Rina was suddenly the concerned mother, frowning at him worriedly. “She won’t just be like me? Sick? Crazy?”
“She’ll be like you at first, but she’ll grow out of it. It isn’t really a disease, you know.”
“It is to me. But I’ll keep her, and move, like you said, to this grandmother’s house. What’s the woman’s name?”
“Emma. She started to call herself Emma about one hundred fifty years ago as a joke. It means grandmother or ancestress.”
“It means she’s somebody you can trust to watch me and see that I don’t hurt Mary.”
“Yes.”
“I won’t. I’ll learn to be her mother at least … a little more. I can do that much?raise a child who’ll be important to you.”
He kissed her, believing her. If the child had not been such an important part of his breeding program, he would not have put a watch on her at all. After a while he got up and went to call one of his people to come and get his former body out of the apartment.
EMMA
Emma was in the kitchen fixing her breakfast when she heard someone at her front door. She hobbled through the dining room toward the door, but before she could reach it, it opened and a slight young man stepped in.
Emma stopped where she was, straightened her usually bent body, and stared a question at the young man. She was not afraid. A couple of boys had broken in to rob her recently and she had given them quite a surprise.
“It’s me, Em,” said the young man, smiling.
Emma relaxed, smiled herself, but she did not let her body sink back into its stoop. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in New York.”
“I suddenly realized that it had been too long since I checked on one of my people.”
“You don’t mean me.”
“A relative of yours?a little girl.”
Emma raised an eyebrow at him, then drew a deep breath. “Let’s sit down, Doro. Ask me the favor you’re going to ask me from a comfortable chair.”
He actually looked a little sheepish. They sat down in the living room.
“Well?” said Emma.
“I see you have someone living in your other apartment,” he said.
“Family,” said Emma. “A great-grandson whose wife just died. He works and I keep an eye on the kids when they get home from school.”
“How soon can you move him out?”
Emma stared at him expressionlessly. “The question is, will I move him out at all?
Why should I?”
“I have a youngster who’s going to be too much for her mother in a few years. Right now, though, her mother is too much for her.”
“Doro, the kids next door really need my help. Even with guidance, you know they’re going to have a hard time.”
“But almost anyone could help those children, Em. On the other hand, you’re just about the only one I’d trust to help the child I’m talking about.”
Emma frowned. “Her mother abuses her?”
“So far, she only lets other people abuse her.”
“Sounds as though the child would be better off adopted into another family.”
“I don’t want to do that if I can avoid it. She’s probably going to have a strong need to be among her relatives. And you’re the only relative she has that I’d care to trust her with. She’s part of an experiment that’s important to me, Em.”
“Important to you. To you! And what shall I do with my great-grandson and his children?”
“Surely one of your apartment complexes has a vacancy. And you can pay a baby sitter for the kids. You’re already providing for God knows how many indigent relatives. This should be fairly easy.”
“That’s not the point.”
He leaned back and sat looking at her. “Are you going to turn me down?”
“How old is the child?”
“Three.”
“And just what is she going to grow up into?”
“A telepath. One with more control of her ability than any I’ve produced so far, I hope. And from the body I used to father her, I hope she’ll have inherited a few other abilities.”
“What other abilities?”
“Em, I can’t tell you all of it. If I do, in a few years she’ll read it in your mind.”
