haps there are others like us to
come--we do not yet know what we are or whether there will be others
like us. But we must go now, before we were ready, because of her."

The mother's voice came. "You must go too. There is nothing here for you
but sorrow. They will take you, John." A softness touched at him.
"Please, John."

The longing was a thing of fire. To cast off the world that had already
given him all of the hate and fear that he could stand, that had made
him worse than a coward. To go with her.

But she no longer needed him. She was complete--as they were, only
necessary to themselves.

He could not go.

During the long night he kept the vigil by the bedside; long after any
need to keep it.

The twins were gone and she with them.

He could not cry for all tears seemed useless. He said a small prayer,
something he had not done in years, over the cold thing left behind.

The rain had ceased outside. Somewhere out there in his world there were
men trying to undo the harm that had been done, harm that he had helped
to do, then retreated from. He had no right to retreat further.

Something spoke a requiem sentence in his consciousness, light as late
sunset, only vaguely there. "_We are_ here--we will wait for you ...
come to us ... come ..."

He wrote a short note for the doctor and the others who would come and
hunt and go through the motions that men must live by. Perhaps the
doctor might even understand.

"I have gone plumbing," the note said.

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ August 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

A section of text was missing from the original printing. To
restore narrative flow, the following italicised text has been
added as a suggested amendment: "It had begun to lightning and
a few large drops of rain stroked _Rush's cheek. Not a_ good
year for the farming he had retreated to. Not a good year for
anything."

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