Children of Tomorrow by A. E. van Vogt Read Free Book Online

arms. His lips sought, and hers received, the caress. She did not return the pressure of his lips, but she did not reject him.
    She went with him, presently, to the door, and watched him go down the walk and along the street out of sight. Then she returned to the breakfast room, and stood for a while staring down at the outfit booklet where it lay beside his plate. Finally, silently, she picked it up, carried it to a cabinet with dishes in the glassed-in top and drawers below. Slowly, she drew open the top drawer, put the booklet on the silverware that lay there in neat rows, and then slowly closed the drawer again.
    Whereupon, with a faraway look in her eyes she began to clean up the breakfast dishes.
    When Susan departed from her parents’ home, she walked rapidly along the street that led to the monorail. In daytime, the entrance of that fabulous transport system was a metal housing of rugged design half-hidden in heavy shrubbery. The girl went past it, straight on to a second street. And again without pausing to a third street. Abruptly, she was in a different world. The quiet, expensive homes had become less expensive in appearance with each block that she traversed. And now she found herself approaching a business street.
    Unknown to Susan, a little drama was developing on the street ahead, A sullen-faced, good-looking brunette girl was coming along the business street, briskly at first, and then more slowly as she became aware of a boy across the street.
    As she watched him from the comers of her narrowed, calculating eyes, she saw that he had spotted her. The instant she had his attention, she made a peremptory gesture, pointing ahead. The boy nodded, and began a slanting crossing of the street which would intercept the dark-haired girl a dozen or so feet from the intersection of the business street and the street along which Susan was coming.
    The boy was sandy-haired, slim of build and of medium height. He wore the brown trousers and yellow coat of the Yellow Deer outfit; and, as he came up onto the sidewalk, where the sullen brunette was waiting for him, he was unmistakably nervous.
    There was a faint, devil-may-care smile on the girl’s face. She motioned him with a toss of her head to follow her. And then she led the way into a shallow alcove. Guilt radiated from him as he walked after her. It was in the way he held his body, and in the dark, oozy sweatiness of his face.
    It was about twenty seconds after they went into the alcove that Susan rounded the nearby corner. She was walking rapidly past the alcove when she grew aware of the couple. She stopped. She turned. What she saw was the sandy-haired boy and the dark-haired girl standing with arms around each other. They were lip-kissing.
    Susan walked slowly into the alcove. Her face was troubled, but she clearly knew what she must do. As she came to a point about half a dozen feet from the two, &he said, ‘All right, jabbers.
    That’s enough.
    The dark-haired girl was amazing. She didn’t react. Her body did not make the convulsive involuntary start of the surprised person. In fact, when the boy literally jumped, her arms tightened instantly around him. Held him. Kept his face against hers.
    But it was a pretty sad-type kiss that was now in process between them. And, after a long moment, she must have realised that she could not contain as much masculine emotion as was shuddering in her taut, capable but after all, only feminine arms. And, so, reluctantly, she released the highly charged young male, stepped back, and stood watching him with a certain amount of contempt in her face. But there was triumph also. Her expression said that she, at least, had achieved from the interchange what she expected.
    The boy was by this time a lost soul. All the color had drained from his cheeks. His heart must have been pounding for he was breathing heavily. His fear was so obvious that Susan was embarrassed. ‘Joe,’ she said, ‘it isn’t that bad. All you have to do