{"product_id":"2940014076869","title":"This Crowded Earth","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1.    Harry Collins--1997\u003cbr\u003e2.    Harry Collins--1998\u003cbr\u003e3.    President Winthrop--1999\u003cbr\u003e4.    Harry Collins--2000\u003cbr\u003e5.    Minnie Schultz--2009\u003cbr\u003e6.    Harry Collins--2012\u003cbr\u003e7.    Michael Cavendish--2027\u003cbr\u003e8.    Harry Collins--2029\u003cbr\u003e9.    Eric Donovan--2031\u003cbr\u003e10.   Harry Collins--2032\u003cbr\u003e11.   Jesse Pringle--2039\u003cbr\u003e12.   Littlejohn--2065\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e       *       *       *       *       *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Harry Collins--1997\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: The evils of long and dangerous years finally erupted\u003cbr\u003ein blood.]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe telescreen lit up promptly at eight a.m. Smiling Brad came on with\u003cbr\u003ehis usual greeting. \"Good morning--it's a beautiful day in Chicagee!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHarry Collins rolled over and twitched off the receiver. \"This I\u003cbr\u003edoubt,\" he muttered. He sat up and reached into the closet for his\u003cbr\u003eclothing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVisitors--particularly feminine ones--were always exclaiming over the\u003cbr\u003eadvantages of Harry's apartment. \"So convenient,\" they would say.\u003cbr\u003e\"Everything handy, right within reach. And think of all the extra\u003cbr\u003esteps you save!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course most of them were just being polite and trying to cheer\u003cbr\u003eHarry up. They knew damned well that he wasn't living in one room\u003cbr\u003ethrough any choice of his own. The Housing Act was something you just\u003cbr\u003ecouldn't get around; not in Chicagee these days. A bachelor was\u003cbr\u003eentitled to one room--no more and no less. And even though Harry was\u003cbr\u003emaking a speedy buck at the agency, he couldn't hope to beat the\u003cbr\u003eregulations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was only one way to beat them and that was to get married.\u003cbr\u003eMarriage would automatically entitle him to two rooms--_if_ he could\u003cbr\u003efind them someplace.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore than a few of his feminine visitors had hinted at just that, but\u003cbr\u003eHarry didn't respond. Marriage was no solution, the way he figured it.\u003cbr\u003eHe knew that he couldn't hope to locate a two-room apartment any\u003cbr\u003ecloser than eighty miles away. It was bad enough driving forty miles\u003cbr\u003eto and from work every morning and night without doubling the\u003cbr\u003edistance. If he did find a bigger place, that would mean a three-hour\u003cbr\u003etrip each way on one of the commutrains, and the commutrains were\u003cbr\u003emurder. The Black Hole of Calcutta, on wheels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut then, everything was murder, Harry reflected, as he stepped from\u003cbr\u003ethe toilet to the sink, from the sink to the stove, from the stove to\u003cbr\u003ethe table.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePowdered eggs for breakfast. That was murder, too. But it was a fast,\u003cbr\u003echeap meal, easy to prepare, and the ingredients didn't waste a lot of\u003cbr\u003estorage space. The only trouble was, he hated the way they tasted.\u003cbr\u003eHarry wished he had time to eat his breakfasts in a restaurant. He\u003cbr\u003ecould afford the price, but he couldn't afford to wait in line more\u003cbr\u003ethan a half-hour or so. His office schedule at the agency started\u003cbr\u003epromptly at ten-thirty. And he didn't get out until three-thirty; it\u003cbr\u003ewas a long, hard five-hour day. Sometimes he wished he worked in the\u003cbr\u003eNew Philly area, where a four-hour day was the rule. But he supposed\u003cbr\u003ethat wouldn't mean any real saving in time, because he'd have to live\u003cbr\u003efurther out. What was the population in New Philly now? Something like\u003cbr\u003e63,000,000, wasn't it? Chicagee was much smaller--only 38,000,000,\u003cbr\u003ethis year.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_This_ year. Harry shook his head and took a gulp of the Instantea.\u003cbr\u003eYes, this year the population was 38,000,000, and the boundaries of\u003cbr\u003ethe community extended north to what used to be the old Milwaukee and\u003cbr\u003esouth past Gary. What would it be like _next_ year, and the year\u003cbr\u003efollowing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLately that question had begun to haunt Harry. He couldn't quite\u003cbr\u003efigure out why. After all, it was none of his business, really. He had\u003cbr\u003ea good job, security, a nice place just two hours from the Loop. He\u003cbr\u003eeven drove his own car. What more could he ask?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd why did he have to start the day like this, with a blinding\u003cbr\u003eheadache?","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069163880688,"sku":"2940014076869","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014076869_p0.jpg?v=1763600327","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014076869","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}