 Why does the narrator only want one bed?
Confidence Game By JIM HARMON Illustrated by EPSTEIN [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction June 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] I admit it: I didn't know if I was coming or going—but I know that if I stuck to the old man, I was a comer ... even if he was a goner! "Tonight," Doc was saying in his old voice that was as crackled and important as parchment, "tonight Man will reach the Moon. The golden Moon and the silver ship, symbols of greed. "Sure," the man agreed severely, prying a little worriedly at Doc's arthritic fingers that were clamped on his collar. I came alongside and carefully started to lever the old man loose, one finger at a time. If a half dozen winos in Seattle hadn't helped me get them loose, Doc and I would have been wanted for the murder of a North American Mountie. Doc's thin frame, layered with lumpy fat, was beginning to muscle-dance against my side. "'Memory Jump,' you mean. All my great-grandfathers have it. I told the human no, thanks, and walked Doc toward the flophouse three doors down. I was going to have one of mine at the same time Doc was having his. It had happened a few times right after I first found him, but now it was worse. I tried not to think about it and helped Doc through the fly-specked flophouse doors. The tubercular clerk looked up from the gaudy comics sections of one of those little tabloids that have the funnies a week in advance. "Fifteen cents a bed," he said mechanically. "Fifteen cents a bed," he played it back for me. The clerk's hand fell on the coin and slid it off into the unknown before I could move, what with holding up Doc. "Had a quarter all along and yet you Martian me down to twenty cents." "You don't have any nickel. You don't have any quarter, not if I say so. There was a wino singing on the left, a wino praying on the right, and the door didn't have any lock on it. I laid Doc out on the gray-brown cot and put his forearm over his face to shield it some from the glare of the light bulb. I stared at a jagged cut-out nude curled against a lump of dust and lint, giving it an unreal distortion.
 He wants to be able to buy himself a coffee later on
 He wants to be able to buy himself a coffee later on  He needs the spare money to buy food for himself and Doc  He is convinced everyone is trying to cheat him out of his money, and refuses to pay for more than he needs  He is frugal on principle, and knows that Doc needs supervision