tick-de-tock, tick-de-tock, whispered the antique clock on the first floor of the house.

there was no sound save for the ticking—and for the pounding of ronnie's heart.

he stood alone in his upstairs bedroom. his slender-boned, eight-year-old body trembling, perspiration glittering on his white forehead.

to ronnie, the clock seemed to be saying:

daddy's coming, daddy's coming.

the soft shadows of september twilight in this year of 2056 were seeping into the bedroom. ronnie welcomed the fall of darkness. he wanted to sink into its deep silence, to become one with it, to escape forever from savage tongues and angry eyes.

a burst of hope entered ronnie's fear-filled eyes. maybe something would happen. maybe dad would have an accident. maybe—

he bit his lip hard, shook his head. no. no matter what dad might do, it wasn't right to wish—

the whirling whine of a gyro-car mushroomed up from the landing platform outside.

ronnie shivered, his pulse quickening. the muscles in his small body were like a web of taut-drawn wires.

sound and movement below. mom flicking off the controls of the kitchen's auto-chef. the slow stride of her high heels through the living room. the slamming of a gyro-car door. the opening of the front door of the house.

dad's deep, happy voice echoed up the stairway:

"hi, beautiful!"

ronnie huddled in the darkness by the half-open bedroom door.

please, mama, his mind cried, please don't tell daddy what i did.

there was a droning, indistinct murmur.

dad burst, "he was doing what?"

more murmuring.

"i can't believe it. you really saw him?... i'll be damned."

ronnie silently closed the bedroom door.

why did you tell him, mama? why did you have to tell him?

"ronnie!" dad called.

ronnie held his breath. his legs seemed as numb and nerveless as the stumps of dead trees.

"ronnie! come down here!"