Status Quo
by Mack Reynolds
Illustrated by John Schoenherr
Analog Science Fact & Fiction
August 1961
[Transcriber's Note: This text was produced from Analog Science Fact &Fiction August 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.]
In his income bracketand in the suburb inwhich he lived, governmentemployees in thetwenty-five to thirty-fiveage group were currently wearingtweeds. Tweeds were in. Not to weartweeds was Non-U.
Lawrence Woolford wore tweeds.His suit, this morning, had first seenthe light of day on a hand loom inDonegal. It had been cut by a Swedewidely patronized by serious youngcareer men in Lawrence Woolford'sstatus group; English tailors were outcurrently and Italians unheard of.
Woolford sauntered down the walkbefore his auto-bungalow, scowling atthe sportscar at the curb—wrong year,wrong make. He'd have to tradeit in on a new model. Which was ashame in a way, he liked the car.However, he had no desire to get areputation as a weird among colleaguesand friends. What was itSenator Carey MacArthur had saidthe other day? Show me a weird andI'll show you a person who has takenthe first step toward being a Commie.
Woolford slid under the wheel,dropped the lift lever, depressed gentlythe thrust pedal and took off fordowntown Greater Washington. Theoretically,he had another four days ofvacation coming to him. He wondered[pg 006]what the Boss wanted. Thatwas the trouble in being one of theBoss' favorite trouble shooters, whentrouble arose you wound up in themiddle of it. Lawrence Woolford wasto the point where he was thinking interms of graduating out of field workand taking on a desk job whichmeant promotion in status and pay.
He turned over his car to a parkerat the departmental parking lot andmade his way through the entranceutilized by second-grade departmentalofficials. In another year, he toldhimself, he'd be using that otherdoor.
The Boss' reception secretarylooked up when Lawrence Woolfordentered the anteroom where she preside