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such a petition.
    â€œWe voted it down just a year ago,” the blind man reminded Matty when the message had been read to him. “There must be a stronger movement now.”
    â€œThere are still plenty of fish,” Matty pointed out, “and the fields are full of crops.”
    The blind man crumpled the message and dropped it into the fire. “It’s not the fish or crops,” he said. “They’ll use that, of course. They argued dwindling food supply last time. It’s . . .”
    â€œNot enough housing?”
    â€œMore than that. I can’t think of the word for it.
Selfishness,
I guess. It’s creeping in.”
    Matty was startled. Village had been created out of the opposite: selflessness. He knew that from his studies and from hearing the history. Everyone did.
    â€œBut in the message—I could have read it to you again if you hadn’t burned it—it says that the group who wants to close the border is headed by Mentor! The schoolteacher!”
    The blind man sighed. “Give the soup a stir, would you, Matty?”
    Obediently Matty moved the wooden ladle around in the pot and watched beans and chopped tomatoes churn in the thick mixture as it simmered. Thinking still of his teacher, he added, “He’s not selfish!”
    â€œI know he isn’t. That’s why it’s puzzling.”
    â€œHe welcomes everyone to the school, even new ones who have no learning, who can’t even speak properly.”
    â€œLike you, when you came,” the blind man said with a smile. “It couldn’t have been easy, but he taught you.”
    â€œHe had to tame me first,” Matty acknowledged, grinning. “I was wild, wasn’t I?”
    Seer nodded. “Wild. But Mentor loves teaching those who need it.”
    â€œWhy would he want to close the border?”
    â€œMatty?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHas Mentor traded, do you know?”
    Matty thought about it. “It’s school vacation now, so I don’t see him as often. But I stop by his homeplace now and then . . .” He didn’t mention Jean, the widowed schoolteacher’s daughter. “I haven’t noticed anything different in his household.
    â€œNo Gaming Machine,” he added, laughing a little.
    But the blind man didn’t chuckle in reply. He sat thinking for a moment. Then he said, in a worried voice, “It’s much more than just a Gaming Machine.”

Five
    The schoolteacher’s daughter told me that her dog has three puppies. I can have one when it’s big enough, if I like.”
    â€œIsn’t she the one who promised you a kiss? Now a dog as well? I’d settle for the kiss if I were you, Matty.” The blind man smiled, loosened a beet from the earth, and placed it in the basket of vegetables. They were in the garden together.
    â€œI miss my dog. He wasn’t any trouble.” Matty glanced over to the corner of their homeplace’s plot of land, beyond the garden, to the small grave where they had buried Branch two years before.
    â€œYou’re right, Matty. Your little dog was a good companion for many years. It would be fun to have a puppy around.” The blind man’s voice was gentle.
    â€œI could train a dog to lead you.”
    â€œI don’t need leading. Could you train a dog to cook?”
    â€œAnything but beets,” Matty said, making a face as he threw another into the basket.
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    But when he went in the afternoon to the schoolteacher’s homeplace, Matty found Jean distraught. “Two died last night,” she said. “They took sick. Now there’s only one puppy left, and it’s sick, and the mother as well.”
    â€œHow have you tended them?”
    Jean shook her head in despair. “Same as I would for my father or myself. Infusion of white willow bark. But the puppy’s too little to drink, and the mother’s too sick. She lapped a bit and