him know she was old enough to understand what the quarrel
had been about if only it were explained, to her.
Mary went into the library and hesitantly sat on the edge
of a couch near him. He did not look at her and his face
seemed grey in the midday light. Then she knew that he was
lonely, too. But a great feeling of tenderness for him went
through her.
'Sometimes I think you and Clara Manz must be the only
people in the world,' she said abruptly, 'who aren't so silly
about shifting right on the dot. Why, I don't
Shorrs
Those first moments when he seized her in his arms, it
seemed her heart would shake loose. It was as though she had
uttered some magic formula, one that had abruptly opened
the doors to his love. It was only after he had explained to
her why he was always late on the first day of the family
shift that she knew something was wrong. He
over and over, that he knew she was unhappy and that it was
his fault. But he was at the same time soothing her, petting
her, as if
He talked on and on. Gradually, Mary understood in his
trembling body, in his perspiring palms, in his pleading eyes,
that he was afraid of dying, that he was afraid
kill him with the merest thing she said, with her very pres-
ence.
This was not painful to Mary, because, suddenly, something
came with ponderous enormity to stand before her: /
Her relationship. It was some kind of relationship to Conrad
and Clara Manz, because those were the people they had
been talking about.
The moment her father left the apartment, she went to
his desk and took out the file of family records. After she
found the address of Conrad Manz, the idea occurred to her
to write it on her body. Mary was certain that Susan Shorrs
never bathed and she thought this a clever idea. Sometime on
Susan's rest day, five days from now, she would try to force
the shift and go to See Conrad and Clara Manz. Her plan
was simple in execution, but totally vague as to goal.
Mary was already late when she hurried to the children's
section of a public shifting station. A Children's Transfer Bus
was waiting, and Mary registered on it for Susan Shorrs to be
taken to school. After that she found a shifting room and
opened it with her wristband. She changed into a shifting
costume and sent her own clothes and belongings home.
Children her age did not wear make-up, but Mary always
stood at the mirror during the shift. She always tried as hard
