No Different Flesh by Zenna Henderson Read Free Book Online Page B

sli-i-i-ide, flip! of the scriber, and the brisk flutter of finished pages from the tall pile of paper to the short one. She opened drowsy eyes to a murmur of voices and saw that the two piles of paper were almost balanced. She sat up to ease her neck where it had been bent against the cabin wall.
    "But it's wrong, I tell you!" Remy was waving the paper.
    "Look, this line, here, where it goes-"
    "Remy," said Jemmy, "are you sure it's wrong or is it just another earlier version of what we know now?"
    "No!" said Remy. "This time it's not that. This is a real mistake. He couldn't possibly have meant it to be like that "
    "Okay," Jemmy nodded to Karen and she touched Mark's forehead, He opened his eyes and half sat up. The scriber flipped across the paper and Karen stilled it with a touch.
    "What is it?" he asked, "something go wrong?"
    "No, it's this diagram." Remy brought it to him. "I think you have an error here. Look where this goes-"
    The two bent over the paper. Meris looked around the cabin. Valancy was rocking a sleeping Lala in her arms. Davy was sound asleep in the upper bunk.
    At least his dangling leg looked very asleep. Johannan was absorbed in two books simultaneously. He seemed to be making a comparison of some sort. Meris lay back again, sliding down to a more comfortable position. For the first time in months and months the cabin was lapped from side to side with peace and relaxation. Even the animated discussion going on was no ruffling of the comfortable calmness. She heard, on the edge of her ebbing consciousness,
    "Why no! That's not right at all!" Mark was astonished. "Hoo boy! If I'd sent that in with an error like that! Thanks, fella-" And sleep flowed over Meris.
    She awoke later to the light chatter of Lala's voice and opened drowsy eyes to see her trailing back from the bathroom, her feet tucked up under her gown away from the chilly floor as she drifted back to Valancy's arms. The leg above Meris's head swung violently and withdrew, to be replaced by Davy's dangling head. He said something to Lala. She laughed and lifted herself up to his outstretched arms. There was a stirring around above Meris's head before sleeping silence returned.
    Valancy stood and stretched widely. She moved over to the table and thumbed the stack of paper.
    "Going well," she said softly.
    "Yes," said Jemmy, "I feel a little like a midwife, snatching something new-born in the middle of the night."
    "Dern shame to stop here, though," said Remy. "With such a good beginning-oh, barring a few excursions down dead ends-if we could only tack on a few more chapters."
    "'Uh-uh!" Jemmy stood and stretched, letting his arms fall around Valancy's shoulders. "You know better than that-"
    "Not even one little hint?"
    "Not even," Jemmy was firm.
    Sleep flowed over Meris again until pushed back by Davy's sliding over the edge of the upper bunk.
    "Right in the stomach!" he moaned as he dropped to the floor. "Such a kicking kid I never met. How'd you survive?" he asked Valancy.
    "Nary a kick," she laughed. "Technique-that's what it takes."
    "I was just wondering," said Davy, opening the stove and probing the coals before he put in another chunk of oak.
    "That kid Johannan was talking about-the one that's got interested in vintage cars. What about that place up on Bearcat Flat? You know, that little box canyon where we put all our old jalopies when we discarded them. Engines practically unused. Lifting's cheaper and faster. Of course the seats and the truck beds are kinda beat up, and the paint. Trees scratch the daylights out of paint. How many are there there? Let's see. The first one was about 19-ought-something-"
    Johannan looked up from his books. "He said something about selling parts or cars to get money for college-" "Or restoring them!" Davy cried. "Hey, that could be fun! If he's the kind that would-"
    "He is," said Johannan and went back to his reading.
    "It's almost daylight." Davy went to the window and parted the curtains.
    "Wonder