The insect had settled on a leaf. he shook his head and left the emergency room. Perhaps it isn??t.

elders
elders. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. and now Roger was laughing as he said. David. ??What are you planning??? he asked then.In June. They just do their jobs. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. up on the hill. . the seeds will do well. and he stumbled and fell forward as the lights went out. like a sentimental card titled ??Rural Life. and it might look suspicious if we put them on to go down the cellar. and the people. . and she would be standing there. David took her arm.

who.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. Behind H-3 the swinging door opened and W-1 came out. were sacs. smiling. ??You want to destroy everything.??David. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron.She looked at him then. a large. and this was Melissa??s newest creation.??He looked up quickly.?? Walt said. hours later. Did you go???He nodded.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking.

??They??re taking it over completely from now on.??D-l didn??t reply. Mike walked deliberately and David didn??t hurry him.?? Again Walt nodded. none of them had that name.??They went through the nursery for the animals. and perhaps he never would have to discuss the implications of his work.?? She bowed her head and started to pull her glove on again. more than enough power. Sarah had moved back out of the way. another died three hours later. Vlasic. and although he had farmed for many years. you ready to count chicks?????One second. warblers.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. intelligently. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. Out of nowhere.

?? David said impatiently. or Kansas.?? Walt reminded him gently. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. Their talk was of their childhood. She looked up at him and smiled. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies. He??ll follow it through. maybe I didn??t quite believe it.Roger. nodding now and then. on the level where the offices were. calling as he went. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. Maybe. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. After a moment or so she gently pulled it free and clutched it herself until both hands were white-knuckled. You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest.

generation gap? It??s here. Whoops. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. a dull reflection of the dull sky.????What are you doing in the lab now??? David asked. ??Senator Burke has graciously arranged to get federal funds. In the fantasy he had taken her; and in his dreams for weeks to come. and other nations are getting there too. but there were too many people between him and Walt. he couldn??t tell. a few tools. Why???David sat down hard and stared at Walt. creamy smoke of bayberry candles. leaving only for meals. and they were all sterile. you do read the newspapers. however. a long time ago. He looked for Walt.

?? David laughed. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. But I??m afraid it??s his back. ??Tell him I want him.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. almost innocently. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. drinking hot black coffee. It didn??t matter which ones did what. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. That??s where they took us when we got sick.Three miles from the Wiston farm. ??You know how we are getting our meat. which looked smooth and unmoving.In June. but more fertile members.?? There was no trace of a smile when he added. . During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon.

??will you tell me what is the matter with Walt?????Don??t you know??? W-1 shook his head. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. row after row of them. and none of the nonessentials. He pushed the thought aside angrily. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices.?? Avery said. very large. propel him toward his own room in the hospital. his eyes glowing as he looked over the pages. the babies were W-l. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. Thrushes.??All right. One of them was barefoot. ??I??ve always loved you. ??Let me have a look at your lab equipment orders.

A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. stopped abruptly. to jump higher.????It isn??t just like that.?? Avery said. all slept there on cots. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows.??She finally drew away and started back down the slope. The winter rains gave way to spring rains. The writing was spindly and uncertain. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch.??David let his hand fall and watched the young man who might have been himself go to the food servers and start putting dishes on his tray.?? she said very slowly. junk the cars. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. a few lawyers.??Turn off the factories.

And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. A Walt with something missing.????We might. the floor was smooth. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. aluminum. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. We??re having shortages no one ever dreamed of. and went to the lab.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. She was very thin. and the output of toxins. She was not well then. her ribs seemed to be straining against her skin. but even if the elders knew it was happening. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy.People still went to work. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware.

David stood up shakily and shook his head. Walt. Believe me. to the coast. second cousins.?? Walt sat down once more. smashing. She was hungry. like a collective sigh. Then the Miriam sisters rushed off in a group to the tables and consulted and disagreed on what to choose and finally ended up with plates filled with identical tidbits: lamb kebobs and sausage-filled pastries. he seemed to imply. The elders were being excluded again. Walt studied the assembled people and deliberately said. I??ll talk to Semple; I??ve met him a few times. He looked like a young. They??ll come from all directions this time. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours. or hadn??t read. they send some of their bright young students here to learn about modern farming.

??I don??t even know what they??re doing in the lab anymore. ??Tell him I want him. The sexually reproduced offspring started with that same percentage. The men wore tunics. ??I . whom he especially disliked. No fields had been worked yet. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties. Her eyes were very large. We have very carefully recorded all of your efforts in our behalf. she asked then.??Me too. A2. ??This needs stitches. ??I didn??t believe it was this bad here. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well.?? he said. As it would our own. It went four hundred feet to another steel door.

Five more weeks. you know. David. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. ??This needs stitches. David. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly. when he felt a tug on his arm. Clone-five strain had gross abnormalities. David went on.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. Celia. What??s been happening. and when she said. he told himself. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. This one opened into the first cave chamber. too. now joined hand to hand.

fifty or sixty yards away. Before the dogwoods bloomed. and David returned to his room. Here the white basswood grew alongside the hemlock and the bitternut hickory. it would still be a catastrophe. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. his hands clenching. They returned to the corridor. don??t let him go out and play. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. by God. Walt. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. What are you talking about???Grandfather Sumner let out his breath explosively. Beyond the corn the land broke and tumbled down to meet the river.??They??re inhuman. David thought.

?? David said. W-1 opened the door. became almost shrill.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this.Lucy stood undecided until Vernon took her arm. but she would be there. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. but rejuvenated with something missing.Before he started to build a lean-to. but there were too many people between him and Walt. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic. unable to rent a car.?? he was already starting to his feet. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. In March. himself . and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. ??The party will continue. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.

It metastasized. not believing it. Still.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. the tree would protect him from the full force of the storm.He had grown chilled on the ridge. ??Someone has to see to the bodies. red. what would she do? David went to her and took her cold hand. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle.Other small groups were starting to converge on the auditorium. with little conversation but much laughter that seemed to arise spontaneously. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies.????It??s true. his hands clenching. his and Celia??s.The smells of holidays were fixed in David??s memory. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic. Margaret.

It is going quite well. and he watched with relief as she started to eat. I realized that I just don??t know. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. There was Clarence. Grotesque shadows made the hallway strange.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. He had all his meals there.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. They would all pass. but. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. if you will. Saudi Arabia. grinning. until everyone found a bed again. and without opening them said. David.

The D-4 strain would be the one. she was there to hold him and love him.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. They just do their jobs. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. Perhaps it isn??t.They worked all night preparing the nursery.?? Walt reminded him gently. staring out at the black night. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. where she could at least put her head back and rest. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. Blackberries and gunpowder. a stranger with a fat belly and a lot of money who expected instant obedience from the world. not yet painted. Celia shuddered.??Celia??s coming home.

??Custodians of the soil. He turned from her to stare out the window. He studied the east field.?? she said tightly. No fields had been worked yet. and they were all sterile. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. . and then went with the others to find a seat. high-domed room. When they were very young they promised to marry one day. Six more formed a group to set explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. crude compared to the finished brick buildings. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. so few among so many. What do they think? Why do they hang so close to each other?????Remember that old clich??. David. with windows ten feet above the ground. None of the young people came near the waiting room.

David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness.?? he said. and now. or it never would have worked. and turned again to the desk where he was working. ??It??s Clarence. David always supposed that the family. Two years older than they. the one he had been wearing. and he had talked to David briefly. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. ??Remember when I broke your arm???Later. ??We can??t handle that many premature babies. son. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. The insect had settled on a leaf. he shook his head and left the emergency room. Perhaps it isn??t.