input: Text: THE MAN OUTSIDE By EVELYN E. SMITH Illustrated by DILLON No one, least of all Martin, could dispute that a man's life should be guarded by his kin—but by those who hadn't been born yet? Nobody in the neighborhood was surprised when Martin's mother disappeared and Ninian came to take care of him. Mothers had a way of disappearing around those parts and the kids were often better off without them. Martin was no exception. He'd never had it this good while he was living with his old lady. As for his father, Martin had never had one. He'd been a war baby, born of one of the tides of soldiers—enemies and allies, both—that had engulfed the country in successive waves and bought or taken the women. So there was no trouble that way. Sometimes he wondered who Ninian really was. Obviously that story about her coming from the future was just a gag. Besides, if she really was his great-great-grand-daughter, as she said, why would she tell him to call her " Aunt Ninian "? Maybe he was only eleven, but he'd been around and he knew just what the score was. At first he'd thought maybe she was some new kind of social worker, but she acted a little too crazy for that. He loved to bait her, as he had loved to
  Question: Raymond comments, " ' Ninian was a ninny to locate in a mercantile suburb where any little thing out of the will cause talk.  How thankful I am that our era has completely disposed of the mercantiles --' "
  
  What irony can be found in this statement?
  
   (A) It truly is sad that someone who had the insight to create a plan as detailed could not have avoided living in such an area.
   (B) He calls the master behind their grand plan "a ninny."
   (C) Raymond has no right to call anyone "a ninny," as he is the dumbest descendant to arrive from the future.
   (D) Rather than be grateful that gossip has been eradicated in the future, Raymond is thankful that an entire class of people has been eliminated.
  Answer:
output: Rather than be grateful that gossip has been eradicated in the future, Raymond is thankful that an entire class of people has been eliminated.