equipment to make a number of surreptitious visits during the pregnancy, enough of them to assure the child would be born without the handicap of a drunken mother. Unaccountably, though temporarily, Trudis lost her insatiable thirst.
N EEDLY WAS ONE OF THE six babies born in Hench Valley that summer, though no one except Grandma seemed to notice them. The babies seemed to slip through the mind like the shadow of trout in a brook: half gone before half glimpsed. NeedlyâÂfrom the moment Grandma finished washing and wrapping herâÂwas tiny and pale, with hair as white as the moon, appearing to be almost silver in good light. Grandma visited every one of the babies: watched their eyes, their gaze, their quiet, and decided that none of them were stone. Not only were they not stone, they were very definitely something far superior. In the light of what knowledge she had about genetics, she found this . . . more than merely puzzling. It contradicted everything she knew about breeding. A metallurgical analogy would be to melt equal parts of gold and lead together and pour the mixture out as pure gold. It couldnât happen!
Or it could if an ovary could be induced to produce one golden egg out of ten thousand lead ones. Perhaps by chance. Or the impossibly favorable result of cosmic rays. Or if someone transplanted an already properly fertilized egg into the woman at the appropriate time.
Once she had decided it was remotely possible, Lillis gave up thinking about it.
It had been considered lucky to have âthe Healerâ provide a secret name for a baby, as she was one of the handful of residents who could read. So Lillis played cubeys to get baby names for the new mothers. The other two girls were named Clethra (discarding a Z, a Q, and an X ) and Acrea (discarding two U s, two W s and another R ). Cubeys provided the boys with the names Brian and Galan and Victor. Like Needly, their hair was silvery, like spun metal. The Âpeople of Hench Valley glanced across Silverhair babies and, except for their mothers, forgot what they had seen. Needly had two half sisters and three half brothers, and every one of them survived: two in Gortles, two in Griefâs Barn, one in Bagâs Arm, Needly herself in Tuckwhip.
Lillis had left Hench Valley wearing Healer Maâs shoes. Healer Grandma Lillis returned to Tuckwhip wearing those same shoes. The only way she could guard this child was by living there or taking her away, andâÂyet again!âÂeverything about the child spoke of a predestined life in which it would be unwise to interfere too greatly. Joshua thought it would be dangerous for the child and for Lillis if he came within reach of Gralf, and Grandma concurred, suggesting that Joshua take a short vacation, look up some old friends. She thought she wouldnât be staying long. Just long enough to find out what was going on, then maybe sheâd leave and take the little one . . . ones with her.
She visited the other mothers just as a Healer Grandma would do, checking them out, seeing if they were healthy. Grandma Lillis decided that as soon as they were weaned she would take them away. All of them were alike: healthy, vigorous, and they cried seldom if ever. They looked at the world out of wide, knowing eyes.
And they disappeared . As they got to early weaning age, they disappeared, one at a time. Only Grandma Lillis realized this, and she nodded to herself: so these babies were intended for something specific, and someone had come for them! When they disappeared, the mothers of the babies behaved oddly for a few days, walking around, peering behind things, as though trying to find something that was lost without knowing what it was. Sometimes each would take a gold coin from a pocket and fondle it, wonderingly. The little ones had not been sold or killed; gold had been left behind to pay for what . . . ? The womb? The breast? Certainly no one had ever abused the
N EEDLY WAS ONE OF THE six babies born in Hench Valley that summer, though no one except Grandma seemed to notice them. The babies seemed to slip through the mind like the shadow of trout in a brook: half gone before half glimpsed. NeedlyâÂfrom the moment Grandma finished washing and wrapping herâÂwas tiny and pale, with hair as white as the moon, appearing to be almost silver in good light. Grandma visited every one of the babies: watched their eyes, their gaze, their quiet, and decided that none of them were stone. Not only were they not stone, they were very definitely something far superior. In the light of what knowledge she had about genetics, she found this . . . more than merely puzzling. It contradicted everything she knew about breeding. A metallurgical analogy would be to melt equal parts of gold and lead together and pour the mixture out as pure gold. It couldnât happen!
Or it could if an ovary could be induced to produce one golden egg out of ten thousand lead ones. Perhaps by chance. Or the impossibly favorable result of cosmic rays. Or if someone transplanted an already properly fertilized egg into the woman at the appropriate time.
Once she had decided it was remotely possible, Lillis gave up thinking about it.
It had been considered lucky to have âthe Healerâ provide a secret name for a baby, as she was one of the handful of residents who could read. So Lillis played cubeys to get baby names for the new mothers. The other two girls were named Clethra (discarding a Z, a Q, and an X ) and Acrea (discarding two U s, two W s and another R ). Cubeys provided the boys with the names Brian and Galan and Victor. Like Needly, their hair was silvery, like spun metal. The Âpeople of Hench Valley glanced across Silverhair babies and, except for their mothers, forgot what they had seen. Needly had two half sisters and three half brothers, and every one of them survived: two in Gortles, two in Griefâs Barn, one in Bagâs Arm, Needly herself in Tuckwhip.
Lillis had left Hench Valley wearing Healer Maâs shoes. Healer Grandma Lillis returned to Tuckwhip wearing those same shoes. The only way she could guard this child was by living there or taking her away, andâÂyet again!âÂeverything about the child spoke of a predestined life in which it would be unwise to interfere too greatly. Joshua thought it would be dangerous for the child and for Lillis if he came within reach of Gralf, and Grandma concurred, suggesting that Joshua take a short vacation, look up some old friends. She thought she wouldnât be staying long. Just long enough to find out what was going on, then maybe sheâd leave and take the little one . . . ones with her.
She visited the other mothers just as a Healer Grandma would do, checking them out, seeing if they were healthy. Grandma Lillis decided that as soon as they were weaned she would take them away. All of them were alike: healthy, vigorous, and they cried seldom if ever. They looked at the world out of wide, knowing eyes.
And they disappeared . As they got to early weaning age, they disappeared, one at a time. Only Grandma Lillis realized this, and she nodded to herself: so these babies were intended for something specific, and someone had come for them! When they disappeared, the mothers of the babies behaved oddly for a few days, walking around, peering behind things, as though trying to find something that was lost without knowing what it was. Sometimes each would take a gold coin from a pocket and fondle it, wonderingly. The little ones had not been sold or killed; gold had been left behind to pay for what . . . ? The womb? The breast? Certainly no one had ever abused the
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