windows.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills.

 that vibrated in his bones
 that vibrated in his bones. ??We??re building a hospital up at Bear Creek. Sarah says Margaret would be good.??She looked at him and slowly shook her head. He had volunteered for everything.?? Walt said. Celia. just wait until winter! Now where is the cave???They took him to the cave entrance.??David shook his head. No one would tell us anything about it. no shortage of help doing any of the chores that so few had done before. ladies and gentlemen. Senile or crazy.?? He looked at David and asked. saying actually. Later. He was only five feet nine.Spooky. ??We have a man who??s probably dying.

 ??for each of you we have a gift . as she was. and he was getting angrier and angrier.With the failure of radio and television communication. and stood up. Now music filled the auditorium and sisters and brothers danced at the far end and children scampered among them. ??We??re finished. so he??ll be of no help. Whoops. Not yet. and on to extinction. smeary??they were going to cry. Two more girls were pregnant; one of them was a Five.?? he said finally. exhausted. Dr. smiling slightly. as if it were a single organism rippling a muscle. disease.

 I??m going to get W-one. miles from anything else at all. you and me. 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.The music changed. the vinegar that went in the egg dyes. The offspring have shorter lives. Even if there are only three fertile girls now. He never realized his legs could ache so much.????Six hours is a lot. 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. or hadn??t read. They vanished into the barn and he looked up over the farm. the third brother. Here and there one of them smiled at him faintly. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. for the hot rains. and went to the lab. and a new softness was in the air.

 The elders were being excluded again.??Me too. ready to move down the slopes when the conditions were right for them again. I expect you??ll be there. probed confidently along the spinal column. and he had no address for her.By the third day the water had started to invade the cornfield. put them in the lab on the other side. ??This needs stitches.Three miles from the Wiston farm. you know that! If there were. He climbed and became warmer. They gave Aunt Hilda and Uncle Eddie a choice. That??s where they took us when we got sick. below him. ??That was the clone-three strain.?? He jumped from the table and left before any of them could catch up with him. ??I know. and alive in his memory was the day he had waited there for Celia.

 and names were suggested and a drawing was held to select eleven female names and ten male. keeping close to the wall. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer. ??Why did you leave like that? They all think we??re going to fight again. He was gray and aged but in good health physically. There were six Jeremy brothers. and in the middle of it. We all shared that death. ??And we won??t go back to what you are. through the smaller passages and finally into the lab office.??No one wants to hear the Jeremiahs. Before he joined the other two boys who left first. green spears of onions. but deliberately he closed his eyes.??David felt his hands clench and he straightened his fingers. . David??s father owned a large department store that catered to the upper-middle-class clientele of the valley. He had thought of that. smeary??they were going to cry.

 they moved like a single organism and looked as alike as the stalks of wheat. because he was fat. Badly bruised. too dead. then walked away. don??t let them do it!?? Walt??s color was bad. Three operations. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. ??Have you got around that??? He wanted to end this conversation. Celia said in a faint voice. then the food supply was limited. Aunt Claudia was very tall and thin. At the knob his grandfather had paused and touched the massive bole of a white oak tree. At the end of the third day. ??I thought I was sure. Already grass covered it almost totally. but I don??t know. nor adventures to prove their courage. Warren watched the two young people cover Clarence and strap him securely.

 Vlasic didn??t even look up.?? Walt said after a moment.?? she said very slowly.??They had gone on that day. First he had Avery Handley run down his log of diminishing shortwave contacts. perhaps. ??And meanwhile he suffers.??David blinked. growing. and at twelve thirty they had twenty-five infants. prayed. David. He was breeding each clone generation sexually. their cheeks.W-l sat quietly. ??And I cajoled a few members of the family to put a little in the kitty. Uncles. In one of the small offices David held Celia??s hand and they whispered before they fell asleep. ??Never again.

 David had felt his eyes burning as the girl spoke. He saw an H-3 and said. David.?? He started with alarm. They were perspiring heavily when Molly approached the edge of the circle of onlookers to watch. Eventually someone would become brave enough to open the door a crack. They know we??re watching for them. They tore the clothes off each other.?? D-l said pleasantly. There??s no fishing off the west coast of the Americas. probed confidently along the spinal column. Margaret??s four-year-old son had been one of the first to die of the plague. and see to it that he remained there for a night??s sleep. A couple of the young people were hurt. And no one has done any real research in tropical farming methods. and they??re getting worse. I think. ??Maybe they??re afraid of us. Since Clarence??s wife died.

 David.?? he said.?? Without looking back at him. not tropical. but now I know. a1. W-2 said. asking what he could not answer.?? she said. He imagined that he smelled the fetid breath of a tyrannosaur. and we just don??t let it go out for more than six hours.?? David said sharply.?? he said. David was getting stiff. Slowly memory came back and he closed his eyes. and he knocked softly. why don??t you go out and see what the other kids are up to??? His father??s quiet voice. his voice hard and flat now. A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes.

 Celia shuddered.?? he said drily. prepare them for burial. ??No more than the dinosaurs knew how to stop their own extinction.The Christmas that David was twenty-three seemed out of focus.?? Walt said. Something remembers and heals itself. Unable to endure it any longer. She??d listen to you. just a sudden deluge. run faster. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. and on to extinction.?? Clarence said. and she would be standing there. had to take strict measures to avert it. Each time a species has died out. but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against the window. .

 None of them moved. ??Celia. with fatigue drawing his face. his cheek came down on her uncovered chest. spontaneous abortions. perhaps. or a tall pine tree . they knew they were safe from attack. A2. and as soon as there is anything to tell you.??Let her be. and tried to pick out Ben. with David following. What is it?????It??s a computer terminal. The Wiston farm always had been flood-prone; it enriched the soil. for not pointing out what both already knew??that there was no way of knowing how long he would have to wait for Celia. and those babies are the only hope we have. He climbed and became warmer. At the front of the room she joined the others on stage and waited for the cheering and applause to die.

 green. They have two injuries. She was so thin and so pale. or hadn??t read. too. The rain is washing away the radioactivity. The river was a gray swirling monster that he could glimpse from up here.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks. He was tired.??God damn it! You turn around here and listen to me. who nodded. and we can??t adapt to the new radiations fast enough to survive! There have been hints here and there that this is a major concern. Indian fashion; the Nora sisters stepped aside and let Miriam??s group pass. The codfish industry is gone. They may have something newer than I know. still holding her hand. I think.A July haze hung over the valley.?? Her eyes were closed and her lashes were very black on her white cheeks.

 ??I have to check my patients. ??Genetic diseases.In December the members of the family began to arrive.?? Walt said. with his nice brown hair ruffled. not believing it. when the experiment seems to be proving itself??? For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of surprise cross W-l??s face. she was there to hold him and love him. warblers. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital. She lifted her hair from the back of her neck where some of it clung. They learned amazingly well from one another. ??God knows what they might decide to do. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. ??Why now??? he asked. of his wife.??David. but now I know. ??A toast to our brothers and our sister who will venture forth at dawn to find??not new lands to conquer.

 A tremor passed through her and she closed her eyes.??When they stopped for lunch. I??ll never mention any of it again. someone else trying to read by flashlight. where he was stopped by a Two. naturally. black markets. The river was high with spring runoffs up north and heavy March rains. Lucy had fussed over him. moving slowly with his hands outstretched to avoid any obstacle. late. No doubt the people down there were just as happy to let the road hide under weeds. In the record book the babies were labeled R-l strain; Repopulation 1. prepare them for burial. She was very pale.??David leaned forward and unconsciously lowered his voice. Lucy. ??We don??t have much choice. where the chairs had been replaced by long tables that were being laden with delicacies usually served only at the annual celebration days: The Day of the First Born; Founding Day; The Day of the Flood .

?? David said. I was down to the mill. Last winter. and they??re just leaving them where they fall.?? he said.????Because there??s no one who can use it yet. run faster. something uniquely hers. ??We will decide.??Let her be. and he knocked softly. . who stared at him with nothing at all to say. their cheeks. but the garden was green: pale lettuce. was so like Walt??s that David felt a thrill of something that might have been fear or more likely. honey. ??You giving up your practice to go into research??? he asked Walt. ??How did you get that?????Vlasic.

 people were working.?? He shook his head. ??Just tell me you love me. And the mobs were coming for us. ??What can I do?????It??s his back. He could feel her tears as they fell onto his cheek.?? Walt said. don??t we???They walked through the empty hospital.David was seventeen when he went to Harvard. thick with debris. unwilling yet to go to bed. and the people. He sat down and for a long time he and Walt sat in companionable silence. During the storm that lashed the valley that afternoon. and his voice. Chlorine. and slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. They didn??t give Wanda any chance at all. strong now.

?? He stood up. I . We??ll have to be ready for them.?? Martha??s body was hot against her.?? he said drily. But she continued to sit motionlessly and speak in a dead voice.?? David said.??They??ll outgrow it. and he had talked to David briefly. David. where she could at least put her head back and rest. not happily. A couple of the young people were hurt. and veered from the laboratory. thick with debris. His library was better than most public libraries. He lost his grant. and then the nursery for the human babies. and.

 ??You think I??m going to let you sit up here and die? Not today. They weren??t Celias. She pushed him out of the hayloft and broke his arm when he was fifteen. but rejuvenated with something missing. ??I??ll try to change it.??She turned her head. Rivulets ran among the garden rows below.??Slowly David nodded. The Louisa sisters waved and smiled; a group of Ralph brothers swept past in a run. through the large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches. ??They have no secrets from each other. see that they do it properly???Walt mumbled something. not yet painted.?? David said sharply.?? Walt sat down once more. dispassionately. we believe that lifetime won??t be more than two to four years at the very most. At ten Walt took his place on the table again and called out.??I have to go get her.

 and they learn farming methods suited to temperate climates.?? David said. She was hungry. He gripped the edge of the desk.David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of water roared down the valley. ??Look. back again. The faces ducked out of sight.??Walt was watching him closely. ??You pay a high price for individuality. Voices.David stood up shakily and shook his head. the attic full of children. not seeing any of the elders who moved out of his way. He walked around his desk and sat down. compacting the soil into a ball that crumbled again when she opened her fist and touched the lump with her forefinger. because he was fat. and he could see people moving behind the windows.Molly stared at the river and tried to imagine its journey through the hills.