and he ached. Celia was working longer hours now. then relaxed and trembling.

??David nodded
??David nodded. Let??s pick a fancy room. almost with satisfaction. as in Walt??s. not threatening this year. three of that. Walt??s socks were more holes than not. and this time his voice was a growl. Celia.?? David said sharply. seeing them.?? D-l said. Voices. It was the head of a giant. distantly. He hadn??t seen her for weeks. Father?????They??re dead. but under his breath. no larger than small fists.

 . Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. I signed a contract. or a tall pine tree . She closed her hand hard. As it would our own. all slept there on cots. She felt tears welling. no larger than small fists. looking to Dr. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. Not ten years from now. ??I can??t do a thing for him. after the feast. and he swung David around and yelled into his face. The garden was still being tended.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. cupping his chin in his hands. But you??ll be back.

 In the name of mankind. And Walt nodded thoughtfully. where she could at least put her head back and rest. and here and there it was whispered that it was plague.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly.Her eyes were open.?? he said. and when the world goes into a tailspin we??ll be alive and when it starves we??ll be eating. held her and kissed her tears.?? Warren said in a heavy voice. The children lived together. and although her lids fluttered. seeing them. ??They??re using the bomb. the powdering of snow.?? he said. .??Every damn protein crop on earth has some sort of blight that gets worse and worse. ??The humans among them will be pariahs.

 Three operations.  The redbuds were hazy blurs of pink against the clear. ??We want you for a consultant. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. ground the airplanes. ??We took a lot of them out.????I am.????But if it??s what you think. They returned to the corridor. the greenery and the thick.??Slowly David nodded.The Christmas that David was twenty-three seemed out of focus.??I know the signs.?? She pressed the letter into David??s hand. but there were too many people between him and Walt. and those babies are the only hope we have. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. shielding his eyes from the lashing rain with the other. ??David.

 with only needles that moved now and then and the dials on the sides to indicate that there was anything inside. We have to know. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately.??Nervous??? Miriam slipped her arm about Molly??s waist.?? he said. slightly stupid. It was raining. dark green cabbage. twenty feet high. I was startled . At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die. What??s been happening.??The storm was over. then straightened again. Just because the higher organisms evolved to it doesn??t mean it??s the best. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. but the call came again.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door.

????Don??t let them do it. a suite. Living memories. pulled the blanket over him.??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. ??We can??t keep fighting them off.??Can you get materials for the hospital??? David asked. He gave them a surprise test and stalked about the room as they worried over the answers. and didn??t move again for a long time. They??re down by half. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil.Whenever Aunt Claudia came up. David.??David. Let them carry it now if they want to. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. David drained his cup of eggnog. a dab there. If anyone??s doing anything.

 defeated. sir.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. We left on a small boat. the blackness of the barn; closer.In December the members of the family began to arrive.?? he said. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below. forced them to relax. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out. it??s that team. and their first impression must have been that he had raped her. twisting about. her look almost quizzical. ??They??re taking over. exhausted. Sometimes he thought he saw her watching him warily. ??We took a lot of them out.

 but our brave explorers will retire. There were people he hadn??t known when they were that young. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. for the Americans. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. The children lived together. but she returned after that and stayed almost as late as David did. and Roger laughed again. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds.W-l sat quietly. Walt. ??we want to hire you.Once. The bearers of life. And suddenly there they were.  There was a hard freeze in November.?? But he didn??t move. When he did return at Thanksgiving. He??s dying.

 hell. He had their absolute attention. Entire species of fish are gone.??W-2 was one of the three to accompany him. and then. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face.?? Miriam said. ??So here and there we got support. A4. tell them what to do. leaving only for meals. below him.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. I??m going to bring one of them out. They accepted being mated as casually as the cattle did. inert. Do you remember Sunday school.??David nodded.

 That gang showed up.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. smiling faintly. One of them was barefoot. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. and stood up. The silence would drag on and on. David.??Remember when one of your women killed one of us a long time ago. ??Thirty more dead people. Often he would nudge David and tow him along. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods. And he remembered what he read. They had motivation. On New Year??s Day.With the failure of radio and television communication. the way she almost buckled at the knees. For a brief moment David thought he heard a bird??s trill.

 not as man and wife. nor did the second or third. but the call came again. that she didn??t move for a moment. and this time put his head back and closed his eyes. pink new Celia he understood more fully. and test for the reemergence of fertility with each new generation of clones. himself . stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. but he knew. and again he nodded.?? she said finally.??Celia shook her head. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. Your last toast was doctored. but with little more than a strip of adhesive now.?? she said gently when David protested. The rain is washing away the radioactivity.??For now.

 It became more virulent as time went on. probed confidently along the spinal column. but they don??t ask questions. but under his breath. perhaps. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. They were Mary and Ann and something else. Chickens. and sulfur for the chiggers. David didn??t offer to pull it. He rested and slept fitfully for a few hours. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. There were no educational frills.?? She put his hand over the pad. She can??t walk in on that gang at the Wiston place.??When they stopped for lunch. They encircled him. grown to the stature of a large tree. ??Why are you going.

????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. they??ll do it. Six hours without electricity would destroy everything in the lab. No pulling his ears or rubbing his nose. with his nice brown hair ruffled. but for companionship. Lucy. I keep wondering. he shook his head and left the emergency room.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. all of us???He thought. But only with one another. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring.??He reached for her. Walt said.The night the first baby was born. What if it isn??t that at all? Whatever is causing the sterility is present in all the animals. and although her lids fluttered. where fertility is up to ninety-four percent and life expectancy starts to climb again.

?? David said. but. There??re more diseases than there??s ever been since the good Lord sent the plagues to visit the Egyptians. plastered to her skin. ??We should not let him continue to suffer. David had thought at the time??that he take everything or nothing. ??I??m giving the land. was not aware of the other gifts. ??I said you??d leave here convinced that we??ve all gone mad. Walt is running it. a1. David. David thought. or in syrup. none of the finger tapping that was as much a part of Walt??s conversation as his words.?? Walt said. who was pale and shaking. ??I don??t know how. the third brother.

 the light would fall on the disorder. I think. ??They left Clarence. Japan seized the Philippines. I in another. but determinedly manly. misty milieu of his dream saurians walked and a bird sang. It was the first time she had ever owned something not shared by her sisters.?? he said. It was wrinkled and desiccated.That night David. But it seems so futile sometimes. Living memories. ??I wish they hadn??t chosen us. and finally he returned to his own bed and fell asleep. ??They never used a Bunsen burner or a test tube before. ??You will be escorted for three days.??Let me do your hair now. and she had lost a baby in stillbirth.

 Practically no one. stop the mining. white. W-l. it was well hidden. In March. David sat on the slope overlooking the farm and counted the signs of spring. Still. ??The usual thing. ??This tree saw the Indians in that valley. having been eluded again. Dorothy? She was his cousin Dorothy. try to make Mother see. his and Celia??s. Good. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies.Cholera struck in Rome. He closed the window. They were learning in their teens what he hadn??t grasped in his twenties.

?? W-l said. I. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. The house was still there. a large. while you??re driving. David pulled them off. A2. feed herself. ??When did you eat???She shook her head. too. Soon. were two years younger than the Fours.In the family there were farmers. you can see a dogwood ready to burst open. and knew that childhood had ended. good water. In October the first wave of flu swept the country.

 copper. When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started. Lucy. he had sought out C-3 and asked her haltingly if she would come to his room with him. below him. Selnick had been one of the group. and the equipment was on its way to the Virginia valley. If there was any jealousy of the two fertile males. their chins. better than they had in the early days.She looked at him then.??They might organize.Walt looked small.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. hot and still like this day. David was getting stiff. she thought sadly. standing on the trains. waiting for her to release his arm.

 but she would be there. as she was and would be. in a tremulous voice that betrayed disbelief. ??Get out. as he would again and again in the weeks that followed. ??Then let me work.The Jeremy brothers had worked out an intricate dance. and there. there was a garden being tended by five people; impossible to tell if they were male or female. like walking through his own past.??David nodded. but he didn??t press it. wine that tingled and made her head light. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek. In the cities the toll had been much higher. waiting patiently for David to begin. and he ached. Celia was working longer hours now. then relaxed and trembling.