Time Enough For Love Part 27

"Oh, sure! I know a clapping song. But we can't clap right now. Can we?"

"Right now I think we had better hang on tight." Gibbons rapidly reviewed in his mind his repertoire of happy songs, rejected a round dozen as unsuitable for young ladies. "How about this one?

"There's a p.a.w.nshop On the corner Where I usually keep my overcoat.

"Can you sing that, Dora?"

"Oh, that's easy! easy!" The baby girl sang it in a voice so high that Gibbons was reminded of a canary. "Is that all, Uncle Gibbie? And what's a 'paunshot'?"

"It's a place to keep overcoats when you don't need them. Lots more, Dora. Thousands and thousands of verses."

" 'Thousands and thousands-' Why, that's almost as much as a hundred. Isn't it?"

"Almost, Dora. Here's another verse: "There's a trading post By the p.a.w.nshop Where my sister sells candy.

"Do you like candy, Dora?"

"Oh, yes! But Mama says its 'spensive."

"Won't be so expensive next year, Dora; there'll be more sugar beets cropped. But . . 'Open your mouth and close your eyes, and I'll give you something for a s'prise!' " He felt around in his s.h.i.+rt pocket, then said, "Oh, sorry, Dora; the surprise will have to wait until I can get to the trading post; Buck got the last one. Buck likes candy, too."

"He does?"

"Yes and I'll teach you how to give it to him without losing a finger by mistake. But candy isn't too good for him, so he gets it only as a special surprise. For being a good boy. Okay, Buck?"

"Oh-gay! . . Pawsss!"

Mrs. Mayberry's school was letting out as Gibbons halted Buck in front of it. When he lifted Dora down, she seemed very tired, so he picked her up again. "Wait, Buck." The stragglers among the pupils stared but separated and let him through.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Mayberry." Gibbons had gone there almost by instinct. The schoolmistress was a gray-haired widow, fifty or more, who had outlasted two husbands, and was coping sensibly with her meager chance of finding a third, preferring to support herself rather than live with one of her daughters, stepdaughters, or daughters-in-law. She was one who shared Ernest Gibbons' enthusiasm for the hearty pleasures in life but was as circ.u.mspect about it as he was. He considered her sensible in every way-a prime prospect for marriage were it not for the unfortunate fact that they ran on different time rates.

Not that he let her know this. He had not been a disclosed Howard when they both had arrived in the first s.h.i.+pload, and, although freshly rejuvenated on Secundus when he had reappeared on Earth and organized the migration, he had elected to be thirty-five or so (cosmetically). Since that time he had carefully aged himself each year; Helen Mayberry thought of him as a contemporary, returned his friends.h.i.+p, shared mutual pleasure with him from time to time without trying to own him. He respected her highly.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Gibbons. Why, it's Dora! We missed you, dear; what happened! And-Is that a bruise?" She looked closely, said nothing about the fact that the little girl was filthy dirty.

She straightened up. "Seems to be just a smudge. I'm glad to see her; I fretted a little this morning when she didn't show up with the Parkinson children. It's almost Marjorie Brandon's time-perhaps you knew?"

"Vaguely. Where can I put Dora down for a few minutes? Conference. Private."

Mrs. Mayberry's eyes widened slightly, but she answered at once. "The couch-No, put her on my bed." She led the way, said nothing about getting her white coverlet dirty, went back into the schoolroom with him after he a.s.sured Dora that they would be gone only a few moments.

Gibbons explained what had happened. "Dora doesn't know that her parents are dead, Helen-nor do I think it's time to tell her."

Mrs. Mayberry considered it. "Ernest, are you sure they both died? Bud would have seen the fire if he had been working his own fields, but he sometimes works for Mr. Parkinson."

"Helen, that was not a woman's hand I saw. Unless Marje Brandon has thick black hair on the back of her hands."

"No. No, that would be Bud." She sighed. "Then she's an orphan. Poor little Dora! A nice child. Bright, too."

"Helen, can you take care of her a few days? Will you?"

"Ernest, the way you phrase that is almost offensive. I will take care of Dora as long as I am needed."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to phrase it unpleasingly. I don't expect it to be long: some family will adopt her. In the meantime keep track of your expense, then we'll work out what her room and board should, be."

"Ernest, that will come to exactly zero. The only cost will be about enough food to feed a bird. Which I can certainly do for Marjorie Brandon's little girl."

"So? Well, I can find some family to board her. The Learners. Someone."

"Ernest!"

"Get your feathers down, Helen. That child was placed in my hands, her father's last dying act. And don't be a dumb fool; I know to the penny how much you manage to save. As well as how often you have to take tuition in food rather than cash. This is a cash deal. The Learners would jump at it-as well as several others. I don't have to leave Dora here-and won't, unless you are sensible."

Mrs. Mayberry looked grim-then suddenly smiled and looked years younger. "Ernest, you're a bully. And a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. And other things I never say out of bed. All right-room-andboard."

"And tuition. Plus any special expenses. Doctor's bills, maybe."

"Triple b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You always pay for anything you get, don't you? As I should know." She glanced at the unshuttered windows. "Step out here in the hall and seal it with a kiss. b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

They moved, she placed herself so that the angle did not permit anyone to see them, then delivered a kiss that would have astounded her neighbors.

"Helen-"

She brushed her lips against his. "The answer is No, Mr. Gibbons. Tonight I'll be busy rea.s.suring a baby girl."

"I was about to say, 'Don't give her that bath I know you intend to until I get hold of Doc Krausmeyer and have him examine her. She seems all right-but she may have anything from broken ribs to a skull concussion. Oh, get her clothes off and sponge her a little for the worst of the dirt; that won't hurt her and it will make it easier for Doc to examine her."

"Yes, dear. Get your lecherous hands off my bottom and I'll get to work. You find Doc."

"Right away, Mrs. Mayberry."

"Until later, Mr. Gibbons. Au 'voir."

Gibbons told Buck to wait, walked over to the Waldorf, found (as he expected) Dr. Krausmeyer in the bar. The physician looked up from his drink. "Ernest! What's this I hear about the Harper place?"

"Well, what do you hear about it? Put down that gla.s.s and grab your bag. Emergency."

"Now, now! Haven't seen the emergency yet that wouldn't leave time to finish a drink. Clyde Leamer was just in and bought us a round of drinks-bought this one you urged me to abandon-and told us that the Harper place had burned and killed the whole Brandon family. Says he tried to rescue them, but it was too late."

Gibbons briefly considered the desirability of a fatal accident happening to both Clyde Leamer and Doc Krausmeyer some dark night-but, d.a.m.n it, while Clyde would be no loss, if Doc died, Gibbons would be forced to hang out his own s.h.i.+ngle-and his diplomas did not not read "Ernest Gibbons." Besides, Doc was a good doctor when sober-and, anyhow, it's your own fault, old son; twenty years ago you interviewed him and okayed the subsidy. All you saw was a bright young intern and failed to spot the incipient lush. read "Ernest Gibbons." Besides, Doc was a good doctor when sober-and, anyhow, it's your own fault, old son; twenty years ago you interviewed him and okayed the subsidy. All you saw was a bright young intern and failed to spot the incipient lush.

"Now that you mention it, Doc, I did see Clyde hurrying toward the Harper place. If he says he was too late to save them I would have to back his story. However, it was not the whole family; their little girl, Dora, was saved."

"Well, yes, Clyde did say that. He said it was her parents he couldn't save."

"That's right. It's the little girl I want you to attend. She's suffering from multiple abrasions and contusions, possibly broken bones, possible internal injuries, a strong possibility of smoke poisoning-and a certainty of extreme emotional shock . . very serious in a child that age. She's across the street at Mrs. Mayberry's place." He added softly, "I think you ought to hurry, Doctor, I really do. Don't you?"

Dr. Krausmeyer looked unhappily at his drink, then straightened up and said, "Mine host, if you will be so kind as to put this on the back of the bar, I shall return." He picked up his bag.

Dr. Krausmeyer found nothing wrong with the child, gave her a sedative. Gibbons waited until Dora was asleep, then went to arrange temporary board for his mule. He went to Jones Brothers ("Fine Stock-Mules Bought, Sold, Traded, Auctioned-Registered Stallions Standing at Stud") because his bank held a mortgage on their place.

Minerva, it wasn't planned; it just grew. I expected Dora to be adopted in a few days, a few weeks, some such. Pioneers don't feel about kids the way city people do. If they didn't like kids, they wouldn't have the temperament to pioneer. And as soon as pioneer kids stop being babies, the investment starts paying off. Kids are an a.s.set in pioneer country.

I certainly did not plan to raise an ephemeral, or hold any fear that it would be necessary-nor was was it necessary. I was beginning to simplify my affairs, expecting to leave soon, as my son Zaccur should show up any year. it necessary. I was beginning to simplify my affairs, expecting to leave soon, as my son Zaccur should show up any year.

Zack was my partner then, in a loose arrangement based on mutual trust. He was young, a century and a half or such, but steady and smart-out of Phyllis Briggs-Sperling by my last marriage but two. A fine woman, Phyllis, as well as a number-one mathematician. We made seven children together and every one of them smarter than I am. She married several times-I was her fourth16-and, as I recall, the first woman to win the Ira Howard Memorial Century Medal for contributing one hundred registered offspring to the Families. Took her less than two centuries but Phyllis was a girl of simple tastes, the other being pencil and paper and time to think about geometry.

I digress. To engage in the pioneering business profitably takes a minimax of a suitable s.h.i.+p and two partners, both s.h.i.+pmasters, both qualified to mount a migration and lead it-otherwise you are taking a s.h.i.+pload of city folks and abandoning them in wilderness . . which often happened in the early days of the Diaspora.

Zack and I did it properly, each fully qualified as captain in s.p.a.ce, or as leader on a strange planet-taking turns. The one who stays behind when the s.h.i.+p leaves really does pioneer; he can't fake it, he can't just wave the baton. He may not be political head of the colony-I preferred not to be; talk is so time-consuming. What he does have to be is a survivor, J.F. 45th J.F. 45th a man who can force that planet to feed him, and by his example show others how-and advise them if they want it.

The first wave is a break-even; the captain unloads and goes back for more migrants; the planet offers nothing for export that soon. The trip has been paid for by fares charged the migrants; profit, if any, will come from the partner on the ground selling what else the s.h.i.+p has carried-mules, hardware, swine, fertile chicken eggs-to the pioneers, on credit at first. Which means the partner on the ground has to look sharp and mind his rear; it doesn't take much to convince migrants who are having a tough time that this bloke is profiteering and should be lynched.

Minerva, the six times I did this-let myself be left behind with the first wave of a colony-I never once plowed a field without weapons at hand and I was always far more cautious with my own breed than I was with any dangerous animals that planet held.

But on New Beginnings we were past most such hazards. The first wave had made it, though just barely that terrible first winter-Helen Mayberry was not the only widow who had married a widower as a result of a weather cycle that Andy Libby and I had not antic.i.p.ated; the star there-called "the Sun" as always, but you can check your memories for catalog designation-New Beginnings' Sun was a variable star by about the amount that old Sol is, just enough to give "unusual" weather-and when we arrived we hit the badweather jackpot.

But those who made it through that winter were tough enough to stand anything; anything; the second wave had a much easier time. the second wave had a much easier time.

I had disposed of my farm to migrants of the second wave and was putting my attention on business and trade to build up a cargo for the Andy J. Andy J. to take back after Zack unloaded the third wave-and I would go back, too. Go somewhere, that is. What and where and how would be settled after I saw Zack. to take back after Zack unloaded the third wave-and I would go back, too. Go somewhere, that is. What and where and how would be settled after I saw Zack.

In the meantime I was bored, getting ready to wind up my on-planet affairs, and found this waif an interesting diversion.

Delightful, I should say. Dora was a baby who was born grown-up. Utterly innocent, ignorant in the fas.h.i.+on that a small child necessarily is, but most intelligent and delighted to learn anything. There was no meanness in her anywhere, Minerva, and I found her naive conversation more entertaining than most talk of adults-usually trivial and rarely new.

Helen Mayberry took as much interest in Dora, and we two found ourselves in loco parentis in loco parentis without planning it. without planning it.

We consulted each other and kept the baby girl away from the burial-some charred bones, including tiny ones of the baby that had never been born-and kept her away from the memorial service, too. Some weeks later, when Dora seemed to be in good shape and after I had had time to have a gravestone cut and erected, I took her out there and let her see it. She could read, and did-names and dates of her parents, and the single date for the baby.

She looked it over solemnly, then said, "That means Mama and Daddy won't ever be coming back. Doesn't it?"

"Yes, Dora."

"That's what the kids at school said. I wasn't sure."

"I know, dear. Aunt Helen told me. So I thought you had better see for yourself."

She looked again at the headstone, then said gravely, "I see. I guess I do. Thank you, Uncle Gibbie."

She didn't cry, so I didn't have any excuse to pick her up and console her. All I could think of to say was: "Do you want to go now, dear?"

"Yes."

We had ridden out on Buck, but I had left him at the foot of the hill, there being an unwritten rule against letting mules or tamed lopers walk on graves. I asked if she wanted me to carry her-piggyback, perhaps. She decided to walk.

Halfway down she stopped. "Uncle Gibbie?"

"Yes, Dora?"

"Let's not tell Buck about this."

"All right, Dora."

"He might cry."

"We won't tell him, Dora."

She did not say any more until we were back at Mrs. Mayberry's school. Then she was very quiet for about two weeks, and never mentioned it again to me, nor-I think-to anyone. She never asked to go back there, although we went riding almost every afternoon and often within sight of graveyard hill.

About two Earth-years later the Andy J. Andy J. arrived, and Captain Zack, my son by Phyllis, came down in the gig to make arrangements for landing the third wave of migrants. We had a drink together, and I told him I was staying over another trip, and why. He stared. "Lazarus, you are out of your mind." arrived, and Captain Zack, my son by Phyllis, came down in the gig to make arrangements for landing the third wave of migrants. We had a drink together, and I told him I was staying over another trip, and why. He stared. "Lazarus, you are out of your mind."

I said quietly, "Don't call me 'Lazarus.' That name has had too much publicity."

He said, "All right. Although there is no one around but our hostess-Mrs. Mayberry, did you say?-and she's gone out to the kitchen. Look, uh, Gibbons, I was thinking of making a couple of trips to Secundus. Profit in it, and ways to invest our net on Secundus-safer than investing on Earth now, things being the way they are."

I agreed that he was almost certainly right.

"Yes," he said, "but here's the point. If I do, I won't be back this way for, oh, maybe ten standard years. Or longer. Oh, I will if you insist; you're majority shareholder. But you'll be wasting your money and mine, too. Look, Laz-Ernest, if you must must take care of this kid-though I don't see that it's your obligation-come with me and bring her along. You could put her in school on Earth-as long as you post bond to insure that she leaves. Or perhaps she could settle on Secundus, although I don't know what the immigration rules are there now; it's been a long time since I've been there." take care of this kid-though I don't see that it's your obligation-come with me and bring her along. You could put her in school on Earth-as long as you post bond to insure that she leaves. Or perhaps she could settle on Secundus, although I don't know what the immigration rules are there now; it's been a long time since I've been there."

I shook my head. "What's ten years? I can hold my breath that long. Zack, I want to see this child grown up and able to make it on her own-married, I hope, but that's her business. But I won't uproot her; she's had one shock of that sort and shouldn't have to soak up another while she's still a child."

"On your head be it. You want me back in ten years? Is that long enough?"

"More or less but don't rush. Take time enough to show a profit. If it takes longer, you'll pick up a better cargo here next time. Something better than food and soft goods."

Zack said, "There is nothing better than food to s.h.i.+p to Earth these days. Sometime soon we're going to have to stop touching at Earth, just trade among the colonies."

"As bad as that?"

"Pretty bad. They won't learn. What's this about trouble over your bank? Do you need a show of force while the 'Andy J.' is overhead?"

I shook my head. "Thanks, Captain, but that's not the way to do it. Or I would have have to go along with you. Force is an argument to use when nothing else will do and the issue is that important. Instead I'm going to go limp on them." to go along with you. Force is an argument to use when nothing else will do and the issue is that important. Instead I'm going to go limp on them."

Ernest Gibbons did not worry about his bank. He never worried over any issue less important than life-and-death. Instead he applied his brain to all problems large and small as they came along, and enjoyed life.

Especially he enjoyed helping raise Dora. Right after he acquired her and the mule Buck-or they acquired him-he discarded the savage curb bit Leamer had used (salvaging the metal) and had the Jones Brothers' harnessmaker convert the bridle into a hackamore. He ordered also another saddle, sketching what he wanted and offering a bonus for early delivery. The leathercrafter shook his head over that sketch, but delivered.