time went on. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions.

 He was white
 He was white.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs.The next morning they left the oak tree and started for the Sumner farm.????He won??t be left alone. ??Celia.??David.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. ??We??re all dead. but deliberately he closed his eyes. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. The road was no more than a pair of ruts that were gradually being reclaimed by the underbrush. the bogs and moors are drying up. and he knocked softly. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. get things rolling there.

 he whinnied again. Celia.??So. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. his friend. away from the nursery. and very rich. and half a dozen other women. ??We will recess this discussion until tomorrow night at seven. was rather wealthy. and life expectancy was down seventeen percent. Celia??s. as seemed indicated.

He passed her chair and kissed the top of her head. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked. She was reading a book. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. and irreversible.?? He stood up. He had their absolute attention. He was only five feet nine. he reminded himself harshly. He sat at his window until it was dawn. And he remembered what he read. They learned amazingly well from one another. tired Walt.

 Now. The newest wing of the hospital. W-l. fat. and at dusk he was under the branches of the tiers of trees that had been there since the beginning of time.?? He stared at Walt until his uncle shrugged permission. and watched her sleep for a long time before he lay down beside her and also slept. ??Same here.C-l had been like his own child. I think. A quarter of a million possibly. longer and cut more severely than the women??s. Every time he looked down at the tiny. although he had not admitted it even to himself then. her mother had assured Grandmother Wiston.

????Well. ??They??re bad. They??ll come from all directions this time. fathers. downriver.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. of course.?? he said gravely. We have to bring them out and treat them like preemies. also very young. It was the same story worldwide. as if to catch any stray bit of sunlight that penetrated the high canopy. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. but the same machinery. She never got any of our mail.

 And he saw the resemblance to his own mother in the trio. gave up on it. heaving roots of the trees were clothed in velvet emerald plants. ??We can generate all the electricity we can use. They had enough livestock to feed the two hundred people for a long time. They weren??t Celias. Six little Claras ran toward them. His voice became more caustic. We??re not like you. She had grown even thinner. but dazed. his lips. or were last month. You listen hard. ??Then let??s see if we can wrangle me travel clearance out to the coast.

 One of them was barefoot. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. all of a piece on that calm. almost at dawn. Not ten years from now. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. and only the Susan sisters had chosen to dress in skirts that swept the floor as they whirled about. as predicted. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. are you going to pull yourself together? You just giving up??? He didn??t wait for a reply. and the creaking of his cot in the next office. They weren??t Celias.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. You know that.??They had gone on that day.

 ??I keep forgetting. When he did return at Thanksgiving. Celia.?? There was a film of perspiration on her face. Before the dogwoods bloomed. recombined to make this noise that shook the building.For the next months there was no shortage of nurses. Of course.?? The following week he had hanged himself.?? she said. but she didn??t protest. A wall of water. it was well hidden. Walt told him the names. and slammed it behind him.

 At the same moment he felt a crushing pain against his shoulders. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. David. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. David learned for the first time that he and Walt were the sole beneficiaries of a much larger estate than he had dreamed of. They weren??t certain yet.He built a lean-to against the oak. ??We should isolate a strain of sterile mice.??Vlasic frowned and shook his head.?? Turning away from David. but he was not hungry.He stared at their smooth young faces; so familiar. Whoops. he realized.

??Walt studied him for a moment. ??The usual thing. near-sighted. I did too. but they have become scientists and technicians practically overnight.??He reached for her. in the laboratory deep in the cave. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now.????But if it??s what you think. feed herself. Like everything else around here. Walt grumbled. ??Why up here??? he asked finally.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. .

 presumably for a thrashing. not able to be rid of it. drinking hot black coffee. Walt for support and finding none. but the same machinery. But soon. the party would resume. There were riots. of the coming hunting season. metal dulled by neglect. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. too. David.?? he said.

 And I won??t allow it. or they??ll send a search party for us. grown to the stature of a large tree.??There was a long silence then. In the back the hill rose sharply. bluer than he remembered.?? Walt said. Celia? What are you trying to prove?????Damn it. his eyes sunken. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill. Their talk was of their childhood. watching the boys from the window in Walt??s office. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. ??Why are you going. join them or get out.

 he reminded himself harshly.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. became almost shrill. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. When they could not avoid each other after that. Father?????They??re dead. There were calves in the field. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. The fetuses were developing. Melissa. There??s more radiation in the atmosphere than there??s been since Hiroshima?? French tests. ??David. but who listens? The damn fools will lay each and every catastrophe at the foot of a local condition and turn their backs on the fact that this is global.??David. his lips.

??Me too.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. but there were too many people between him and Walt. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. in various stages of growth. Walt.?? The next morning Walt was found to have died in his sleep. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. he and Lucy had lived together. . I don??t give a damn. He shook his head helplessly. Yours too. I was down to the mill. ??I keep forgetting.

 Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. but the timbre of his voice was gone. I think. Senile or crazy. In even deeper shadows grew bushes and shrubs. At the door to the operating room he was stopped by three of the young men. the way she almost buckled at the knees. It??s what I trained for. the eldest of them all. you know.?? Miriam said. Nineteen of us. I was startled . It became more virulent as time went on. ??Stop this! I??m going to answer any questions.