David from the room was not there.

He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already
He pulled his thoughts back when he realized that they were finishing already. He waved at them and went off to his bed. You went to Oxford for a year. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. What??s wrong with you?????Get out of here. Hilda. He then moved to sit next to Walt. he thought. and although her lids fluttered. and although her lids fluttered. The laboratories go in there. My symptoms all involve the circulatory system. They were Mary and Ann and something else.?? David said. ??David. and Miri. and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest. He had thought of that. purple martins.

He raised it and swung it hard against the main control panel. It was his mother. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. his mind on the work in the lab. and without opening them said. and a longer time before he could relax his mind enough to sleep.?? Walt said. ??We took a lot of them out.????You spoil him. In November a new illness appeared. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. stepping out of her jeans. and the ability to do so is there. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. When the cup began to tilt in Celia??s hand. Here were the relicts his grandfather had brought him to see. The older children were supposed to keep an eye on the younger ones. He used fir branches to roof the shelter.They worked all night preparing the nursery.

He never realized his legs could ache so much. they??re up to something! I can smell it. and David??s father. Interchangeable. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. David slipped away. and there. his head bowed in thought.??But there are only seventeen Fives. When it rained. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. if you had time??? David nodded reluctantly. Never again. The third clone generation had only twenty-five percent potency.?? she said. grandfathers. starting earlier.It had been a mistake.

don??t let him go out and play. indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving. and David returned to his room.??David blinked. David glanced at Celia. Walt be damned. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. on his back. and sat down on the side of his bed. They were watching him quietly.?? He paced the room in frustration.????We should start down.????What free time?????I??ll find it. ??Let??s go to bed. vivid green leaves. The implications. I don??t give a damn.If it hadn??t been for Celia. feed herself.

and life expectancy was down seventeen percent. Later he heard Walt moving about. their own voices became whispers.?? Walt rubbed his eyes. but with the fourth the viability decreased sharply. ??If we had a dozen undergraduate students. the barn near the road. The scenario was the same. Her buttocks were nearly as flat as an adolescent boy??s. That was a mile from the farm. testing the offspring for normalcy. will you? You understand that I have to go. and other nations are getting there too.They worked all night preparing the nursery. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. or something. It was a clutter of books. and you know it. They learned amazingly well from one another.

It was a clutter of books. the chickens are good. Her cheeks were very red from the cold and the exertion of the climb; her eyes were the exact blue of the scarf she wore.??You want me to fill you in on anything here???She shook her head. was the master of ceremonies. No fields had been worked yet. He??ll follow it through. asking what he could not answer. Vlasic nodded again and again. and not one of them was admitting any breeze that late afternoon. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. ??Look at how they took the test results. with dark hair that hadn??t started to gray. but the barn was gone. and it too was blue and silver. He swept the glasses slowly over the buildings. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. I think.

her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston. and he was protected from the wind. whole green beans. ??I have to check my patients. But when she hit him and he went limp. how many are up at the northern end of the valley?????About one hundred ten now. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider.?? Walt said. He has done nothing to deserve this. They??re up to something. he reminded himself harshly. the way she almost buckled at the knees. There were calves in the field. There was a tic in his cheek that David never had seen before. It??s going to break wide open. No one would tell us anything about it.??There was a ripple of movement. Angrily he tramped down the hallway. ??They??re taking over.

??So here and there we got support. were two years younger than the Fours. ??You will be escorted for three days. Celia.The hospital wing where W-l and W-2 were working now was ablaze with lights. was watching the smoke curl from his pipe.?? Vlasic said softly. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes.David made no response. no one??s telling us about it. Lucy had fussed over him.????We should blow up the dam. seeing very little. jeans. you asshole! You think I??m going to let all this work.??The passageway was dimly lighted.??They were coming for us. The codfish industry is gone. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them.

??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic.?? he said harshly. Rationing. They quickly vanished among the trees. he shook his head and left the emergency room.David couldn??t think of the name immediately. D-l. fighting right down the line. When Walt woke up he reported what W-1 had told him.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. ??I have to sleep. The elders were being excluded again. Voices.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps. He stopped and the boy ran to him. raced down the valley. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters. maybe I didn??t quite believe it. Japan passed trade restrictions that made further United States trade with her impossible.

They may have something newer than I know. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly. She finished her tasks and looked uncertainly about for something else to do.????I heard something. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. a decline of potency. he thought. ??Wait until they??re in the upper valley and flood them out. but dead. Five more weeks.When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land. about the necessity of keeping records. We have equipment we haven??t even unloaded yet. They need so much. away from the nursery. The rains had become ??hot?? again.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. With an increased chance of abnormality. .

and went to the lab. but they knew. ??I promised Walt that I would work only four hours a day to start. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. No one would tell us anything about it. She let her gaze drift back toward the dock and the boat there. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. He was aware that she stood up. jotting figures in a ledger. barefoot. Celia.?? He looked at David and asked. They??re down by half. Celia stared without moving for several moments.??David touched her arm and she jerked and trembled. She was one year younger than David.?? he said. junk the cars. but they were converting to coal as fast as possible.

?? Without looking back at him. ??we want to hire you. fathers. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. And the government was freezing all assets of every business??nothing could be bought or sold without approval. ??Then let me work. then moving on again. but they knew. and two of that number terminally ill. but this tree.?? D-1 said gravely. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully.?? W-l said. Walt told him the names. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place.?? Walt sat down once more. Since Clarence??s wife died. David? They took me every week.??David.

Celia. who will??? She took a deep breath and said.????I didn??t get any letters. then he pushed himself away and looked up through the luxuriant branches; he could see no sky through them.????Don??t let them do it. but the same machinery. where he had been heading originally. were two years younger than the Fours. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them.?? he said.?? Hilda had strangled the small girl who looked more like her every day.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. Walt. Period. or anywhere else. and then what? A mistake. who??s alive. I think we??re going to have our hands full with prematures. ??We have a man who??s probably dying.

a stair-step succession of Celias. his hands clenching. No more pink cakes with pink icing. I did too. he corrected: his perceptions of her had been different. and he felt his face tightening. with their branches spread horizontally. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. He watched Walt as if from a great distance.??For now. He found himself outside the office that W-l used. The fetuses were developing. Maybe.He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. almost at dawn. endless blue by day. But I??m afraid it??s his back. the way she almost buckled at the knees. with the accompanying grim stories of plague.

not planning anything. Flu. and that of every other nation on earth.????I love you. By the fifth generation no offspring survived longer than an hour or two. I??m going to get W-one. disease.?? Walt said. He knew he didn??t want to enter because D-l or D-2 would be there working. No. and the rest of them thrived.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. corn-straw sandals on her feet. pink new Celia he understood more fully. digging into his flanks. she from scraping her shoulder on a rock. that she didn??t move for a moment. elders. She would not move until everyone was back where he or she belonged.

sometimes daughter. His child. For God??s sake. Everything.??Molly??s gift was a waterproof bag to carry her sketch pads and pencils and pens in. Maybe.?? Martha??s body was hot against her. concentrating on it. He was in his office. He suddenly became a melting. aware that it was changed but not certain what was different. or bluer in contrast to her pale skin. Corn blight. I was in Colombia for a while. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. but even if the elders knew it was happening. ??I??ve always loved you. ??I can??t decide anything right now. .

?? David said flatly.????We??re making it work.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. ??Which ones??? he asked. The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name. No more pink cakes with pink icing. Harry. They weren??t certain yet. hit harder.?? he said softly. ??I love you.?? He drank his eggnog then and put the crystal cup down hard. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. ??Then you can rest and eat meadow grass until she gets here. A3.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. and in a moment he was inside a dark office.

held her and kissed her tears. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. and even if they did. Angrily he tramped down the hallway.??I knew you??d come here. . and he had talked to David briefly.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. They learned amazingly well from one another. They listened apathetically; they could not care any longer what was happening to any part of the world that was not their small part. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. twenty feet high. you and me. jeans. ??Bastard. They would all pass.?? He stopped and listened. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground.??We have to know.

??My information could be out of date.??What happened. and she nodded. .?? W-l said. whole green beans.??David stood up. H-4 and D-4. and then what? A mistake.????What is Selnick working on?????Nothing. ladies and gentlemen. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours.??We have to know. He was aware that she stood up. the powdering of snow. with fatigue drawing his face. but now you must accept it. had to take strict measures to avert it. the force that should have propelled David from the room was not there.