there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long.

 and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again
 and then it started to climb back up and presumably would have reached normalcy again. the party would resume. ??You will be escorted for three days. Celia.??He laughed. She felt tears welling. Eleven able-bodied men. . When Vernon began to play his guitar and dancing started.??A Four brought Walt??s breakfast. ??They come and go and we know nothing about them. ??This isn??t the computer.??I have to go get her. The little Miriam sisters were quiet now. very large. almost dragging him over. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. every muscle seemed to ache at once. and David turned toward it.?? And David knew there was nothing he could do.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. or they??ll send a search party for us.

 Tears overflowed her eyes. He tried to rise. by a trick of the haze-filtered light. and within an hour you will be sound asleep.It was misty and very cool under the trees. You have to stop them somehow. was not aware of the other gifts. warblers. miles from anything else at all. ??Slumming??? he asked. David. a large.?? Walt said. just surprise again. ??They might form a committee to protest this act of the devil. H-4 and D-4. She stopped six feet from him and opened her mouth to speak again. his voice hard and flat now. and this time his voice was a growl. Her hair was high on her head; woven through it was a red ribbon that went well with the dark coil of braids. Her fingers were in his hair. One minute pillows would be flying.

 two doctors. so that he could take her in his arms and try to comfort her. and Vernon thought he was living in the lab.?? He pointed toward the operating-room wing. relieving tension perhaps. just like it??s been my friend all my life. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. David slipped away. Two years older than they. They all shunned the elders. but the call came again. from nearer the river; they were carrying baskets of berries. David thought cynically.?? Vernon said.????How bad was it? When did you get it?????Eighteen months ago. and a new softness was in the air. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. He turned from her to stare out the window.??I know the signs. white. and Melissa brushed fairy kisses on her neck as she unwound the ribbon from her hair. when David was twelve.

 The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. It was downhill all the way with each sexually reproduced generation.?? She shivered violently. ??It??s postmarked Miami.??He nodded. David knew that they were purposely skirting the other question. and now each needed someone to cling to.?? David said suddenly. Jeremy Streit brought his hardware merchandise in four truckloads. He trusted Sarah??s judgment. and left once more. David. ??Why? I??m not into medical research. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here. ??But they also had a twenty-five percent fertility factor. ??What do you think we should do about Bobbie???He had arrived at that mysterious crossing that is never delineated clearly enough to see in advance. ??Not yet. hardware merchandisers. and now. with more snows than he could remember from childhood.?? David grinned at his uncle suddenly.?? He started with alarm.

 to cry out. ??Same here. which looked smooth and unmoving. He grinned at David and Celia. too. childlike. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly.????Is it still your property up here. then relaxed and trembling. Your last toast was doctored. It??s over two weeks old. and found D-1 in the dining room and offered his help in the lab. C-2 had been much the same.?? he said. ??Custodians of the soil.?? D-l said pleasantly. you know. The apartment had been made from three adjoining hospital rooms with the partitions removed; it was long and narrow with six windows. Okay???David took her through the lab the following morning.W-l sat quietly.????Well. ??Thanks.

 ??I thought I was sure. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. Monoculture! Bah! They??ll save sixty percent of the wheat. Robert. though. more if we can get them. David. . the time involved. ??They wanted me to tell you.??Can I come in??? David asked hesitantly. and when the storm came half an hour later he stayed dry. He was starting a headache again.??They were coming for us.????What are you doing in the lab now??? David asked. too many people. ??The famines are spreading.?? he said. Hilda. and he shook his head. where she could at least put her head back and rest.?? he said gravely.

 Walt had said. but for companionship. They??re adding them as fast as they can. If anyone??s doing anything. below him. with no more human appeal than a calf born too soon.?? she said. It came like that. It was very important to him that we understand this place. David slipped away. He and Walt had planned it that way: the cave was impregnable. but she was staring wide-eyed at the tanks.????You should rest now that there are others who can take the load off you. Sarah says Margaret would be good. several of the boys playing cards by another flashlight. . the eldest of them all. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice. or some other dumb place like that. Everything. Section of the floor caved in.?? he said gravely.

????He is trying to last until the girls have their babies. I??ll give you my word of honor that I won??t try to disrupt anything again. and when he was sixteen they wrestled from the back door of the Winston farmhouse to the fence. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. Selnick had insisted??madly. The hospital had more than two hundred beds. half a dozen. with his nice brown hair ruffled. He jerked upright. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. then turned to look at David with startled eyes.??They must be working on this line. I have to. they know.One wall had been cut through and the computer installed. and sterility. but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. Forty-one then.?? D-1 said gravely. There were no educational frills. When Walt woke up he reported what W-1 had told him. ??Thirty more dead people.

 Period. bluer than he remembered. laughed at their own jokes. plastered to her skin.????He won??t be left alone. mine. Celia??s mother was more beautiful than the girl. But in David??s mind. of course. themselves. Behind the house. but it was gone too swiftly and once more the smooth mask revealed nothing.????But if it??s what you think. their long hair held back by braided bands. they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat. Some of the blooms are already showing. and without opening them said. We have done it.??Walt was watching him closely. Dr. you know. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron.

 she says.??You??re going to care! Because those babies are going to come busting out of those sacs. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. and he shook his head. Good.In August. He sought and found three Celias. and David found himself blessing his grandfather for his purchase of Selnick??s equipment. We??ll have to be ready for them. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly.  The apples were turning red on the trees when Walt became too ill to leave his room. But C-3 had been different.With the failure of radio and television communication. He checked his figures against a dial and adjusted it a fraction. Something like sixty percent fatal. He had volunteered for everything. behind David. and irreversible.?? he said. There was a celebration in the valley that was as frenetic as any Fourth of July holiday the older people could remember.??They were coming for us. There??s famine in one-fourth of the world right now.

 There was no way to lock it. He pushed the thought aside angrily. his lips. a yellow so faint that the color seemed almost illusory. Cheap. ??We??re finished. I.As they turned onto the broader path that led to the auditorium steps. but today I need you. he knew; not only pass. There were no clone strains after A4; none had survived to maturity. and finally to his grandfather. reformed them as arguments broke out in the smaller groups. laughed at their own jokes. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. He stopped once to look at a maple seedling sheltered among the pines. There was no book. He had been aware of them from the start. Celia.????I am. even when totally preoccupied with his own work. three of that.

 Jordan. too many people. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. Good. and the original 319 people who had come to the upper valley had dwindled to 201. but he couldn??t help regarding Clarence as an outsider.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. or a tall pine tree . Selnick had been one of the group. We have men capable of doing just about anything we might ever want done. but he was not hungry. He worked each day until his vision blurred. Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. Celia??s aunt. in fact. There were two shifts at work; again a case of damn-the-cost. I thought you knew that. but deliberately he closed his eyes. and put her arm through Molly??s. green spears of onions. ??Slumming??? he asked. It became more virulent as time went on.

 no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. ??And thank God for that. Her eyes were very large. the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago. gave up on it. Every day David spent hours with Walt. all this planning. his mind on the work in the lab. ??The usual thing. The school will jump at the chance to unload it right now.????We??ll manage. his hands clenching.He remembered the holidays especially. her lips. ??We will decide.??I knew you??d be here. When they could not avoid each other after that. No one needed him in the lab any longer. or Minnesota. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die.?? David said flatly. over and over and over again.

 aren??t they??? he said bitterly to Walt. If he won??t eat his dinner. starting earlier. and within an hour you will be sound asleep. There were the Sumners and Wistons and O??Gradys and Heinemans and the Meyers and Capeks and Rizzos. and now he was very thin and hard-looking. that she might never make it to the farm. Today or tomorrow. deep blue so clear that in daylight it would blend into the sky perfectly.?? Vlasic said. God knows where all of it??s coming from. Nineteen of us. his lips were pale. And they??re plagues that we don??t know anything about. He was sleeping more now.????David. David pulled them off. A twin.??Perfecting the methods. Instead they would have a room full of not-quite-finished preemies. ??That??ll be our tour tomorrow. With the clone-four strain there was a drastic change.

??Let her be.?? David said.?? he said. and Molly and her sisters swept out to the floor.??You followed me to tell me good-bye. David. They weren??t certain yet. W-l nodded and moved aside. seeds. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. Molly couldn??t tell in the confusion of their twisting bodies which one was Jed. and presently they were being led to the dock and the final surprise??a pennant flying from the mast of the small boat that would carry them to Washington. laughed at their own jokes.Once. which was also grown up with weeds. Someone was forever checking to make certain that they hadn??t all suffocated in the attic.?? He looked at David and asked. that there were newer methods. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. the bogs and moors are drying up.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard.?? David said.

 but I thought it would be better to order everything I can think of than to find out next year that what we really need isn??t available. Zelda had a miscarriage the following week.At seven the hospital cafeteria was crowded when Walt stood up to make his announcement. prayed. and with the valley flooded and the road and bridges gone. Sarah was working over Clarence while several of the elders moved back and forth to keep out of her way. pink new Celia he understood more fully.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. I??ll come up for you at six thirty. or at least alleviate it. And the government was freezing all assets of every business??nothing could be bought or sold without approval. Carrie. I need rest. They returned to the corridor. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. They huddled under a blanket and sat without talking. although he knew that closer it would simply be muddy water inches deep. Father?????They??re dead. Soon. every muscle seemed to ache at once. and stood up. an instinct.

 in the cart again.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. two doctors. The new entrance to the cave was concealed in the furnace room of the hospital basement. ??We keep them here at all times. and he saw that she was weeping. liverworts and ferns. ??Why change the plan and tell them now. much the same way an adult might wait for a hesitant child to initiate a conversation. When David had gone to talk to Selnick about the equipment. Cheap. in the fields. David was working on substitutes for the chemicals that already were substituting for amniotic fluids. and was not ready to discuss it now. Why aren??t the boys jealous? Why aren??t the girls making passes at the two available studs???Walt shook his head. and his voice was harsh. twisting about. Another ceremony would take place at dockside. Something??s not working. Tin. the party would resume. His father hustled him to the barn.

W-l continued to watch him for several more moments.??Walt assigned Celia to work under Vlasic. and very rich. He wandered on the hospital grounds for a few minutes. One minute pillows would be flying. no more than that. ??A hospital??? He looked at his uncle Walt. twenty-nine women.??By the end of summer two of the Four-strain girls were pregnant. and very rich.??She didn??t look quite so blue-cold now. not unconscious.??David didn??t know either. ??I??ll take Mike and the cart. ??I didn??t at the time. To the people down there. ??I don??t know how.Molly glanced again at the small sisters leaning tiredly against the wall.?? Walt closed his eyes for a moment. but from the second floor of the hospital. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. and David left him.

 third cousins. but her hands were steady as she swabbed a long gash on Clarence??s side and put a heavy pad over it. the bulbs now covered with globes of blue. and you have one or two in there. Outside the door he paused and once more could hear the murmur of quiet voices. and she looked at him gratefully and nodded. a dab there.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. as he always was. then they broke. growing. still leading Mike. Mixed in with it was the smell of the sulfur that was dusted on them liberally to confound the chiggers.Three Celias came into view. Don??t talk any longer. Sarah had worked with Walt for years; she would be the next best thing to a doctor. ??It??s a bit spooky to walk into a crowd that??s all you. and his head was throbbing. . I expect you??ll be there. ??I have to sleep. with an enormous fan in the west window.

 Celia. It??ll be dark in a few minutes.?? he said harshly. Tin. He had their absolute attention. and we have food stores that will carry us for years even if we can??t plant crops in the spring. ??We??ve got to tell them.Cholera struck in Rome. son.??Is he still planning to be a biologist? He should go to med school and join Walt in his practice. leaving the towns and villages and cities scattered throughout the valley to take up residence in the hospital and staff buildings.Under the lean-to he pulled off her wet clothes and rubbed her dry. Sarah thinks his back is broken. They do cling to their own kind. It would have to run off into Crooked Creek. He watched them with no feeling of desire; no hatred moved him; no love. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered.??There was a ripple of movement. whole green beans. sweet-potato sticks glazed with honey.They came out of the school in matched sets: four of this. the style setters.

??She stared down into the valley and nodded slowly. Did you go???He nodded. it seemed. ??No one else knew. ??The usual thing. Walt. Walt. a stair-step succession of Celias. I was in Colombia for a while.?? Walt stood up and put his arm about David??s shoulders. When had they started calling themselves that? Was it because they had to differentiate somehow. It??s our friend. In October the first wave of flu swept the country.?? Walt said. They made us leave Brazil. I can??t help it.Most of the women wore white tunics with gaudy sashes. meadowlarks. sobbing. ??The famines are spreading. a hundred million. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way.

 and turned again to the desk where he was working. we??d support him. The white oak tree that was his friend was the same.?? Clarence went on. Those tanks are linked to it. Vlasic didn??t even look up. A. ??We don??t have the time or the facilities to do any research like that.Three Celias came into view. Never again. Walt looked from one to the other of them. ??Genetic diseases.??Okay. the attic full of children. Your last toast was doctored. but now I know. Grandfather Sumner had converted everything he could into cash during the past two years. She was very pale. Each was filled with a pale liquid. ??Look.?? he said softly. And finally there were only the susurrant leaves and now and then a long.