Authentic Science Fiction, December 1951 — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

98 THE MOON IS HEAVEN limits set automatically on what you can talk about, how you can act and the degre ma) which you can swear. But those very limitations provide some kind of a link with the cool green grass of Earth, and every other colour that isn’t black or white. With Reina around, none of you feel that you are so very far away from home after all. The mere presence of a higher toned voice helps to create the illusion that this is something in the nature of a stage-set. It’s rather like the sudden appearance of a flock of English nurses out in Burma_or the Middle East during the war. The sand and grime and‘jungle took a back seat for a while and were replaced by images of home. That’s the way it was here with Reina. It doesn’t even only take you back to the launching site in Ecuador. Each one of you gets visions of his home town and the women walking down the main street with their shopping bags. The whole set-up doesn’t seem nearly so remote. Even Atah Kark is pleased he allowed her to come. For some time, he had considered that there was no place for women on the Moon, or in a spaceship. No doubt he was sincere about it, too. But he’s come round now. He’s glad Reina’s here. As for your own feelings on the matter—well, they don’t really bear comment. You'd been pretty fond of her back at the launching site, but now it was more than that. Having seen her stand up to conditions and disappointments that many men would quail under, you reckon she’s got what it takes. You want to marry her, and it’s the first time you’ve ever felt like that. Reina’s certainly given you drive, anyway. Once upon a time that seems so long ago, you were a dithering kind of a person compared to what you are now. You used to gq around, writing the odd article or short story and managi to live for a while on the proceeds. You took a series ‘o odd jobs that you knew would never lead anywhere. comicbooks.com