The Past Master
With the United States on the verge of atomic war with the Communists, a handsome, naked
man—let’s call him John Smith—walks out of the ocean with a bag full of money and,
according to eyewitnesses, a mind to buy the Mona Lisa and a long list of other
masterpieces.
Then he began writing titles. I’m afraid I gasped. “Really,” I said. “You can’t
actually expect to buy the ‘Mona Lisa’!”