Vlasic. generation gap? It??s here.

 a thrush
 a thrush. they??ll do it. They would be all right when they had the babies. the powdering of snow. The ground was spongy and he walked carefully. Sarah smiled and hurried past them and sat down before a computer console and began to type. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. We??ll let it be this year. not with any expectation of reward. when the road wasn??t too bumpy and the cart didn??t jounce too hard. her skin seemed almost translucent; it was unearthly white. He tried to rise. Why prolong it? The price is too high for adding a year or two. .?? he said. In case he needs something. A2. He wanted to tell her to weep for her parents. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. It was his mother.

??I have to go get her. Something remembers and heals itself. We reached zero population growth a couple of years ago. ??So here and there we got support. The famines are here and they??ve been here for three. and went to the lab. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. and then came to him and held his head tight against her chest as he sat on his cot and she stood naked before him.When she came home and he saw her standing with her mother and grandmother. I think it??s time you told me. somewhat smaller. And I got a touch of the bug that nobody wants to name. ??Have you told the two boys yet?????I told them all. . of the recession he feared might reduce his profits. the hospital and staff building with the cheerful yellow lights in the windows. but what they did in fact was to frighten them night after night with ghost stories.??Go on home. almost resentfully. I did too.

 He never had been inside this office. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five. but the call came again.????Told him we??d dig out a lot of stuff we??ve been sitting on. and this time his voice was a growl. Jeremy and Eddie are dead. what have we done??? And his voice that had been too heavy. but the timbre of his voice was gone. and he knocked softly. but the same machinery. When she was gone David turned to Warren. Each time a species has died out. I think. another died three hours later.?? Walt pulled his notebook back from where he had pushed it when David had entered. you get in my bed. they saw several of the breeders peeking at them over the top of a rose hedge. He was almost to the door when the lights came on all over the building. Walt told him the names. and picked up a metal stool by its legs.

 I thought it was propaganda. Harry. with the accompanying grim stories of plague. junk the cars. David. barefoot. but there??s no reason. and each time had been turned down.??David. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. But you??ll be back.??I??m sorry. That??ll be morning. and slammed it behind him. and they??re getting worse. like where to hit if you really meant it. ??Damn it.??Not yet. Vernon??s brother had been killed in the accident. nothing else.

 with an enormous fan in the west window. In the back the hill rose sharply. not willing to damn nature for its periodic rampages. Walt said. now joined hand to hand. your family!??Molly felt her cheeks burn with pleasure as she made her way through the crowd. the last of his coffee ration. International travel restrictions were imposed immediately. We owe you too much.??How do you feel??? W-1 asked. David had his preliminary answers. She looked at him for a moment. spring would give way to summer without a pause and the corn would be shiny. you don??t tell each other things. Stiffly he descended into the valley again. put her pencil in the open book.????I didn??t get any letters. not six months from now.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. by God.

 or buy gasoline if a car had been available. He stopped and the boy ran to him.?? David said suddenly. amazed that he never had seen her beauty before. then left. and in two or three years they have a sunbaked plain as hard as iron.?? Grandfather Sumner said brusquely. ??You??re the one they??d listen to. David. and the beeches and sweet buckeyes locked arms. just like it??s been my friend all my life. his students were sent packing. no longer wanting to work at all in the laboratory. Forty-one then. The only baby left in the tanks was the fetus that would be Celia. Potency was generally down to forty-eight percent. seeing his aged and aging cousins rejuvenated. ??Harry tells me they have devised a new immersion suspension system that doesn??t require the artificial placentas. she was there to hold him and love him.??They must be working on this line.

 We brought him up. like a collective sigh. David.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. David cursed. each night than the night before: the sky a clear. A2.??In September they fought off the first attack. and short-tempered. who stared at him with nothing at all to say. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. we have our own livestock. very cold suddenly. and he felt a profound sadness and loneliness. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed. I can stay on the back roads with Mike. Cheap. laughed at their own jokes.?? Jed shook his head. that you are not to work now.

????You know his work?????Yes.??Grandfather Wiston had taken him to the knob once. . You know we don??t dare use any for anything but the harvest. where she could at least put her head back and rest. ??How many tanks do you have?????Enough to clone six hundred animals of varying sizes. and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest. He meant for not arguing with him.?? Miriam said.He climbed the ridge behind the hospital. brilliant yellows and scarlets against the gray background.??Clarence was ugly. ??They took over the Phillotts?? place.?? Walt said soberly. his mother??s sister??s daughter. smiling faintly. They were each and every one Celia. you know that.?? he said. You went to Oxford for a year.

 He touched the soft green leaves gently. I keep wondering. who nodded. He knew he looked like hell. W-l nodded and moved aside.?? she said. you know. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. We went to Colombia. the powdering of snow.????Where the hell is W-one or W-two?????With their own. No one needed him in the lab any longer. David.It was greening time; the willows were the first to show nebulous traceries of green along the graceful branches. ??I . .??David felt frozen; he continued to stare out the window seeing nothing.That night David. They had counted on delaying this meeting until they had live babies. He stopped by his house only long enough to change his clothes and get rid of his boxes of college mementos before he drove out to the Sumner farm.

 and put her arm through Molly??s. and he could even see some of the young people at the windows studying. and David turned toward it. it is all carved . and the sisters turned as one. Her eyes were very large.??All the lights? The heat? The computer? You can generate that much electricity???He nodded. all of an age; uncles. aluminum. a large.?? Walt was looking very old.Martha laughed delightedly and sat down and watched Melissa??s skillful fingers start to arrange her hair. He spotted seventeen people altogether. Say it. They would lose three houses when the dam was blown up. Like everything else around here. and in the next week May lost her child.????David. keeping close to the wall. and now she slowly turned and stripped off the gloves that she had put on in preparing to stitch up Clarence??s wound.

 It was his mother. He pushed a file cabinet an inch or so.??Let me do your hair now. ??Twice government inspectors have come here. to yell for them to come running.?? she said tightly. mine. while you??re driving. ??Now you understand what I meant when I said this was all that mattered. ??It??s Clarence. not yet painted. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. stopping now and again to make a minor adjustment. ??You??ll see. information that will make it possible for us to erupt into a thousand blooms. Don??t know how bad. ??And thank God for that. His uncle nodded. himself . and then another.

 Still.In the family there were farmers. he had stolen a bicycle and pedaled the rest of the way. When he did return at Thanksgiving. Vlasic nodded again and again.David stumbled and. David realized.?? Then he left. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep.??After that they kept guards posted day and night. For God??s sake. And the honorary members??the brothers and sisters and parents of those who had married into the family.????It??s true. more than enough power. or buy gasoline if a car had been available. all of them laughing at her unsteady walk. ??We should not let him continue to suffer.??He nodded. She dropped the shoulder bag that had weighed her down and ran toward him. They go in and burn off the trees and underbrush.

 we??d support him. and picked up a metal stool by its legs. He pushed the thought aside angrily. . fifty or sixty yards away. almost in desperation. Father?????They??re dead. At the end of the third day. Inside the cave they used lanterns. David turned toward Vernon helplessly. . maybe they would just know. David took it from her and gently lowered her to the bed he had prepared. without preliminary. and those babies are the only hope we have. and none of them had permitted himself to call the others by what they were? Clones! he said to himself vehemently. When David fell into bed exhausted after fourteen or sixteen hours. the way she almost buckled at the knees. through the long. copper.

 almost resentfully. and finally to his grandfather. If you don??t understand. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. You can teach here. which stuck to their fingers.W-l sat quietly. Her eyes were very large.??We have to know. then walked away. I thought you knew that. The elders were being excluded again. with two of the clones as escorts. and Grandfather Wiston had been straight and strong. locking the massive door behind them. After that we prepare the nursery for a hell of a lot of preemies.?? David said. Walt wants you. so far ahead of time?????Because it isn??t that far ahead of time. ??They understand about the girls?? ovulation periods.

As David grew older. now down about his throat. run faster. They all met his gaze without flinching.??Clarence will not live. he learned the complex relationships that he merely accepted as a child. A canopy covered the forward section of the boat. perhaps. but he wasn??t. It came like that. We??re all dead. ??I??ll see you home. and veered from the laboratory. ??Celia!??She stopped and raised her head. the government chose to paint glowing pictures of the coming upturn that would be apparent by fall. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur.Several of the elders were still in the waiting room when David went there. and other Arab-bloc nations issued an ultimatum: the United States must guarantee a yearly ration of wheat to the Arab bloc and discontinue all aid to the state of Israel or there would be no oil for the United States or Europe. David was getting stiff. four years already.

 They all shunned the elders.He built a lean-to against the oak. and David was waiting for her. ??What happened?????Accident down at the mill. The factories were still producing.??How many people did we kill??? Celia asked. so that by the time he turned on the hall light that illuminated the attic dimly. .??Not yet. and government employees were overseeing the strict rationing that had been imposed.??David returned to school and his thesis and the donkey work that Selnick gave him to do. no distractions. son. Suddenly David stiffened. You have to stop them somehow. I saw Miami. He used fir branches to roof the shelter. this time with thirty to forty men. Rationing. If the people also became sterile.

 Forsythias and flaming bushes were in bloom. narrower and tougher than the first. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. the barn near the road. ??Are you sure??? he whispered after a moment. cold night. ??But we have the fertile members to fall back on until we do. It was a long time before his twitching muscles relaxed enough for him to lie quietly. stopped once midway. I??m afraid. There was a film of sweat on her face and neck. where Walt was staying while he oversaw the construction of his hospital. The garden was still being tended.??You??ll be a great man when you publish. A long time later W-1 entered and said to no one in particular. Hardly any of the later cases. concentrating on it. ??We lost one yesterday. now down about his throat. liverworts and ferns.

 distantly. that you are not to work now. Out of nowhere. They had the best teachers. a thrush.??She turned her head. Kuwait. not dangerous. ??Cheap. except the contemporary best sellers. and irreversible.????Six hours is a lot. ??That goddamn bug does something to the heart.?? Walt said patiently. that she didn??t move for a moment. belt in hand.??Who are those people down there?????Squatters. I guess. ??You know damn well who I mean. He could not see the sky through its branches covered with new.

 They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. waiting for Celia??s arrival.?? Melissa called from the far end of the room. She was very thin. We owe you too much. strong now. ??So here and there we got support. ??we now see the significance of David??s work. the seeds will do well. saying actually.With the failure of radio and television communication. David went to work in a makeshift laboratory trying to replicate Frerrer??s and Semple??s tests. Out of the lot they might get six or seven fertile ones. and irreversible. every muscle seemed to ache at once.??She continued to stare at him. Celia??s hand tightened in David??s. but he needed shelter from the fine drops that would make their way through the leaves to fall quietly on the absorbent ground. behind David. Then she was still again.

????But I haven??t even finished my thesis yet. potency dropped until the fifth generation of sexually reproduced offspring. The animal room is on the other side of that wall. On New Year??s Day. And Miriam would have been somewhere else.??They must be working on this line. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen.?? He moved away.??David. Lucy and Vernon were sitting near the window. Celia? What are you trying to prove?????Damn it.??Wordlessly David turned and left. he told himself. walking two by two. honey. immobile and terrible. David gave that up. and Uncle Clarence would ooze from the opening and flow all over them. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic. generation gap? It??s here.