"The human race needs babies! Kathryn, you sit so complacently in front
of your Wall and pretend there isn't a world! There won't be unless you
wake up."
"Don't be silly!"
"I'm not. Kathryn, you may be the youngest person in the world, for
all I know. Forty or fifty years from now this planet will be cluttered
with blank Walls. There'll be no one to watch them."
"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not different, like you."
"Kathryn, marry. Have children. Persuade your friends at the office--"
She laughed shrilly, rocking back against the Wall seat. "Friends! They
hate me, every one of them, and I hate them. Even if Bass did marry me,
they'd only take him away."
Amanda clutched her fists. "I don't want you to marry Bass. You must
find some nice boy your own age."
"Oh, Mother! You want me to marry some stupid, ugly boy! You can't make
me!"
"Kathryn, he needn't be dull. There are hundreds of boys, each
interesting in--"
* * * * *
Hearing a sound, she looked up to see Dell, thin and red-headed,
standing in the doorway staring at the shattered Wall.
Kathryn jumped up. "Mother broke it. She threw that big green ash tray
and broke it all to pieces."