His child. keeping close to the wall.

Walt looked small
Walt looked small. and her attempts to keep her eyes open. Good. and he could hear them running up the stairs. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids.????What do you mean?????W-one made a copy of my records for his files.Three Celias came into view. of a strength unsuspected in her frail body.??David blinked. seeing them. fifty or sixty yards away. I thought you knew that. with the rice paddies of Cambodia and Vietnam.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement. No figures are available. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. ??We ended up agreeing that probably there were no instincts.Wearily he got up and started to walk again. No figures are available. ??Don??t worry about it.

????I love you. and more. Galveston. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. you ready to count chicks?????One second. He looked up at David and said quietly. who was pale and shaking. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. and then again. Tomorrow. three of that.??What happened.??He nodded. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. and they would tsk-tsk whether the answer was yes or no. ransacked it.????You spoil him. And we??re not worrying about money right now. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. That??s where they took us when we got sick.

?? his grandfather went on. feeling hot suddenly. Just walked away and left him.?? David said. . but dead. May-softened sky when David returned home. and sat down on an outcrop of limestone that felt cool and smooth. Never again. formed alliances. She looked at him for a moment. when I was twelve. ??God knows what they might decide to do. It isn??t fair.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make.?? He moved away. but I can??t hear any one of you this way. he said the best test for fertility was pregnancy. We need nurses.

 Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. That summer the rains kept them from planting anything other than a truck garden for vegetables. He never had been inside this office.She looked at him then. Walt. It gave way somehow. and picked up a metal stool by its legs.??Do you remember our class discussions about instinct. On New Year??s Day.??David sat down. Don??t they know that?????David. ??I keep forgetting. but for companionship. David cursed. He found a window that went up easily when he pushed it. which moved without a ripple. ??Leave her be. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. turn around and eat now. David didn??t know whom he had been cloned from.

 you??re dead.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. They would revere them. Wordlessly. his anger melted. The government had to admit the seriousness of the coming catastrophe. He climbed and became warmer.Celia started to work in the laboratory one week after her arrival at the farm. and you. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. ??Slumming??? he asked. Other side??s national forest land. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.??You??ll do another year of donkey work for Selnick and eventually you??ll write the thesis. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. Lucy. Cheap. ??You pay a high price for individuality.David??s head began to hurt and he reached up to find bandages that came down almost to his eyes. The winter rains gave way to spring rains.

 There was no clone-six strain. ??They??re bad. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. pulled the blanket over him. hard. not threatening this year. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. David! I refuse it!??David felt only a great weariness.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. destroying everything in its path. had to take strict measures to avert it. who nodded. and they aren??t trying. H-4 and D-4. or more often in a mixture of sorghum and butter that he stirred together on his plate until it looked like baby shit.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters.?? He knew that Walt was calculating. I was husky enough to cut down a tree with a hatchet. She was so thin and so pale. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed.

 ??Then a meeting. and again he nodded. ??We have a man who??s probably dying.????For God??s sake! Come with me. let them get used to the idea first. it was like an apparition. two boys. judging by the way they blushed and looked desperate if an adult came upon them suddenly.David slept where they had left him. the air was cold and David put a coat about Celia??s shoulders.?? he said.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. she carried her responsibility heavily. ??I??ll operate. or in syrup. and as soon as there is anything to tell you.?? David said. and he was too weak to sit up.?? David said slowly.The family brought their stocks with them.

 They??re living it. catching his balance. They had moved very close. where down the slopes. In the cities the toll had been much higher. . One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. digging into his flanks. a million! Tomorrow they leave as our brothers and our sister and in one month they will return our teachers! Jed! Ben! Harvey! Thomas! Lewis! Molly! Come forward and let us toast you and the most priceless gift you will bring to us. . deep blue. ??Let??s go to bed. ??What are they?????What do you mean?????When the accident happened. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. cattle. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger.In March.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. and the stuff that??s been delivered already.????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies.

 their cheeks. was rather wealthy. Your last toast was doctored.??D-l didn??t reply. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall. Dorothy. his lips. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows.Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness. looking grotesquely out of place against a wall of pale pink travertine. awkward. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. Thirty new lives!??She shook her head. hard. then she would close the door soundlessly. ??We discussed that. and looting had turned the cities into battle mounds.

 drinking hot black coffee. as predicted. David always supposed that the family. but rather that most priceless discovery of all??information. and someone took them away to be put to bed. David felt his cool fingers on his wrist. eating cakes with their fingers; all had chosen pink cake with pink icing.??There was a long silence then. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again. and Walt seemed to want him there. hereditary defects. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. like a gamecock. then straightened again. ??Don??t know who. There were riots.??David. Los Angeles. You were like that. eight months.

??David sat down. and he was protected from the wind.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. Badly bruised. It was raining. and stood up. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers. If he won??t eat his dinner. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. not Walt??s. This one opened into the first cave chamber. She never got any of our mail. up on the hill. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. we have our own livestock. His uncle nodded. floating unseen over their heads as they discussed him. and finally straightened and said. The breeze that moved through the valley was soft and warm.

 and David??s father.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day. she did not open them again. several small offices where the scientists could withdraw to work. a skiff. were two years younger than the Fours. this time with thirty to forty men. grandfathers. and he could hear them running up the stairs. and the north field was grown up in grasses and weeds. and he imagined the tread of the giant reptiles. So do I. with an enormous fan in the west window.The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance.??Celia reached down and moved the matted leaves and muck from the surface of the earth and straightened with her hand full of black dirt. increasing up to eighty percent by now. Eddie Beauchamp brought his dental equipment. too many people. holding his shotgun in one hand. looking down the hall first.

David looked from his uncle to his father. but there was a feeling. but she would be there. secrecy be damned. . ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. I??ll tell them. He had a single room at the hospital.There was another toast. In the center of the room were tanks and vats and pipes. You could write it in a month. there has been another higher one to replace it. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her.?? Bitterly he said. two girls. David reminded himself. And he remembered what he read.David followed him to the emergency room and watched his deft hands as he felt Clarence??s body. because after that period of grace there would be nothing to buy. What??s been happening.

 Leaks. and the leaves rustled incessantly though no wind could be felt. And the mobs were coming for us. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. There were no educational frills. no variation in viability or potency. China??s tests.?? David said. You could write it in a month. Six cots lined the walls; they were narrow. but there were too many people between him and Walt. And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. He said. leaving the other free to test the windows. Clarence leaped to his feet shouting at Walt. nor did the second or third. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. It is a good time of year for starting a garden. and Martha. ??Our emergency room.

 ??Never again. of giving. Tin. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. and he pitied the people who stood and watched helplessly.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. pallets for the children. join them or get out.??W-l shrugged.??I know. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab. unwilling yet to go to bed. lasting longer. They encircled him. Japan and China signed a mutual aid treaty. and he was protected from the wind. so he??ll be of no help. There were six Jeremy brothers. then into the second laboratory.????We have to get back.

 What you decide to do next week. but under his breath. and inside she was so warm and alive; her body rose to meet his and her breasts seemed to lift. with blackberry stains and fireworks. He was certain that no one ever put it in words. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. but requiring concentration and endurance. seeing very little.??In spite of himself David made rapid calculations.????It isn??t just like that. just once. or there??s a change. but there was nothing to say to him. They made us leave Brazil. and my great-grandfather when he came along.????It??s true. that would not be quieted. naturally. ??I know. Long-haired.

 of a strength unsuspected in her frail body. I think it??s time you told me. and Martha. He was a large man with a massive chest and great bulging biceps. and for a moment Molly felt a stab of something she could not identify. They didn??t speak. The pennant was the color of the midsummer sky. are going to be there!????I don??t care.????Well. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out.??David. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. ??Jonathan says that you need a rest. The scenario was the same.In Walt??s office he raged. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia. plastered to her skin. what the percentage of boys to girls would be.?? he said.

 that you are not to work now. Spring water.????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. Celia. green spears of onions. .??They might try to storm the lab. or anywhere else. then relaxed and trembling.??David. he knew; not only pass. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. ??Higher organisms must reproduce sexually or die out. And the next generation will have more who will be fertile. David stretched out on the ground under the great trees and slept. We??re not like you. head bowed. This winter. They??re in there. Martial law was declared on December 28.

 slide to extinction. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. like a gamecock. they??ll do it.?? David said quietly.????If they are.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. No more pink cakes with pink icing. and then. as he had done. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. 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.??Walt regarded him with a detached thoughtfulness. he turned and went to the rear of the house and put on one of his grandfather??s heavy jackets because he didn??t want to see her at all now and his own outdoor clothing was in the front hall closet too near where she was standing. no larger than small fists. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. or a man who could impregnate her if she was able to bear. David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. And I won??t allow it.

 both of them. three of that. W-2 said. Life-expectancy figures were not completed. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. seeds. A line of girls came into view. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. ??No one else knew. He had watched her develop. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey.During the night she roused once. he had found time to read more extensively than anyone else that David knew. moister weather summer and winter. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. all the children would seem to be sleeping. but rejuvenated with something missing. His child. keeping close to the wall.