"I'd rather you didn't," Cliff said.

"But lots of women are working nowadays," she said, becoming excited by the prospect.

"Yeah, well in my family if a woman works a guy is looked down on," he said.

"Times have, changed Cliff Mellon," she said. "Women are equal partners with their husbands. I won't hear of an argument. I'm going out tomorrow to look for a job."

"Well, if you realty want to. But only a part-rime job. And only something easy, like selling in one of those nice shops downtown." Toni blew him a kiss. "You'll see, baby," she said, clearing the dishes from the table.

"The money I make will help and it'll be nice for me to have something worthwhile to do."

Later they settled down in the living room to watch television. The telephone rang a few times. Angel called to see what they were doing and Toni told her that Cliff had greed ft was okay for her to get a job. Angel thought it was a great idea and the two friends giggled and chartered for a while.

When she returned to the sofa, Cliff took her hand. "I don't want you to get carried away with this job idea."

"What do you mean, hon?" she said.

"I still want you to be my wife."

"I don't understand."

"I want you to have my dinner on the table when I get home from work and I want you to spend the money you make on yourself. Nothing for the house or for us. In this family I'm the breadwinner. And I stay the breadwinner."

Toni cuddled against him. "You know I like it that way."

They sat in silence and watched the television show. Toni thought about what she would wear to go job-hunting. But where would she start? The newspaper. There were always ads in the newspaper for saleswomen in boutiques.

She picked up the newspaper and turned to the help-wanted page. She circled a few ads and made some notes in the margin of the paper. None of the jobs paid much, but one of them was in an elegant men's store in one of the better hotels. A men's store would be perfect, especially in a hotel. Women didn't shop for their husbands in shops like those. Salesmen, mostly traveling salesmen, shopped in those stores. And rich ones too. The hotel in which the shop was located was one of the more expensive ones. Yes, the pickings would be good.