Children of Tomorrow Read Online Free PDF Page A

that.’
    'You’re still thinking with the label, I see - ‘ Lane began. And then he stopped. He sat there, with the expression on his face of a person who suddenly feels his first helplessness. He said finally, ‘Dear, we’re just going to have to get past these rote answers you’re giving me.’
    Susan nodded. ‘That’s fair,’ she said. ‘ No father rote, no outfit rote. Sack?’
    There was a pause. Lane sat, tapping one knee with the fingers of his right hand. His face muscles had tightened considerably, but there was still restraint.
    He temporised. ‘I suppose,’ he said, ”sack” means is it all right, or is it okay. But what does jabber mean?’
    ‘A kid over fourteenth birthday and under nineteenth.’ Susan smiled suddenly, and her whole face showed an amazingly attractive personality shift. The smile had a magnetic brightness to it. Until she smiled, she was pretty. The smile made her a dazzling beauty. She said, still smiling, ‘Jabber® still jabber, dad. Let’s face it. A twenty-minute jab lasts two hours.'
    Lane was not about to be diverted. 'What would father rote consist of? ’
    ‘What you just said,’ she said instantly, ‘about missing me when I wasn’t here. That’s an untruth, and you shouldn’t do untruths - ever.’
    ‘What’s the lie in it?’ Lane demanded in a dangerous tone. "We’re different generations, dad. We pass each other. We touch hands. You talk to me to find out if all is well, to make sure I’m not jumping the coop. Then I go somewhere and you go somewhere else. Togetherness would be boring to me and only a duty to you. You couldn’t say your real truths in my presence, and you can see that when I say mine in your presence, it just makes you mad, doesn’t it?’
    There was a peculiar sound at that point from the hallway. Somebody stifling a cough, or something. Lane climbed stiffly to his feet as Estelle came in. T thought I heard voices,’ she said in an oddly muffled voice of her own. She seemed to be having some physical difficulty, for she stood visibly shaking a little, Lane went over to her in alarm.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ Her body coninued to shake. ‘May I get you a glass of water?’ She nodded mutely, and he hurried over to the bar. When he returned with the glass, Susan was disappearing
    through the den door into the corridor.
    ‘ ’Night,’ she called over her shoulder.
    Estelle had recovered remarkably during those few moments. But she accepted the glass, and took a sip, and then said, ‘I sort've waved Susan to go to bed,’ she announced. She drained the glass, and added, ‘I heard the last part of that conversation, and I thought you’d had enough inter-action with a jabber for one night.’
    A strange tenseness had come into her husband’s face as he spoke. Abruptly, he clenched his hands and narrowed his eyes. ‘You were laughing at me. That was what gave you that shuddery look. You were trying to hold it in.’
    Amazingly, the woman had to fight again. She started to quiver. Her face broke into a smile, and then she fought that down by compressing her lips. Finally, she managed to murmur, ‘Darling, forgive me, but I could see you were slightly overwhelmed.’ Lane was outraged. ‘That is absolutely untrue. I was trying to be fair.’
    ‘All right, all right.’ His wife nodded vigorously. ‘I agree. That’s what you were doing, and I’m glad.’ She gave him a long look. ‘They’re pretty pure, aren’t they - these outfitters?’ There was a struggle visible in the man’s strong, hard face after those words were spoken. He was obviously still furious, but another thought was gaining the upper hand. An I’d-better-bide- my-time thought. He actually took a step backwards, as if he were physically pulling away from a crisis. Nonetheless, when he spoke it was evident that there was no basic surrender.
    He said in a level tone, ‘I can see that it’s not only the kids that have had ideas put into their heads. But,