollowell's specifications perfectly. She even specified that the man must be very exacting, meticulous and choosy. Certainly you are being all of that when you quibble over an ounce in her weight."
Cornith picked up the specification sheet in his muscular right hand. He studied it out of thoughtful brown eyes. "This doesn't look right," he said. "I'll admit that I have strong features, but I'm not handsome." ”

“ Marriage was seldom discouraged, but it was urged only on those who came up to certain specifications. The purpose was to improve mankind in order that man might hold his own in a solar system that was even now reaching out toward the stars. The system had long been in effect on Mars, but owing to the colder climate and the thinner atmosphere, Mars had less than a tenth the population of earth. ”

“ He could think of a thousand reasons why it would be interesting to be married to such an intensely alive creature. And he wasn't deceived about what were termed her bad qualities. They were the result of a training pattern. ”