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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..693881b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60653 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60653) diff --git a/old/60653-h.zip b/old/60653-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e829741..0000000 --- a/old/60653-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/60653-h/60653-h.htm b/old/60653-h/60653-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 234ce85..0000000 --- a/old/60653-h/60653-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1401 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Car Pool, by Rosel George Brown. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Car Pool, by Rosel George Brown - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Car Pool - -Author: Rosel George Brown - -Release Date: November 9, 2019 [EBook #60653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAR POOL *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="344" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>car pool</h1> - -<h2>By ROSEL GEORGE BROWN</h2> - -<p class="ph1"><i>Certainly alien children ought<br /> -to be fed ... but to human kids?</i></p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Worlds of If Science Fiction, July 1959.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Happy birthday to <i>you</i>," we all sang, except Gail, of course, who was -still screaming, though not as loud.</p> - -<p>"Well, now," I said jovially, glancing nervously about at the other air -traffic, "what else can we all sing?" The singing seemed to be working -nicely. They had stopped swatting each other with their lunch boxes and -my experienced ear told me Gail was by this time forcing herself to -scream. This should be the prelude to giving up and enjoying herself.</p> - -<p>"<i>Boing</i> down in Texas in eighteen-ninety," Billy began, "Davy, <i>Davy</i> -Eisenhower...."</p> - -<p>"A-B-<i>C-D</i>-E—" sang Jacob.</p> - -<p>"Dere was a little 'elicopter red and blue," Meli chirped, "flew along -de air-ways—"</p> - -<p>The rest came through unidentifiably.</p> - -<p>"Ba-ba-ba," said a faint voice. Gail had given up. I longed for ears -in the back of my head because victory was mine and all I needed to do -was reinforce it with a little friendly conversation.</p> - -<p>"Yes, dear?" I asked her encouragingly.</p> - -<p>"Ba-ba-ba," was all I could make out.</p> - -<p>"Yes, indeed. That Gail <i>likes</i> to go to Playplace."</p> - -<p>"Ba-ba-ba!" A little irritable. She was trying to say something -important. "<i>Ba-ba-ba!</i>"</p> - -<p>I signaled for an emergency hover, turned around and presented my ear.</p> - -<p>"Me eat de crus' of de toas'," Gail said. She beamed.</p> - -<p>I beamed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We managed to reach Playplace without incident, except for a man who -called me an obscenity. The children and I, however, called him a -great, big alligator head and on the whole, I think, we won. After all, -how can a man possibly be right when faced with a woman and eight tiny -children?</p> - -<p>I herded the children through the Germ Detection Booth and Gail was -returned to me with an incipient streptococcus infection.</p> - -<p>"Couldn't you give her the shot here?" I asked. "I've <i>just</i> got her in -a good mood, and if I have to turn around and take her back home ... -and besides, her mother works. There won't be anyone there."</p> - -<p>"Verne, dear, we can't risk giving the shot until the child is -perfectly adjusted to Playplace. You see, she'd connect the pain of -the shot with coming to school and then she might never adjust." -Mrs. Baden managed to give me her entire attention and hold a -two-and-a-half-year-old child on one shoulder and greet each entering -child and break up a fight between two ill-matched four-year-olds, all -at the same time.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="650" height="327" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Me stay at school," Gail said resolutely.</p> - -<p>There was a scream from the other side of the booth. That was Billy's -best friend. I waited for the other scream. That was Billy.</p> - -<p>"Normal aggression," Mrs. Baden said with a smile.</p> - -<p>I picked up Gail. Act first, talk later.</p> - -<p>"Oh, <i>there</i> she is," Mrs. Baden said, taking my elbow with what could -only be a third hand.</p> - -<p>Having heard we'd have a Hiserean child in Billy's group, I managed not -to look surprised.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. His-tara, this is Verne Barrat. Her Billy will be in Hi-nin's -group."</p> - -<p>I was immediately frozen with indecision. Should I shake hands? Merely -smile? Nod? Her hands looked wavery and boneless. I might injure them -inadvertently.</p> - -<p>I settled on a really good smile, all the way back to my bridge. "I am -so delighted to meet you," I said. I felt as though the good will of -the entire World Conference rested on my shoulders.</p> - -<p>Her face lighted up with the most sincere look of pleasure I've ever -seen. "I am glad to furnish you this delight," she said, with a good -deal of lisping over the dentals, because Hisereans have fore-shortened -teeth. She embraced me wholeheartedly and gave me a scaly kiss on the -cheek.</p> - -<p>My first thought was that I was a success and my second thought -was, Oh, God, what'll happen when Billy gets hold of little Hi-nin? -Hisereans, as I understood it, simply didn't have this "normal -aggression." Indeed, I sometimes have trouble believing it's really -normal.</p> - -<p>"I was thinking," Mrs. Baden said, putting down the -two-and-a-half-year-old and plucking a venturesome little girl in Human -Fly Shoes from the side of the building, "that you all might enjoy -having Hi-nin in your car pool."</p> - -<p>"Oh, we'd love to," I said eagerly. "We've got five mamas and eight -children already, of course, but I'm sure everyone—"</p> - -<p>"It would trouble you!" Mrs. His-tara exclaimed. Her eye stalks -retracted and tears poured down her cheeks. "I do not want to be of -difficulty," she said.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Since she had no apparent handkerchief and wore some sort of -permanent-looking native dress, I tore a square out of my paper morning -dress for her.</p> - -<p>"You are too good!" she sobbed, fresh tears pouring out.</p> - -<p>"No, no. I already tore out two for the children. I always get my -skirts longer in cold weather because children are so careless about -carrying—"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="447" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Then we'll consider the car pool settled?" Mrs. Baden asked, coming in -tactfully.</p> - -<p>"Naturally," I said, mentally shredding my previous sentence. "We would -feel so honored to have Hi-nin—"</p> - -<p>"Do not <i>think</i> of putting yourself out. We do not have a helicopter, -of course, but Hi-nin and I can so easily walk."</p> - -<p>I was rapidly becoming unable to think of anything at all because Gail -was trying to use me for a merry-go-round and I kept switching her from -hand to hand and I could hear her beginning to build up the ba-bas.</p> - -<p>"My car pool," I said, "would be terribly sad to think of Hi-nin -walking."</p> - -<p>"You would?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Terribly.</i>"</p> - -<p>"In such a case—if it will give you pleasure for me to accept?"</p> - -<p>"It would," I said fervently, holding Gail under one arm as she was -beginning to kick.</p> - -<p>And on the way home all the second thoughts began.</p> - -<p><i>I</i> would be glad to have Hi-nin in the car pool. Four of the other -mamas were like me, amazed that anyone was willing to put up with -her child all the way to and from Playplace. I could count on them to -cooperate. But Gail's mama.... I'd gone to Western State Preparation -for Living with Regina Raymond Crowley.</p> - -<p>I landed on the Crowley home and tooted for five minutes before I -remembered that Regina was at work.</p> - -<p>"<i>Ma</i>-ma!" Gail began.</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't you like to come to Verne's house," I asked, "and we can call -up your mama?"</p> - -<p>"No." Well, I asked, didn't I?</p> - -<p>I was carrying Gail down the steps from my roof when I bumped -unexpectedly into Clay.</p> - -<p>"What is that!" he exclaimed, and Gail became again flying blonde hair -and kicking feet.</p> - -<p>"Regina's child," I said. "What are you doing home?"</p> - -<p>"Accountant sent me back. Twenty-five and a half hours is the maximum -this week. Good thing, too. I've got a headache." He eyed Gail -meaningfully. She was obviously not the sort of thing the doctor orders -for a headache.</p> - -<p>"I can't help it, honey," I said, sitting down on a step to tear -another handkerchief square from my skirt. "I'm going to call Regina at -work now."</p> - -<p>"Don't you have a chairman to take care of things like that?"</p> - -<p>"I am the chairman," I said proudly.</p> - -<p>"Why in heaven's name did you let yourself get roped into something -like that?"</p> - -<p>"I was <i>selected</i> by Mrs. Baden!"</p> - -<p>"Obscenity," said Clay. It is his privilege, of course, to use this -word.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The arty little store where Regina works has a telephane as well as a -telephone, and in color, at that. So I could see Regina in full color, -taking her own good time about switching on the sound. She switched on -as a sort of afterthought and tilted her nose at me. I don't suppose -she can really tilt her nose up and down, but she always gives that -impression.</p> - -<p>"Gail has an incipient streptococcus infection," I said. "They sent her -home."</p> - -<p>"<i>Ma</i>-ma!" Gail cried.</p> - -<p>"Why didn't they give her a shot there? That's what they did with my -niece last year."</p> - -<p>I explained why not.</p> - -<p>Regina sighed resignedly. "Verne, people can talk you into anything. -There are times when you have to be firm. I work, girl. That's why I -put Gail in Playplace. I can't leave here until twelve o'clock."</p> - -<p>"But what'll I do with Gail?"</p> - -<p>"Take her back. Or you keep her until I get home. Sorry, Verne, but you -got yourself into this."</p> - -<p>I switched off, furious.</p> - -<p>Then I remembered Hi-nin. I couldn't be furious. I was going to have to -get Regina's cooperation.</p> - -<p>I picked up Gail and went into the bedroom. "I do not dislike Regina -Crowley," I wrote with black crayola on a piece of note paper. I -stuck it into a crevice of my mirror and gave Gail my bare-shoulder -decorations to play with while I concentrated on thinking up reasons -why I should not dislike Regina Crowley.</p> - -<p>"I do," Clay said, sneaking up so quietly I jumped two feet.</p> - -<p>"So do I," I said, gazing wearily at my note. "But I have to have her -in a good mood. You see, there's this Hiserean child and since I'm -chairman of the car pool, I have to—"</p> - -<p>"<i>Don't</i> tell me about it," Clay said. "My advice to you is get -elephantiasis of your steering foot and give the whole thing up now." -He glanced meaningfully at Gail, who couldn't possibly be bothering -him. She was playing quietly on the floor, pulling the suction disks -off my jewelry and sticking them on her legs.</p> - -<p>When I finally got Gail home, she sped into her mother's arms and I -couldn't help being a little irritated because I had been practically -swinging from the ceiling dust controls to ingratiate myself, and her -mama just said, "Oh, hi," and Gail was satisfied.</p> - -<p>"By the way," I said, watching Regina hang up her dark blue hand-woven -jacket, "you wouldn't mind picking up an extra child tomorrow, would -you?"</p> - -<p>"Mind! Certainly I mind. I've got as much as I can do with my job and -Gail and eight children in the heli already."</p> - -<p>"It's a Hiserean child," I said. "The mother is so lovely, Regina. She -didn't want us to go to any trouble."</p> - -<p>"That's fine. Because I'm not going to go to any trouble."</p> - -<p>I put my fists behind my back. "Of course I understand, Regina. I think -it's remarkable that you manage to do so much. And keep up with your -art things as you do. But don't you think it would be an interesting -experience to have a Hiserean child in the pool?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Regina pulled off her hand-woven wrap-skirt and I was shocked to see -she wore a real boudoir slip to work.</p> - -<p>"Everybody to their own interesting experiences," she said, laughing at -me. This was obviously one of her triple-level remarks.</p> - -<p>"De gustibus," I said, to show I know a few arty things myself, "non -disputandum est."</p> - -<p>"You have such moments, Verne! Have you ever seen a Hiserean child?"</p> - -<p>"I saw one today."</p> - -<p>"Well."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"De gustibus, as you said. You know the other children will eat it -alive, don't you? <i>Your</i> child will. Now Gail...."</p> - -<p>It's true that Gail never kicks anyone small enough to kick back. It's -also true that Billy bites.</p> - -<p>I unclenched my fists and stretched up with a deep breath so as to -relax my stomach and improve my posture.</p> - -<p>"Hiserean children," I pointed out, "are going to have to be adjusted -to our society. As I understand it, they're here to stay. Their sun -blew up behind them and personally I think we're lucky they happened to -drift here."</p> - -<p>"I don't see why it's so lucky. I wish we'd gotten one of the ships -full of scientific information. Or their top scientists. Or artists, -for that matter. All <i>we</i> got were plain people. If you like to call -them people."</p> - -<p>"They're at least educated people with good sense. And we've got their -ship to take apart and learn things from. And their books and, after -all, some music and their gestural art. I should think you artists -would find that real avant garde."</p> - -<p>"Just hearing you say it like that is enough to kill Hiserean art."</p> - -<p>"Regina, I know you think I'm a prig, but that isn't the point. And if -it matters to you, I'm <i>not</i> a prig."</p> - -<p>"Do you wear boudoir slips?" Regina was biting a real smile.</p> - -<p>"No, I don't. But I'd like to."</p> - -<p>"Then why don't you?"</p> - -<p>"Because I put one on once and I thought I looked absolutely -devastating and you know what my husband said?"</p> - -<p>"I won't try to guess Clay's bon mot."</p> - -<p>"He said, 'What did you put that on for?'"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Regina laughed until she popped a snap on her paper house dress. "But -seriously," she said finally, "if he didn't know, why didn't you tell -him?"</p> - -<p>"That's not the point. The point is I am not the boudoir-slip type. My -unmentionables are unmentionable for esthetic reasons only."</p> - -<p>Regina laughed again. "Really, Verne, you're not half bad when you try."</p> - -<p>"If you honestly think I'm not half bad, could you do it just as a -favor to me? Pick up Hi-nin when you have the car pool?"</p> - -<p>"The Hiserean child? No."</p> - -<p>"Please, Regina. I'd do it <i>for</i> you except that the children would -notice and it would get back to Mrs. His-tara. If there's anything I -could do for you in return—"</p> - -<p>"What could you possibly do?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. But I <i>can't</i> go back and tell that dear creature our -car pool doesn't want her."</p> - -<p>"<i>Stop</i> looking so intense. That's what keeps you from being the -boudoir-slip type. You always look as though you're going out to break -up a saloon or campaign for better Public Child Protection. The boudoir -slip requires a languorous expression."</p> - -<p>"Phooey to looking languorous. And phooey to boudoir slips. I'd wear -diapers to nursery school if you'd change your mind about taking along -Hi-nin."</p> - -<p>"Would you wear a boudoir slip?"</p> - -<p>"I—hell, yes."</p> - -<p>"And nothing else?"</p> - -<p>"Only my various means of support. And my respectability."</p> - -<p>Regina laughed her tiger-on-the-third-Christian laugh. "What I want to -find out," she said, "is how you manage the respectability bit."</p> - -<p>It dawned on me while I was grinding the pepper for Clay's salad that -Regina had explained herself. All of a sudden I saw straight through -her and I wondered why I hadn't seen it before. Regina <i>envied</i> me.</p> - -<p>Now on the face of it, that seemed unlikely. But it occurred to me -that Regina's parents had been the poor but honest and uneducated sort -that simply are never asked to chaperone school parties. And the fact -is that they were not what Regina thought of as respectable, though it -never occurred to anyone but her that it mattered. And since all her -culture was acquired after the age of thirteen, she felt it didn't fit -properly and that's why she went out of her way to be arty-arty.</p> - -<p>Whereas I took for granted all the things Regina had learned so -painstakingly, and this in turn was what made me so irritatingly -respectable.</p> - -<p>As Regina had suggested, perhaps it <i>is</i> the expression on one's face -that makes the difference.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Hey!" a cop yelled, pulling up as close to us as his rotors would -allow. "What the hell?"</p> - -<p>"I beg your pardon," I said frigidly. It is very frigid in November if -you are out in a helicopter dressed only in a boudoir slip.</p> - -<p>"Look de bleesemans!" Gail cried.</p> - -<p>"He might shoot everybody!" Billy warned.</p> - -<p>Meli began to cry loudly. "He might <i>choot</i>! <i>Ma</i>-ma!"</p> - -<p>"Pardon me, madam," the cop said, and beat a hasty retreat.</p> - -<p>When we landed on Hi-nin's roof, Mrs. His-tara came up with him. -She looked at me sympathetically. "You are perhaps molting, beloved -friend?" Her large eyes retracted and filled with tears. "Such a -season!"</p> - -<p>"No—no, dear. Just—getting a little fresh air."</p> - -<p>I put Hi-nin on the front seat with me. He gave me a big-eyed, -toothless smile and sat down in perfect quiet, except for the soft, -almost sea sound of his breathing.</p> - -<p>It was during one of those brief and infrequent silences we have that I -noticed something was amiss. No sea sound.</p> - -<p>I looked around to find Billy's hands around Hi-nin's throat.</p> - -<p>"Billy!" I screamed.</p> - -<p>"Aw!" he said, and let go.</p> - -<p>Hi-nin began to breathe again in a violent, choked way.</p> - -<p>"Billy," I said, wondering if I could keep myself from simply throwing -my son out of the helicopter, "Billy...."</p> - -<p>"It is nothing, nice mama," Hi-nin said, still choking.</p> - -<p>"Billy." I didn't trust myself to speak any further. I reached around -and spanked him until my hand was sore. "If you <i>ever</i> do that again—"</p> - -<p>"<i>Waa!</i>" Billy bawled. I'm sure he could be heard quite plainly by the -men building the new astronomical station on the Moon.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I put Hi-nin on my lap and kept him there. "That's just Billy's way of -making friends," I whispered to him.</p> - -<p>Under Billy's leadership, several other children began to cry, and all -in all it was not a well-integrated, love-sharing group that I lifted -down from the heli at Playplace.</p> - -<p>"The children always sense it, don't they," Mrs. Baden said with her -gentle smile, "when we don't feel comfortable about a situation?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Comfortable!</i>" I cried. It seemed to me the day had become blazing -hot and I didn't remember what I was dressed in until I tried to take -off my jacket. "My son is an inhuman monster. He tried to—to—" I -could feel a big sob coming on.</p> - -<p>"Bite?" Mrs. Baden supplied helpfully.</p> - -<p>"Strangle," I managed to blurt out.</p> - -<p>"We'll be especially considerate of Billy today," Mrs. Baden said. -"He'll be feeling guilty and he senses your discomfort about his -aggression."</p> - -<p>"<i>Senses</i> it! I all but tore him limb from limb! That dear little -Hiserean child—"</p> - -<p>"I do not want to be of difficulty," Hi-nin said, tears pouring out of -those great, big eyes.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Tears were pouring out of my small blue eyes by this time and Mr. -Grantham, who brings a set of grandchildren, came by and patted my -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Chin up!" he said. "Eyes front!"</p> - -<p>Then he looked at his hand and my recently patted shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Oh, excuse me," he said. "Would you like to borrow my jacket?"</p> - -<p>I shook my head, acutely aware, suddenly, that Mr. Grantham is not a -doddering old grandfather but a young and handsome man. And all he -thought about my bare shoulder was that it ought to be covered.</p> - -<p>"You just run along," Mrs. Baden said. "We'll let Billy strangle the -pneumatic dog and everything will be just fine. Oh, and dear—I don't -know whether you've noticed it—you don't have on a dress."</p> - -<p>I went home and sat in front of the mirror feeling miserable in several -different directions. If Regina Raymond Crowley appeared in public -dressed only in a boudoir slip, people would think all sorts of wicked -things. When I appeared in public in a boudoir slip, everybody thought -I was just a little absentminded.</p> - -<p>This, I thought, is a hell of a thing to worry about. And then I -thought, Oh, phooey. If even I think I'm respectable, what can I -expect other people to think?</p> - -<p>I took down the note on the mirror about Regina. No wonder I didn't -like her! I turned the paper over and wrote "Phooey to me!" with my -eyebrow pencil.</p> - -<p>I was still regarding the note and trying to argue myself into a better -mood when Clay came tramping down from work at three o'clock.</p> - -<p>"Why are you sitting around in a boudoir slip?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"You're a double-dyed louse and a great, big alligator head," I told -him.</p> - -<p>"Don't mention it," he said. "Where's Billy?"</p> - -<p>"Taking his nap. Tell me the truth, Clay. The absolute truth."</p> - -<p>Clay looked at me suspiciously. "I'd planned on a little golf this -afternoon."</p> - -<p>"This won't take a minute. I don't ask you things like this all the -time, now do I?"</p> - -<p>"I still don't know what you're talking about."</p> - -<p>I took a deep breath. "Clay, is there anything about me, anything at -all, that is not respectable?"</p> - -<p>"There is <i>not</i>," he said.</p> - -<p>"Well—I guess that's all there is to it," I sighed. I pulled off my -boudoir slip and got a neat paper one out of the slot. "Anyway," I said -bravely, "boudoir slips have to be laundered."</p> - -<p>Clay looked at me curiously for a moment and then said, "This looks -like a good afternoon to go play golf."</p> - -<p>"Do you think there's anything not respectable about Regina Crowley?"</p> - -<p>"There is <i>everything</i> not respectable about Regina Crowley," Clay said -vehemently.</p> - -<p>"You see?"</p> - -<p>"Frankly, no."</p> - -<p>"Well, do you think her husband uses that tone of voice when he says, -'There is <i>everything</i> respectable about Verne Barrat?'"</p> - -<p>"I don't know why he should say that at all."</p> - -<p>"She might ask him."</p> - -<p>"Darling, you're mad as a hatter," Clay said, kissing me good-by.</p> - -<p>"Do you really think so?"</p> - -<p>"Of course not," Clay roared as he tramped up the steps to the heli.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>About nine o'clock the next morning I heard a heli landing on the roof -and I thought, Now who? There was much tooting, and when I went up, -Regina practically threw Hi-nin at me.</p> - -<p>"I told you so," she snapped at me. Her face was burning red and she -wasn't bothering to tilt her nose.</p> - -<p>"What happened? Why did you bring him back to <i>me</i>?"</p> - -<p>"His hand," she said, and took off.</p> - -<p>Hand? He was holding one hand over the other. No! I grabbed his hands -to see what it was.</p> - -<p>One hand had obviously been bitten off at the wrist. He was holding the -wound with the tentacles of his other little boneless hand. There was -very little blood.</p> - -<p>"It is as nothing," he said, but when I cradled him in my arms, I could -feel him shaking all over.</p> - -<p>"It will grow back," he said.</p> - -<p>Would it?</p> - -<p>I took him in the heli and held him while I drove. I could feel him -trying to stop himself from shaking, but he couldn't.</p> - -<p>"Does it hurt very much?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"The pain is small," he said. "It is the fear. The fear is terrible. I -am unable to swallow it."</p> - -<p>I was unable to swallow it, too.</p> - -<p>"The hand," said Mrs. His-tara without concern, "will grow back. But -the things within my son...." She, too, began to tremble involuntarily.</p> - -<p>"Billy," I began, feeling the blood come through my lower lip, "Billy -and I are...." It was too inadequate to say it.</p> - -<p>"It was not Billy," Hi-nin said without rancor. "It was Gail."</p> - -<p>"Gail! Gail doesn't bite!" But she had, and I broke down and plain -cried.</p> - -<p>"Do not trouble yourself," said Mrs. His-tara. "My son receives from -this a wound that does not heal. On Hiserea he would be forever sick, -you understand. On your world, where everyone is born with this open -wound, it will be his protection. So Mrs. Baden warned me and I think -she is wise."</p> - -<p>As soon as I got home, I called up Regina. She looked pale and lifeless -against the gaudy, irresponsible objects in the art shop.</p> - -<p>"It wasn't my fault," she said quickly. "I can't drive and watch the -children at the same time. I told you the children would eat...." She -stopped, and for the first time I saw Regina really horrified with -herself.</p> - -<p>"Nobody said it was your fault. But don't you think you could have -taken Hi-nin home yourself? To show Mrs. His-tara that—I don't know -what it would show."</p> - -<p>It reminded me, somehow, of the time Regina stepped on a lizard and -left it in great pain, pulling itself along by its tiny front paws, and -I had said, "Regina, you can't leave that poor thing suffering," and -she had said, "Well, I didn't step on it on purpose," and I had said, -"Somebody's got to kill it now," and she had said, "I've got a class." -I could still feel the crunch of it under my foot as its tiny life went -out.</p> - -<p>"Sorry, Verne," she said, "you got yourself into this," and hung up.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>That night Regina called me. "Can you give blood?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"Yes," I said. "If I stuff myself, I can get the scales up to a hundred -and ten pounds."</p> - -<p>"What type?"</p> - -<p>"B. Rh positive."</p> - -<p>"Thought you told me that once. Gail is in the hospital. They have to -replace every drop of blood in her body. She may die anyhow."</p> - -<p>I thought of the little fluff and squeak that was Gail. I eat de crus' -of de toas'.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with her?" I asked fearfully.</p> - -<p>"That damn Hiserean child is <i>poison</i>. Gail had a little cut inside her -mouth from where she fell off the slide at school."</p> - -<p>"I'll be at the hospital in ten minutes," I said, and hung up shakily. -"Dinner is set for seven-thirty," I told Clay and Billy, and rushed out.</p> - -<p>The first person I saw at the hospital was not Regina. It was Mrs. -His-tara.</p> - -<p>"How did you know?" I asked. Her integument was dull now and there were -patches of scales rubbed off. Her eyes were almost not visible.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Crowley called me," she said. "In any case I would have been -here. There is in Hi-nin also of poison. There remains for him only -the Return Home. We must rejoice for him."</p> - -<p>The smile she brought forth was more than I could bear.</p> - -<p>"Gail's germs were poison to him?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no. He poisons himself. It is an ancient hormone, from the early -days of our race when we had what your Mrs. Baden so wisely calls -aggression. It is dormant in us since before the accounting of our -history. An adult Hiserean, perhaps, could fight his emotions and cure -himself. Hi-nin has no weapons—so your physicians have explained it to -me, from our scientific books. How can I doubt that they are right?"</p> - -<p>How could I doubt it, either? It would be, I thought, rather like a -massive overdose of adrenalin. Psychogenic, of course, but what help -was it to know that? Would there be some organ in Hi-nin a surgeon -could remove? Like the adrenals in humans, perhaps?</p> - -<p>Of course not. If they could have, they would have.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I hurried on to find the room where Gail was. She was not pale, as I -had expected, but pink-cheeked and bright-eyed. They were probably -putting in more blood than they were taking out. There were two of the -other mamas from our car pool, waiting their turns.</p> - -<p>Regina was sitting by the bed, her face ugly and swollen from crying.</p> - -<p>"She looks just fine!" I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Only in the last fifteen minutes," she said. "When I called you, she -was like ice. Her eyes didn't move."</p> - -<p>"We're lucky with Gail. Did you know about Hi-nin?"</p> - -<p>"The little animal!" she said. "He's the one that did it."</p> - -<p>"He didn't do anything, Regina, and you know it."</p> - -<p>"He shouldn't have been in the car pool. He shouldn't be with human -children at all."</p> - -<p>"He's going to die," I said quickly, before she had time to say things -she'd have nightmares about later on.</p> - -<p>"Sorry," Regina said, because we were all looking at her and because -her child was pink and beautiful and healthy while Hi-nin....</p> - -<p>"Regina," I said, "what did you do after it happened?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Do!</i> It scared the hell out of me—that creature shaking all over and -Gail screaming. At first I didn't know what had happened. Then I saw -that <i>thing</i> flopping around on the front seat and I screamed and threw -it out of the window. And then I noticed Hi-nin's wrist, or whatever -you call it. I said, 'Oh, God, I <i>knew</i> you'd get us in trouble!' But -the creature didn't say anything. He just sat there. And I let the -other children off and brought Hi-nin to you because I didn't want to -get involved with that Mrs. Baden."</p> - -<p>"And Gail?"</p> - -<p>"She seemed all right. She just climbed in the back with the other -children and pretty soon they were all laughing."</p> - -<p>"And all that time little Hi-nin.... Regina, didn't you even pat him or -hold him or kiss it for him or anything?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Kiss</i> it!"</p> - -<p>At that moment Mrs. His-tara came in, with Mrs. Baden and a doctor -behind her. I should have known. Mrs. Baden didn't leave people to -fight battles alone.</p> - -<p>Mrs. His-tara looked at Mrs. Baden, but Mrs. Baden only nodded and -smiled encouragingly at her.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The doctor was gently pulling the needle out of Gail's vein. The room -was silent. Even Gail sat large-eyed and solemn.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Crowley," Mrs. His-tara began, obviously dragging each word up -with great effort, "would it be accurate to tell my son that Gail has -received no hurt from him? We must, you see, prepare him for the Return -Home."</p> - -<p>Regina looked around at us and at Gail. She hadn't dared let herself -look at Mrs. His-tara yet.</p> - -<p>"Doctor!" Regina called suddenly. "Look at Gail's mouth!"</p> - -<p>Even from where I was, I could see it. A scaly growth along both lips.</p> - -<p>"That's a temporary effect of the serum," the doctor said. "We tried an -antitoxin before we decided to change the blood. It is nothing to worry -about."</p> - -<p>"Oh."</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Crowley," Mrs. His-tara began again, "it is much to ask, but at -such a moment, much is required. If you could come yourself, and if -Gail could endure to be carried...."</p> - -<p>But Gail did, indeed, look queer, and she stretched out her arms not to -her mother but to Mrs. His-tara.</p> - -<p>"The tides," Mrs. His-tara said, "have cast us up a miracle."</p> - -<p>She gathered Gail into the boneless cradle of her curved arms.</p> - -<p>Regina took her sunglasses out of her purse and hid her eyes. "Mind -your own damned business," she told Mrs. Baden and me.</p> - -<p>"It <i>is</i> our damned business," I whispered to Mrs. Baden, and she held -my arm as we followed Regina down the hall.</p> - -<p>Mrs. His-tara threaded her way through a cordon of other Hisereans who -must have been flown in for the occasion. I couldn't see the children, -but I could hear them.</p> - -<p>"Him cold!" said Gail. "Him scared!"</p> - -<p>"He's scared of you," Regina said. "We're sorry, Gail. Tell him we're -sorry. We didn't understand."</p> - -<p>Gail laughed. A loud and healthy laugh.</p> - -<p>"Gail sorry," she said. "Me thought you was to eat."</p> - -<p>There was a small sound. I thought it was from Hi-nin and I held Mrs. -Baden's hand as though it were my only link to a sane world.</p> - -<p>"Dat a joke," Gail said. "Hi-nin 'posed to laugh!"</p> - -<p>Then there was a silence and Regina started to say something but Mrs. -His-tara whispered, "Please! It is a thought between the children."</p> - -<p>Then there was a small, quiet laugh from Hi-nin. "In truth," he said -with that oh, so familiar lisp, "it is funny."</p> - -<p>"Me don't do it again," Gail said, solemn now.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When I got home it was so late that the stars were sliding down the sky -and I just knew Clay wouldn't have thought to turn the parking lights -on. But he had.</p> - -<p>Furthermore, he was still up.</p> - -<p>"Were you worried?" I asked delightedly.</p> - -<p>"No. Regina called a couple of hours ago."</p> - -<p>"<i>Regina?</i>"</p> - -<p>"She said she was concerned about the expression on your face."</p> - -<p>Clay handed me a present, all wrapped in gold stickum with an -electronic butterfly bouncing airily around on it.</p> - -<p>I peeled the paper off carefully, to save it for Billy, and set the -butterfly on the sticky side.</p> - -<p>Inside the box was a gorgeous blue fluffy affair of no apparent utility.</p> - -<p>"Oh, <i>Clay</i>!" I gasped. "I can't wear anything like <i>this</i>!" I slipped -out of my paper clothes and the gown slithered around me.</p> - -<p>Hastily, I pulled the pins out of my hair, brushed it back and smeared -on some lipstick.</p> - -<p>"I look silly," I said. "I'm all the wrong type." My little crayola -note was still stuck in the mirror. Phooey to me. "You're laughing at -me."</p> - -<p>"I'm not. You don't really look respectable at all, Verne."</p> - -<p>I ran into the dining area. "Regina told you about the boudoir slip!"</p> - -<p>I heard Clay stumble over a chair in the dark.</p> - -<p>"Obscenity!" he said. "All right, she did. So what? I think you look -like a call girl."</p> - -<p>I ran into the living room and hid behind the sofa. "Do you really, -truly think so?"</p> - -<p>"Absolutely!" Another chair clattered and Clay toed the living room -lights. "Ah!" he said. "I've got you cornered. You look like a chorus -girl. You look like an easy pickup. You look like a dirty little—"</p> - -<p>"Stop," I cried, "while you're still winning!"</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Car Pool, by Rosel George Brown - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAR POOL *** - -***** This file should be named 60653-h.htm or 60653-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/6/5/60653/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Car Pool - -Author: Rosel George Brown - -Release Date: November 9, 2019 [EBook #60653] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAR POOL *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - car pool - - By ROSEL GEORGE BROWN - - _Certainly alien children ought - to be fed ... but to human kids?_ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, July 1959. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -"Happy birthday to _you_," we all sang, except Gail, of course, who was -still screaming, though not as loud. - -"Well, now," I said jovially, glancing nervously about at the other air -traffic, "what else can we all sing?" The singing seemed to be working -nicely. They had stopped swatting each other with their lunch boxes and -my experienced ear told me Gail was by this time forcing herself to -scream. This should be the prelude to giving up and enjoying herself. - -"_Boing_ down in Texas in eighteen-ninety," Billy began, "Davy, _Davy_ -Eisenhower...." - -"A-B-_C-D_-E--" sang Jacob. - -"Dere was a little 'elicopter red and blue," Meli chirped, "flew along -de air-ways--" - -The rest came through unidentifiably. - -"Ba-ba-ba," said a faint voice. Gail had given up. I longed for ears -in the back of my head because victory was mine and all I needed to do -was reinforce it with a little friendly conversation. - -"Yes, dear?" I asked her encouragingly. - -"Ba-ba-ba," was all I could make out. - -"Yes, indeed. That Gail _likes_ to go to Playplace." - -"Ba-ba-ba!" A little irritable. She was trying to say something -important. "_Ba-ba-ba!_" - -I signaled for an emergency hover, turned around and presented my ear. - -"Me eat de crus' of de toas'," Gail said. She beamed. - -I beamed. - - * * * * * - -We managed to reach Playplace without incident, except for a man who -called me an obscenity. The children and I, however, called him a -great, big alligator head and on the whole, I think, we won. After all, -how can a man possibly be right when faced with a woman and eight tiny -children? - -I herded the children through the Germ Detection Booth and Gail was -returned to me with an incipient streptococcus infection. - -"Couldn't you give her the shot here?" I asked. "I've _just_ got her in -a good mood, and if I have to turn around and take her back home ... -and besides, her mother works. There won't be anyone there." - -"Verne, dear, we can't risk giving the shot until the child is -perfectly adjusted to Playplace. You see, she'd connect the pain of -the shot with coming to school and then she might never adjust." -Mrs. Baden managed to give me her entire attention and hold a -two-and-a-half-year-old child on one shoulder and greet each entering -child and break up a fight between two ill-matched four-year-olds, all -at the same time. - -"Me stay at school," Gail said resolutely. - -There was a scream from the other side of the booth. That was Billy's -best friend. I waited for the other scream. That was Billy. - -"Normal aggression," Mrs. Baden said with a smile. - -I picked up Gail. Act first, talk later. - -"Oh, _there_ she is," Mrs. Baden said, taking my elbow with what could -only be a third hand. - -Having heard we'd have a Hiserean child in Billy's group, I managed not -to look surprised. - -"Mrs. His-tara, this is Verne Barrat. Her Billy will be in Hi-nin's -group." - -I was immediately frozen with indecision. Should I shake hands? Merely -smile? Nod? Her hands looked wavery and boneless. I might injure them -inadvertently. - -I settled on a really good smile, all the way back to my bridge. "I am -so delighted to meet you," I said. I felt as though the good will of -the entire World Conference rested on my shoulders. - -Her face lighted up with the most sincere look of pleasure I've ever -seen. "I am glad to furnish you this delight," she said, with a good -deal of lisping over the dentals, because Hisereans have fore-shortened -teeth. She embraced me wholeheartedly and gave me a scaly kiss on the -cheek. - -My first thought was that I was a success and my second thought -was, Oh, God, what'll happen when Billy gets hold of little Hi-nin? -Hisereans, as I understood it, simply didn't have this "normal -aggression." Indeed, I sometimes have trouble believing it's really -normal. - -"I was thinking," Mrs. Baden said, putting down the -two-and-a-half-year-old and plucking a venturesome little girl in Human -Fly Shoes from the side of the building, "that you all might enjoy -having Hi-nin in your car pool." - -"Oh, we'd love to," I said eagerly. "We've got five mamas and eight -children already, of course, but I'm sure everyone--" - -"It would trouble you!" Mrs. His-tara exclaimed. Her eye stalks -retracted and tears poured down her cheeks. "I do not want to be of -difficulty," she said. - - * * * * * - -Since she had no apparent handkerchief and wore some sort of -permanent-looking native dress, I tore a square out of my paper morning -dress for her. - -"You are too good!" she sobbed, fresh tears pouring out. - -"No, no. I already tore out two for the children. I always get my -skirts longer in cold weather because children are so careless about -carrying--" - -"Then we'll consider the car pool settled?" Mrs. Baden asked, coming in -tactfully. - -"Naturally," I said, mentally shredding my previous sentence. "We would -feel so honored to have Hi-nin--" - -"Do not _think_ of putting yourself out. We do not have a helicopter, -of course, but Hi-nin and I can so easily walk." - -I was rapidly becoming unable to think of anything at all because Gail -was trying to use me for a merry-go-round and I kept switching her from -hand to hand and I could hear her beginning to build up the ba-bas. - -"My car pool," I said, "would be terribly sad to think of Hi-nin -walking." - -"You would?" - -"_Terribly._" - -"In such a case--if it will give you pleasure for me to accept?" - -"It would," I said fervently, holding Gail under one arm as she was -beginning to kick. - -And on the way home all the second thoughts began. - -_I_ would be glad to have Hi-nin in the car pool. Four of the other -mamas were like me, amazed that anyone was willing to put up with -her child all the way to and from Playplace. I could count on them to -cooperate. But Gail's mama.... I'd gone to Western State Preparation -for Living with Regina Raymond Crowley. - -I landed on the Crowley home and tooted for five minutes before I -remembered that Regina was at work. - -"_Ma_-ma!" Gail began. - -"Wouldn't you like to come to Verne's house," I asked, "and we can call -up your mama?" - -"No." Well, I asked, didn't I? - -I was carrying Gail down the steps from my roof when I bumped -unexpectedly into Clay. - -"What is that!" he exclaimed, and Gail became again flying blonde hair -and kicking feet. - -"Regina's child," I said. "What are you doing home?" - -"Accountant sent me back. Twenty-five and a half hours is the maximum -this week. Good thing, too. I've got a headache." He eyed Gail -meaningfully. She was obviously not the sort of thing the doctor orders -for a headache. - -"I can't help it, honey," I said, sitting down on a step to tear -another handkerchief square from my skirt. "I'm going to call Regina at -work now." - -"Don't you have a chairman to take care of things like that?" - -"I am the chairman," I said proudly. - -"Why in heaven's name did you let yourself get roped into something -like that?" - -"I was _selected_ by Mrs. Baden!" - -"Obscenity," said Clay. It is his privilege, of course, to use this -word. - - * * * * * - -The arty little store where Regina works has a telephane as well as a -telephone, and in color, at that. So I could see Regina in full color, -taking her own good time about switching on the sound. She switched on -as a sort of afterthought and tilted her nose at me. I don't suppose -she can really tilt her nose up and down, but she always gives that -impression. - -"Gail has an incipient streptococcus infection," I said. "They sent her -home." - -"_Ma_-ma!" Gail cried. - -"Why didn't they give her a shot there? That's what they did with my -niece last year." - -I explained why not. - -Regina sighed resignedly. "Verne, people can talk you into anything. -There are times when you have to be firm. I work, girl. That's why I -put Gail in Playplace. I can't leave here until twelve o'clock." - -"But what'll I do with Gail?" - -"Take her back. Or you keep her until I get home. Sorry, Verne, but you -got yourself into this." - -I switched off, furious. - -Then I remembered Hi-nin. I couldn't be furious. I was going to have to -get Regina's cooperation. - -I picked up Gail and went into the bedroom. "I do not dislike Regina -Crowley," I wrote with black crayola on a piece of note paper. I -stuck it into a crevice of my mirror and gave Gail my bare-shoulder -decorations to play with while I concentrated on thinking up reasons -why I should not dislike Regina Crowley. - -"I do," Clay said, sneaking up so quietly I jumped two feet. - -"So do I," I said, gazing wearily at my note. "But I have to have her -in a good mood. You see, there's this Hiserean child and since I'm -chairman of the car pool, I have to--" - -"_Don't_ tell me about it," Clay said. "My advice to you is get -elephantiasis of your steering foot and give the whole thing up now." -He glanced meaningfully at Gail, who couldn't possibly be bothering -him. She was playing quietly on the floor, pulling the suction disks -off my jewelry and sticking them on her legs. - -When I finally got Gail home, she sped into her mother's arms and I -couldn't help being a little irritated because I had been practically -swinging from the ceiling dust controls to ingratiate myself, and her -mama just said, "Oh, hi," and Gail was satisfied. - -"By the way," I said, watching Regina hang up her dark blue hand-woven -jacket, "you wouldn't mind picking up an extra child tomorrow, would -you?" - -"Mind! Certainly I mind. I've got as much as I can do with my job and -Gail and eight children in the heli already." - -"It's a Hiserean child," I said. "The mother is so lovely, Regina. She -didn't want us to go to any trouble." - -"That's fine. Because I'm not going to go to any trouble." - -I put my fists behind my back. "Of course I understand, Regina. I think -it's remarkable that you manage to do so much. And keep up with your -art things as you do. But don't you think it would be an interesting -experience to have a Hiserean child in the pool?" - - * * * * * - -Regina pulled off her hand-woven wrap-skirt and I was shocked to see -she wore a real boudoir slip to work. - -"Everybody to their own interesting experiences," she said, laughing at -me. This was obviously one of her triple-level remarks. - -"De gustibus," I said, to show I know a few arty things myself, "non -disputandum est." - -"You have such moments, Verne! Have you ever seen a Hiserean child?" - -"I saw one today." - -"Well." - -"Well?" - -"De gustibus, as you said. You know the other children will eat it -alive, don't you? _Your_ child will. Now Gail...." - -It's true that Gail never kicks anyone small enough to kick back. It's -also true that Billy bites. - -I unclenched my fists and stretched up with a deep breath so as to -relax my stomach and improve my posture. - -"Hiserean children," I pointed out, "are going to have to be adjusted -to our society. As I understand it, they're here to stay. Their sun -blew up behind them and personally I think we're lucky they happened to -drift here." - -"I don't see why it's so lucky. I wish we'd gotten one of the ships -full of scientific information. Or their top scientists. Or artists, -for that matter. All _we_ got were plain people. If you like to call -them people." - -"They're at least educated people with good sense. And we've got their -ship to take apart and learn things from. And their books and, after -all, some music and their gestural art. I should think you artists -would find that real avant garde." - -"Just hearing you say it like that is enough to kill Hiserean art." - -"Regina, I know you think I'm a prig, but that isn't the point. And if -it matters to you, I'm _not_ a prig." - -"Do you wear boudoir slips?" Regina was biting a real smile. - -"No, I don't. But I'd like to." - -"Then why don't you?" - -"Because I put one on once and I thought I looked absolutely -devastating and you know what my husband said?" - -"I won't try to guess Clay's bon mot." - -"He said, 'What did you put that on for?'" - - * * * * * - -Regina laughed until she popped a snap on her paper house dress. "But -seriously," she said finally, "if he didn't know, why didn't you tell -him?" - -"That's not the point. The point is I am not the boudoir-slip type. My -unmentionables are unmentionable for esthetic reasons only." - -Regina laughed again. "Really, Verne, you're not half bad when you try." - -"If you honestly think I'm not half bad, could you do it just as a -favor to me? Pick up Hi-nin when you have the car pool?" - -"The Hiserean child? No." - -"Please, Regina. I'd do it _for_ you except that the children would -notice and it would get back to Mrs. His-tara. If there's anything I -could do for you in return--" - -"What could you possibly do?" - -"I don't know. But I _can't_ go back and tell that dear creature our -car pool doesn't want her." - -"_Stop_ looking so intense. That's what keeps you from being the -boudoir-slip type. You always look as though you're going out to break -up a saloon or campaign for better Public Child Protection. The boudoir -slip requires a languorous expression." - -"Phooey to looking languorous. And phooey to boudoir slips. I'd wear -diapers to nursery school if you'd change your mind about taking along -Hi-nin." - -"Would you wear a boudoir slip?" - -"I--hell, yes." - -"And nothing else?" - -"Only my various means of support. And my respectability." - -Regina laughed her tiger-on-the-third-Christian laugh. "What I want to -find out," she said, "is how you manage the respectability bit." - -It dawned on me while I was grinding the pepper for Clay's salad that -Regina had explained herself. All of a sudden I saw straight through -her and I wondered why I hadn't seen it before. Regina _envied_ me. - -Now on the face of it, that seemed unlikely. But it occurred to me -that Regina's parents had been the poor but honest and uneducated sort -that simply are never asked to chaperone school parties. And the fact -is that they were not what Regina thought of as respectable, though it -never occurred to anyone but her that it mattered. And since all her -culture was acquired after the age of thirteen, she felt it didn't fit -properly and that's why she went out of her way to be arty-arty. - -Whereas I took for granted all the things Regina had learned so -painstakingly, and this in turn was what made me so irritatingly -respectable. - -As Regina had suggested, perhaps it _is_ the expression on one's face -that makes the difference. - - * * * * * - -"Hey!" a cop yelled, pulling up as close to us as his rotors would -allow. "What the hell?" - -"I beg your pardon," I said frigidly. It is very frigid in November if -you are out in a helicopter dressed only in a boudoir slip. - -"Look de bleesemans!" Gail cried. - -"He might shoot everybody!" Billy warned. - -Meli began to cry loudly. "He might _choot_! _Ma_-ma!" - -"Pardon me, madam," the cop said, and beat a hasty retreat. - -When we landed on Hi-nin's roof, Mrs. His-tara came up with him. -She looked at me sympathetically. "You are perhaps molting, beloved -friend?" Her large eyes retracted and filled with tears. "Such a -season!" - -"No--no, dear. Just--getting a little fresh air." - -I put Hi-nin on the front seat with me. He gave me a big-eyed, -toothless smile and sat down in perfect quiet, except for the soft, -almost sea sound of his breathing. - -It was during one of those brief and infrequent silences we have that I -noticed something was amiss. No sea sound. - -I looked around to find Billy's hands around Hi-nin's throat. - -"Billy!" I screamed. - -"Aw!" he said, and let go. - -Hi-nin began to breathe again in a violent, choked way. - -"Billy," I said, wondering if I could keep myself from simply throwing -my son out of the helicopter, "Billy...." - -"It is nothing, nice mama," Hi-nin said, still choking. - -"Billy." I didn't trust myself to speak any further. I reached around -and spanked him until my hand was sore. "If you _ever_ do that again--" - -"_Waa!_" Billy bawled. I'm sure he could be heard quite plainly by the -men building the new astronomical station on the Moon. - - * * * * * - -I put Hi-nin on my lap and kept him there. "That's just Billy's way of -making friends," I whispered to him. - -Under Billy's leadership, several other children began to cry, and all -in all it was not a well-integrated, love-sharing group that I lifted -down from the heli at Playplace. - -"The children always sense it, don't they," Mrs. Baden said with her -gentle smile, "when we don't feel comfortable about a situation?" - -"_Comfortable!_" I cried. It seemed to me the day had become blazing -hot and I didn't remember what I was dressed in until I tried to take -off my jacket. "My son is an inhuman monster. He tried to--to--" I -could feel a big sob coming on. - -"Bite?" Mrs. Baden supplied helpfully. - -"Strangle," I managed to blurt out. - -"We'll be especially considerate of Billy today," Mrs. Baden said. -"He'll be feeling guilty and he senses your discomfort about his -aggression." - -"_Senses_ it! I all but tore him limb from limb! That dear little -Hiserean child--" - -"I do not want to be of difficulty," Hi-nin said, tears pouring out of -those great, big eyes. - - * * * * * - -Tears were pouring out of my small blue eyes by this time and Mr. -Grantham, who brings a set of grandchildren, came by and patted my -shoulder. - -"Chin up!" he said. "Eyes front!" - -Then he looked at his hand and my recently patted shoulder. - -"Oh, excuse me," he said. "Would you like to borrow my jacket?" - -I shook my head, acutely aware, suddenly, that Mr. Grantham is not a -doddering old grandfather but a young and handsome man. And all he -thought about my bare shoulder was that it ought to be covered. - -"You just run along," Mrs. Baden said. "We'll let Billy strangle the -pneumatic dog and everything will be just fine. Oh, and dear--I don't -know whether you've noticed it--you don't have on a dress." - -I went home and sat in front of the mirror feeling miserable in several -different directions. If Regina Raymond Crowley appeared in public -dressed only in a boudoir slip, people would think all sorts of wicked -things. When I appeared in public in a boudoir slip, everybody thought -I was just a little absentminded. - -This, I thought, is a hell of a thing to worry about. And then I -thought, Oh, phooey. If even I think I'm respectable, what can I -expect other people to think? - -I took down the note on the mirror about Regina. No wonder I didn't -like her! I turned the paper over and wrote "Phooey to me!" with my -eyebrow pencil. - -I was still regarding the note and trying to argue myself into a better -mood when Clay came tramping down from work at three o'clock. - -"Why are you sitting around in a boudoir slip?" he asked. - -"You're a double-dyed louse and a great, big alligator head," I told -him. - -"Don't mention it," he said. "Where's Billy?" - -"Taking his nap. Tell me the truth, Clay. The absolute truth." - -Clay looked at me suspiciously. "I'd planned on a little golf this -afternoon." - -"This won't take a minute. I don't ask you things like this all the -time, now do I?" - -"I still don't know what you're talking about." - -I took a deep breath. "Clay, is there anything about me, anything at -all, that is not respectable?" - -"There is _not_," he said. - -"Well--I guess that's all there is to it," I sighed. I pulled off my -boudoir slip and got a neat paper one out of the slot. "Anyway," I said -bravely, "boudoir slips have to be laundered." - -Clay looked at me curiously for a moment and then said, "This looks -like a good afternoon to go play golf." - -"Do you think there's anything not respectable about Regina Crowley?" - -"There is _everything_ not respectable about Regina Crowley," Clay said -vehemently. - -"You see?" - -"Frankly, no." - -"Well, do you think her husband uses that tone of voice when he says, -'There is _everything_ respectable about Verne Barrat?'" - -"I don't know why he should say that at all." - -"She might ask him." - -"Darling, you're mad as a hatter," Clay said, kissing me good-by. - -"Do you really think so?" - -"Of course not," Clay roared as he tramped up the steps to the heli. - - * * * * * - -About nine o'clock the next morning I heard a heli landing on the roof -and I thought, Now who? There was much tooting, and when I went up, -Regina practically threw Hi-nin at me. - -"I told you so," she snapped at me. Her face was burning red and she -wasn't bothering to tilt her nose. - -"What happened? Why did you bring him back to _me_?" - -"His hand," she said, and took off. - -Hand? He was holding one hand over the other. No! I grabbed his hands -to see what it was. - -One hand had obviously been bitten off at the wrist. He was holding the -wound with the tentacles of his other little boneless hand. There was -very little blood. - -"It is as nothing," he said, but when I cradled him in my arms, I could -feel him shaking all over. - -"It will grow back," he said. - -Would it? - -I took him in the heli and held him while I drove. I could feel him -trying to stop himself from shaking, but he couldn't. - -"Does it hurt very much?" I asked. - -"The pain is small," he said. "It is the fear. The fear is terrible. I -am unable to swallow it." - -I was unable to swallow it, too. - -"The hand," said Mrs. His-tara without concern, "will grow back. But -the things within my son...." She, too, began to tremble involuntarily. - -"Billy," I began, feeling the blood come through my lower lip, "Billy -and I are...." It was too inadequate to say it. - -"It was not Billy," Hi-nin said without rancor. "It was Gail." - -"Gail! Gail doesn't bite!" But she had, and I broke down and plain -cried. - -"Do not trouble yourself," said Mrs. His-tara. "My son receives from -this a wound that does not heal. On Hiserea he would be forever sick, -you understand. On your world, where everyone is born with this open -wound, it will be his protection. So Mrs. Baden warned me and I think -she is wise." - -As soon as I got home, I called up Regina. She looked pale and lifeless -against the gaudy, irresponsible objects in the art shop. - -"It wasn't my fault," she said quickly. "I can't drive and watch the -children at the same time. I told you the children would eat...." She -stopped, and for the first time I saw Regina really horrified with -herself. - -"Nobody said it was your fault. But don't you think you could have -taken Hi-nin home yourself? To show Mrs. His-tara that--I don't know -what it would show." - -It reminded me, somehow, of the time Regina stepped on a lizard and -left it in great pain, pulling itself along by its tiny front paws, and -I had said, "Regina, you can't leave that poor thing suffering," and -she had said, "Well, I didn't step on it on purpose," and I had said, -"Somebody's got to kill it now," and she had said, "I've got a class." -I could still feel the crunch of it under my foot as its tiny life went -out. - -"Sorry, Verne," she said, "you got yourself into this," and hung up. - - * * * * * - -That night Regina called me. "Can you give blood?" she asked. - -"Yes," I said. "If I stuff myself, I can get the scales up to a hundred -and ten pounds." - -"What type?" - -"B. Rh positive." - -"Thought you told me that once. Gail is in the hospital. They have to -replace every drop of blood in her body. She may die anyhow." - -I thought of the little fluff and squeak that was Gail. I eat de crus' -of de toas'. - -"What's the matter with her?" I asked fearfully. - -"That damn Hiserean child is _poison_. Gail had a little cut inside her -mouth from where she fell off the slide at school." - -"I'll be at the hospital in ten minutes," I said, and hung up shakily. -"Dinner is set for seven-thirty," I told Clay and Billy, and rushed out. - -The first person I saw at the hospital was not Regina. It was Mrs. -His-tara. - -"How did you know?" I asked. Her integument was dull now and there were -patches of scales rubbed off. Her eyes were almost not visible. - -"Mrs. Crowley called me," she said. "In any case I would have been -here. There is in Hi-nin also of poison. There remains for him only -the Return Home. We must rejoice for him." - -The smile she brought forth was more than I could bear. - -"Gail's germs were poison to him?" - -"Oh, no. He poisons himself. It is an ancient hormone, from the early -days of our race when we had what your Mrs. Baden so wisely calls -aggression. It is dormant in us since before the accounting of our -history. An adult Hiserean, perhaps, could fight his emotions and cure -himself. Hi-nin has no weapons--so your physicians have explained it to -me, from our scientific books. How can I doubt that they are right?" - -How could I doubt it, either? It would be, I thought, rather like a -massive overdose of adrenalin. Psychogenic, of course, but what help -was it to know that? Would there be some organ in Hi-nin a surgeon -could remove? Like the adrenals in humans, perhaps? - -Of course not. If they could have, they would have. - - * * * * * - -I hurried on to find the room where Gail was. She was not pale, as I -had expected, but pink-cheeked and bright-eyed. They were probably -putting in more blood than they were taking out. There were two of the -other mamas from our car pool, waiting their turns. - -Regina was sitting by the bed, her face ugly and swollen from crying. - -"She looks just fine!" I exclaimed. - -"Only in the last fifteen minutes," she said. "When I called you, she -was like ice. Her eyes didn't move." - -"We're lucky with Gail. Did you know about Hi-nin?" - -"The little animal!" she said. "He's the one that did it." - -"He didn't do anything, Regina, and you know it." - -"He shouldn't have been in the car pool. He shouldn't be with human -children at all." - -"He's going to die," I said quickly, before she had time to say things -she'd have nightmares about later on. - -"Sorry," Regina said, because we were all looking at her and because -her child was pink and beautiful and healthy while Hi-nin.... - -"Regina," I said, "what did you do after it happened?" - -"_Do!_ It scared the hell out of me--that creature shaking all over and -Gail screaming. At first I didn't know what had happened. Then I saw -that _thing_ flopping around on the front seat and I screamed and threw -it out of the window. And then I noticed Hi-nin's wrist, or whatever -you call it. I said, 'Oh, God, I _knew_ you'd get us in trouble!' But -the creature didn't say anything. He just sat there. And I let the -other children off and brought Hi-nin to you because I didn't want to -get involved with that Mrs. Baden." - -"And Gail?" - -"She seemed all right. She just climbed in the back with the other -children and pretty soon they were all laughing." - -"And all that time little Hi-nin.... Regina, didn't you even pat him or -hold him or kiss it for him or anything?" - -"_Kiss_ it!" - -At that moment Mrs. His-tara came in, with Mrs. Baden and a doctor -behind her. I should have known. Mrs. Baden didn't leave people to -fight battles alone. - -Mrs. His-tara looked at Mrs. Baden, but Mrs. Baden only nodded and -smiled encouragingly at her. - - * * * * * - -The doctor was gently pulling the needle out of Gail's vein. The room -was silent. Even Gail sat large-eyed and solemn. - -"Mrs. Crowley," Mrs. His-tara began, obviously dragging each word up -with great effort, "would it be accurate to tell my son that Gail has -received no hurt from him? We must, you see, prepare him for the Return -Home." - -Regina looked around at us and at Gail. She hadn't dared let herself -look at Mrs. His-tara yet. - -"Doctor!" Regina called suddenly. "Look at Gail's mouth!" - -Even from where I was, I could see it. A scaly growth along both lips. - -"That's a temporary effect of the serum," the doctor said. "We tried an -antitoxin before we decided to change the blood. It is nothing to worry -about." - -"Oh." - -"Mrs. Crowley," Mrs. His-tara began again, "it is much to ask, but at -such a moment, much is required. If you could come yourself, and if -Gail could endure to be carried...." - -But Gail did, indeed, look queer, and she stretched out her arms not to -her mother but to Mrs. His-tara. - -"The tides," Mrs. His-tara said, "have cast us up a miracle." - -She gathered Gail into the boneless cradle of her curved arms. - -Regina took her sunglasses out of her purse and hid her eyes. "Mind -your own damned business," she told Mrs. Baden and me. - -"It _is_ our damned business," I whispered to Mrs. Baden, and she held -my arm as we followed Regina down the hall. - -Mrs. His-tara threaded her way through a cordon of other Hisereans who -must have been flown in for the occasion. I couldn't see the children, -but I could hear them. - -"Him cold!" said Gail. "Him scared!" - -"He's scared of you," Regina said. "We're sorry, Gail. Tell him we're -sorry. We didn't understand." - -Gail laughed. A loud and healthy laugh. - -"Gail sorry," she said. "Me thought you was to eat." - -There was a small sound. I thought it was from Hi-nin and I held Mrs. -Baden's hand as though it were my only link to a sane world. - -"Dat a joke," Gail said. "Hi-nin 'posed to laugh!" - -Then there was a silence and Regina started to say something but Mrs. -His-tara whispered, "Please! It is a thought between the children." - -Then there was a small, quiet laugh from Hi-nin. "In truth," he said -with that oh, so familiar lisp, "it is funny." - -"Me don't do it again," Gail said, solemn now. - - * * * * * - -When I got home it was so late that the stars were sliding down the sky -and I just knew Clay wouldn't have thought to turn the parking lights -on. But he had. - -Furthermore, he was still up. - -"Were you worried?" I asked delightedly. - -"No. Regina called a couple of hours ago." - -"_Regina?_" - -"She said she was concerned about the expression on your face." - -Clay handed me a present, all wrapped in gold stickum with an -electronic butterfly bouncing airily around on it. - -I peeled the paper off carefully, to save it for Billy, and set the -butterfly on the sticky side. - -Inside the box was a gorgeous blue fluffy affair of no apparent utility. - -"Oh, _Clay_!" I gasped. "I can't wear anything like _this_!" I slipped -out of my paper clothes and the gown slithered around me. - -Hastily, I pulled the pins out of my hair, brushed it back and smeared -on some lipstick. - -"I look silly," I said. "I'm all the wrong type." My little crayola -note was still stuck in the mirror. Phooey to me. "You're laughing at -me." - -"I'm not. You don't really look respectable at all, Verne." - -I ran into the dining area. "Regina told you about the boudoir slip!" - -I heard Clay stumble over a chair in the dark. - -"Obscenity!" he said. "All right, she did. So what? I think you look -like a call girl." - -I ran into the living room and hid behind the sofa. "Do you really, -truly think so?" - -"Absolutely!" Another chair clattered and Clay toed the living room -lights. "Ah!" he said. "I've got you cornered. You look like a chorus -girl. You look like an easy pickup. You look like a dirty little--" - -"Stop," I cried, "while you're still winning!" - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Car Pool, by Rosel George Brown - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAR POOL *** - -***** This file should be named 60653.txt or 60653.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/6/5/60653/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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