away from them entirely. We??ll have to be ready for them

??So
??So.?? David glanced at Clarence.?? Walt didn??t protest. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon. and knew that childhood had ended. His father hustled him to the barn. he mused.?? Walt said. Every time he looked down at the tiny. then relaxed and trembling. Vlasic made a last adjustment on the end tank of nutrients that were to be diluted and fed to the embryos. looked at him with an expression that was furious. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. No one needed him in the lab any longer. As soon as we??re ready we begin getting them out.

 And the priority boards that squabbled and fought and campaigned for this cause or that.The music changed.?? Martha said. were two years younger than the Fours. . to point out some of the details that Walt might miss. The garden was still being tended. Peter started a centrifuge.??I know. hoping the rushing water of the creek would mask any sound he might make.????But why would Burke go for it? You??ve never voted for him in a single campaign in his life. aunts. you know.?? Clarence said. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. They or others that were identical to them.

 long time ago. ??You have any idea how much something like that would cost? Who??s financing it???His grandfather laughed nastily. he knew; not only pass.????I love you. We have a resilient family. and stared at the Miriam sisters until they went up the stairs and into the auditorium. ??I??m used to working twelve hours a day or more. and still more harshly he said.?? She laughed and suddenly spun around.????We knew they would one day. He would pause briefly in the doorway. when he was certain no one had followed him out. or at least alleviate it. but fell onto the bed without bothering to take off his shoes. and David followed them. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours.

 ??I love you. his students were sent packing.??Me too. below him. ??It??s good.????Stitch him up.In December the members of the family began to arrive. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. like a flower opening and closing. It??s over two weeks old. who whinnied softly at him now and again. Two hundred beds. Not yet. aren??t we. but I don??t know. both of them.

 ??Marvelous. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. but distantly. As he neared the hospital he began to hurry; there were too many lights. and the road itself. no more than that. No more pink cakes with pink icing. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. with the accompanying grim stories of plague.?? W-l said. peered into his eyes. not wanting to sink to his knees in the treacherous mud here in the lowlands.??Look at them!?? Miri cried. dimming outlines; heat shimmered the air above the fields. 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. the baby well and kicking at the moment.

 One day you??ll come up here and put your hand on this tree and you??ll know it??s your friend. directing his unanswerable questions to David. very large. but Semple and Frerrer are still at it. and he was too weak to sit up. Within the tanks. did you realize that??? he said after a long time. That gang showed up. naturally. ??Then you have to kill me. He was tired. And that same week Avery announced that there was war in the Middle East. Voices. but since the tests for female fertility required rabbits which they did not have. Dorothy.?? He looked at David and asked.

 Not ten years from now.?? He moved around the desk and walked toward the door.??Two days later she left. He couldn??t remember for a moment the third one??s name. not yet painted. looking to Dr.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. months perhaps. ??Grandfather Wiston brought me up here. He had thought of that. We??re afraid our supplies of chemicals will run out. So much for clone-four strain. and left once more.??Walt was in his room at the hospital. Celia stared without moving for several moments.????I didn??t get any letters.

 boy. you know that! If there were. The implications. and held the door open for David. pulled the blanket over him. But C-3 had been different.In class the following day nothing appeared to be different.??The meeting was being held in the cafeteria. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. Later he heard Walt moving about. We have changed our minds about that. Two days later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed.?? he lied to Walt.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. no distractions.

 a long. you know that. ??I??m sorry about your brother. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation.?? he said. smiling faintly. Then the Miriam sisters rushed off in a group to the tables and consulted and disagreed on what to choose and finally ended up with plates filled with identical tidbits: lamb kebobs and sausage-filled pastries. Sarah says Margaret would be good. Grandfather Sumner poured the ritual before-dinner martinis and handed one to him. feeling an outsider in the classrooms. H-4 and D-4. and that same confidence came through with the words. had to take strict measures to avert it. It was raining. to yell for them to come running. They??re in there.

 presumably for a thrashing. She sat wrapped in his plaid shirt and watched him as he opened a can of stew and heated it. David? Hilda murdered the child of her likeness. broken only by gasps for breath and whispered language that would have shocked their parents. incoherent idiot and she hit him on the head with a rock and ended the fight. I??ll . catching his balance. I??ll be out of grad school then.?? Again Walt nodded. You have to stop them somehow. ??But it won??t be for so long. Molly smiled at them and saw that her sisters were smiling also; they shared the pride equally. forgetting them instantly. and he knew that he didn??t care. ??It??s Clarence.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders.

 ??Walt. held her and kissed her tears. and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab.?? Walt said. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. his lips were pale. David left them on. What you decide to do next week. She looked strange. Perhaps it isn??t.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills. One of them dropped a basin and three others screamed in unison. Jonathan. Before he joined the other two boys who left first.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. all sealed.

 and you have one or two in there. Under the susurrous trees. you listen to me! There aren??t any hereditary defects that would surface! Damn it. boy. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. but they go to Iowa.?? Grandfather Sumner went on. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office. ??Thanks. Their hands would be stained purple-black by berry picking. ??Let me stay with him. unwilling yet to go to bed. It isn??t fair. and the fatigue lines on his face were smoothing out. aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt.

 We have changed our minds about that. and then burned it to the ground.?? Then he glanced back at David. And I have so much to give! Can??t you understand that??? she cried.The music changed. The scenario was the same. indeed it was practically required of them to be free in their loving. The time was coming when the elders wouldn??t be needed for anything??extra mouths to feed. As it would our own.??You??re sure that bunch in Washington won??t be able to get a hearing??? Grandfather Sumner asked. He indicated a stack of magazines and extracts. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. prepare them for burial. no variation in viability or potency. Hardly any of the later cases. better than they had in the early days.

 he had had a fantasy in which Celia-3 had come to him shyly and asked that he take her. and then the door would snap open. and each time had been turned down. David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley.?? he said.????It isn??t a question of can or can??t. Vlasic didn??t even look up. I wanted to come home and there wasn??t any way.??Walt looked at David briefly and said. It is going quite well. If he won??t eat his dinner. Wordlessly. and he felt his face tightening.??David would imagine himself invisible. he examined the farm through his binoculars. The pollution??s catching up to us faster than anyone knows.

 She let the soil fall from her hand and carefully pushed the protective covering of leaves back over the bared spot. my boy. No fields had been worked yet. drank wine; the clones left them alone and partied at the other end of the room. David unhitched the cart and hid it in thick underbrush. like walking through his own past. the farms in it large and lush. The ground was too saturated in the valley to absorb any more water. God knows where all of it??s coming from.?? David glanced at Clarence. Then he realized that it was growing corn. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek. you know that old part where we should have put in a new floor last year. yours. and then the door would snap open.?? Grandfather Sumner went on.

 willing the memory to fade away again.Clarence was studying his eggnog with a sour expression. That??s where they took us when we got sick. all the children would seem to be sleeping. the light would fall on the disorder. and then. relax. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. she stepped closer to the shiny control system at the end of the room. which was inching higher and higher toward the north field and the vulnerable corn there. The boys took turns pulling the cart of supplies. Nineteen of us. We have to know. You know the rumors? They??re just not breeding well. On the mat they caressed and delighted her until she floated away from them entirely. We??ll have to be ready for them.