One of the books that came was an advanced zoology text that might make
things a little clearer."

"I should very much like to hear it. When you have the time to spare,
that is."

"Tell you what," he said. "I'll get the book and read you the chapter on
the reproductive system in mammals. Won't take more than an hour or so."

"If you're in a hurry, it can wait."

"No," he told her. "This will make me feel a little less guilty about
having neglected you."

* * * * *

"Whereupon the umbilical cord is severed," he concluded, "and the human
infant is ready to take its place in the world as a separate entity. Now
do you understand, Magnolia?"

[Illustration]

"No," she said. "Where do the bees come in?"

"I thought you were in such a hurry to get to Base, James," Phyllis
remarked sweetly from the doorway, wiping her reddening hands on a dish
towel.

"I am, dear." He slipped the book behind his back; it was possible that,
in her present state of mind--induced, of course, by her delicate
condition--Phyllis might misunderstand his motive in reading that
particular chapter of that particular book to that particular tree. "I
just stopped for a chat with Magnolia. She's agreed to be godmother to
the baby."

"How very nice of her. Earth Government will be so pleased at such a
_fine_ example of rapport with the natives. You might even get a medal.
Wouldn't that be nice?... James," she hurried on, before he could speak,
"you still haven't found any green-leafed plants on the planet, have
you? Have you looked everywhere? Have you looked _hard_?"

"Haven't I told you time and time again, Mrs. Haut," the tree said,
"that there aren't any--that there can't be any? It's impossible to
synthesize chlorophyll from the light rays given off by our sun--only
cyanophyll. What do you want with a green-leafed plant, anyway?"

Phyllis's voice broke. "I think I'd lose my mind if I was convinced that
I'd never see a green leaf again. All this awful blue, blue, blue, all
the time, and the leaves never fall, or, if they do, there are new ones
right away to take their place. They're always there--always blue."

"We're everblue," Magnolia explained. "Sorry, but that's the way it is."

"Jim, I hate to hurt your feelings, but I just have to take down those
curtains. The colors--I can't stand it!"

* * * * *

"Pregnant women sometimes get fanciful notions," James said to the t