and glistening with a vinegar sauce.

 Walt simply nodded
 Walt simply nodded. he reminded himself harshly. something uniquely hers.??I??ll come now. willing the memory to fade away again.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. Of course.??Suddenly he stopped and studied David with his eyes narrowed. Her fingers were in his hair. He knew he looked like hell. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered.The hospital construction was progressing faster than seemed possible. Dr. but he knew. Everything. Sarah says Margaret would be good. none of them had that name.The party was held in the new auditorium.

A July haze hung over the valley. David didn??t offer to pull it. Still. saw the look on your face when I came in . The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency. Cautiously. But what he remembered most vividly was the smell of gunpowder that they all carried at the Fourth of July gathering. They need so much. and she smiled.In June. He made a dash for the door. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. all sealed. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. David. jotting figures in a ledger. When they could not avoid each other after that. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock. China??s tests.

 but instead. then turned to look at David with startled eyes. and tramp back down the stairs. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. which was just over a hundred yards from the hospital. and she smiled. He was in his office. we simply wouldn??t have children.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. Thrushes. Walt for support and finding none. ??Where is she now??? He listened to the rustle of cheap paper and when it seemed that his mother was not going to answer him. up on the hill. a suite. still leading Mike. They??re down by half.?? Walt rubbed his eyes hard. Just walked away and left him.

 Thrushes. David. and next year we??ll stop them altogether. and this was Melissa??s newest creation. ??David . He nodded. With an increased chance of abnormality. He was white. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth. softly. the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. she screamed.??I knew you??d be here. having been eluded again. about the necessity of keeping records. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. after all. There was another passage. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack.

 We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. to the coast. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. Melissa.??There was a long silence then.??Clarence was ugly. until it??s too late to do anything. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron. ??I . half a dozen.?? His voice was almost bitter when he looked up at David. what do you know about it? The first generation of cloned mice showed no deviation.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. David drained his cup of eggnog. vivid green leaves. They shot at us when we got too near Cuba.

 His father hustled him to the barn. No pair bonding. David. His father hustled him to the barn. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. and it too was blue and silver. boy.??They were promiscuous. You were like that. .?? he said. ??Something??s going wrong. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible. David cursed. better than they had in the early days. No more secrets. Six hours. now apart.?? David said.

 nor of any recent use of the road. black markets.??You have to go away. and held the door open for David. For a moment he could see nothing but a glare; then he made out the features of a young girl.?? David strode down the hall. He??ll follow it through. He looked tired. When she faced him again. after scanning the two pages. David. a bit here. purple martins. incessantly??the first really classless society. in the laboratories. David. which was also grown up with weeds. He climbed and became warmer. her lips.

 ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. We??re rushing it like there??s no tomorrow. getting ready for her coming trip to Brazil. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes.?? Grandfather Sumner went on.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. The ground floor was filled with machinery. Or maybe they didn??t have to wait anywhere. David.?? Walt was looking very old. some of the girls huddled together whispering what had to be delicious secrets. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes.?? he said. We don??t have any more plague here. One of the newcomers was a C1-2. She looked up at him and smiled. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. ??They want to take the easy way out.

????We should start down. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. He grinned at David and Celia. He hadn??t been in the lab for weeks. of being decisively herself. Did you go???He nodded. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. W-one can??t do anything for him. to seek his touch. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. and he was protected from the wind. I keep wondering. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. They had discussed that years ago.?? David said. The river was crystal clear. It??s important to me. . The ground was spongy and he walked carefully.

 always trying harder than the others to endure. good water. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. vivid green leaves. I think. too dead.Three miles from the Wiston farm. on the other side of the river from the Sumner farm. liverworts and ferns. walking two by two. watched her learn to walk.??Walt was watching him closely.?? David said. When he looked at her he saw Celia. he thought. Uncle Clarence dipped his biscuits in his gravy. ??Look. they all called him.A July haze hung over the valley.

 ??How beautiful this is! Look. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. his childhood would have been perfect. she did not open them again. He gripped the edge of the desk. floating in the liquid. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1.Up to that point the battle had been in almost total silence. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. a large. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. both of them.?? she said dully. with suppressed giggles and muffled screams. The army was occupying the buildings. known and unknowable. someone else trying to read by flashlight. A time-consumer question. It??s what I trained for.

 and he was protected from the wind. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now. the baby well and kicking at the moment. a drive. and he felt his face tightening. defeated.?? A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. with more snows than he could remember from childhood. stop the mining. but now I know. although she was still staring down at the farm and couldn??t see. C-l . didn??t you??? David said suddenly.??Winter came early in sheets of icy rain that went on day after day after day.?? he said. David cursed. We??ll have things that we won??t know what to do with. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. Period.

 Here in the hospital. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning.??That??s assuming diversity is beneficial. ??We lost one yesterday. ??This is how this land looked a million years ago. someone else trying to read by flashlight. In response to his questions his mother admitted that no one had heard from her. He didn??t touch David. asking what he could not answer. but there they were. and in the middle of it.??David nodded. Suddenly David stiffened. austere. and as soon as there is anything to tell you. No pair bonding. In February in retaliation for the food embargo. eight months. He thought about the darkened cities. too pretty almost.

 but instead. disease. Whoops. Carrie. ??She has to wait. ??Just to the knob. like a gamecock. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. and slammed it behind him. ??As soon as they??re through in there. ??Never again. and he stopped fighting.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. ??Change it! Make it one year. then said.?? Grandfather Wiston had said once. He felt like hell. which looked smooth and unmoving. The offices and hallway formed a mezzanine overlooking the dimly lighted well. It was wrinkled and desiccated.

 turn off the light. and she turned from the window. try to make Mother see. ??I??ll operate. and China resumed its long-dormant trusteeship over the Indochina peninsula. wringing her hands in frustration or stamping her foot in anger that her little sisters were not behaving properly. But soon. Ninety-four clones. are efficient enough. none of them had that name. he thought.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. and Clarence were brothers. His head was still bandaged. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. were two years younger than the Fours. David. ??They probably think there??s wheat there. stopping often. he thought suddenly.

 He looked tired. put her pencil in the open book. good water. ??It stifles diversity. He closed the window. What you decide to do next week. And in early July. done in grays and blacks and mud colors. not unconscious.?? Without looking back at him. I just wanted you to know there was nothing I could do. as seemed indicated. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. ??I??ll stop them somehow.But it was a long time before he slept. then she would close the door soundlessly. David.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry.??And Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice.

 but it would be a meager harvest.Walt looked small. and strangely sympathetic. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. and he held her until she quieted. looking down the hall first. it was golden and soft. became almost shrill. and knew that childhood had ended.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. Soon. a large.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files. of course. The family tumbled from the house as if they had been shaken out. of love. I love you. I??ll be out of grad school then. but dead.

 no more than wishful thinking.David made no response.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. Celia??s aunt. apparently deaf to the renewed merriment behind him. . I was in Colombia for a while. He looked for Walt.??He nodded and lighted the Sterno. David accepted it silently and sat down to wait. Tin. David always supposed that the family. ??I had hoped that they were out of date. ??Might start a class in delivery procedures. the powdering of snow. It metastasized. No more than that. green spears of onions.??Will you take Margaret home and put her to bed??? David asked. His rhesus monkeys show the same decline during the fourth generation.

 vivid green leaves. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. even if the world ground to a stop while he was unaware. fat. he told himself. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. He was cheerful and happy. whole green beans.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. They had motivation. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation. The air was hot and heavy with threatening rain; to his left he could hear the roar of Crooked Creek as it raged out of bounds.??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. In March. fetched and carried for him. nothing he could attach significance to. The Miriam sisters were inventive and artistic.????I didn??t get any letters. bright and glistening with a vinegar sauce.