go now," he said.

"No! Have one for the road," Gloria said quickly. "I want to talk to
you."

George poured another Scotch. "You still worried?"

"A bit," she admitted. "What is the next step?"

"Now I'm supposed to pick the male donor."

"I thought you'd done that already."

"No. You see we have to know what blood types the female has and what
her genetic structure is; whether she has any antibodies against sperm
and so on, before we pick the male. To do it before the winner is
picked would entail a lot of unnecessary work."

"Then we still have some time before the impregnation ceremony?"

"I can stall for maybe four weeks ... no longer. You see I have to
consider your cycle too." He got up to go. "Gloria, I guess I was half
lit last night. I'm sorry. It was a damn-fool idea."

She came close to him. "But you really do believe in the old-fashioned
marriage, even if not in the old-fashioned girl?"

"Yes, I do. I still think people should be in love and not just mated
because a calculating machine says they'll produce superior offspring."

"You're sweet." She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. The
kiss lasted ... and lasted. Finally George broke it off.

"My God!" he mumbled. "Don't we have enough problems, without this?"

* * * * *

Three weeks later, on Monday, George announced he had a suitable donor.
The New York Genetics Panel, in session, considered the records and
announced that permission was granted for one Gloria Manson, spinster,
of New York City, to bear a child by artificial impregnation. The date
was set for Wednesday. On Tuesday night George went to Gloria's
apartment.

"What are we going to do?" Gloria asked as she watched George wearing a
path on the rug. "We've left it awfully late."

"I couldn't do anything else," George said. "We can't plead illness as
I'd hoped to do. This afternoon the panel decided on a last minute
independent medical check to be sure you're OK. That means I can't fake
it and there's no time to give you a cold or some mild illness now.
Somehow I've got to stall past the fertile period and then we will have
another month to think of something."

"How long is the fertile period?"

"Our tests show that in your case it is approximately twenty-four hours
and begins about midnight tonight."

"Couldn't I disappear for a day or pretend I'm frightened of having a
baby and call it off? Goodness knows we're both getting frighte