"She's jealous of Bass!"
"Now isn't Bass pretty young for you, honey?" He stooped to remove the
ash tray from inside the shattered Wall. "Now, how can I watch Alice
this evening? She promised me a special dance in that red dress she was
showing me last night."
"Showing you?" She sprang up. "She showed it to every man in the
country, Dell."
He frowned. "Well, I'll call Replacements. They'll have a new Wall in
before Alice comes."
"And I'll smash it too. I'll smash every replacement you can buy!"
"Now, Amanda." He regarded her mildly. "You're not jealous of Alice!
Honey, if you'd watch Lester, you wouldn't care about Alice and me."
She took the intact ash tray from him. "I'm not jealous of Alice, and I
haven't been for twenty years. But Dell, do you realize Kathryn was the
last child born in this city?"
The girl's voice was harsh. "She wants me to marry some stupid, ugly
boy. And I won't do it! I love Bass."
Dell's pale eyes were rebuking. "Amanda, how can you expect Kippie to
do that?"
She stepped back. "Kippie?" she said harshly. "Dell, that girl standing
there is Kathryn, our daughter--not Kippie."
"Don't let such little things upset you, baby. I'll go call
Replacements, and we'll all sit down together when Alice and Lester
come." He turned.
She seized his arm. "I will _not_ watch Lester," she said. "I will not
sit and stare at that big, gray-haired ape and pretend I'm in love with
him."
Dell frowned. "You don't really think he looks like an ape, do you,
baby? I was--well, thinking of changing my name to Lester."
Kathryn leaped to hug him. "Oh Daddy! It'll be so wonderful. Lester,
Lester, Lester! If we had an Alice and a Bass, we'd be almost like a
real family."
She stared at them. "I'd hoped to put you in a favorable frame of mind
for this, Kathryn," she said. "You'll remember that three years ago the
Watsons, next door, had Wall failure and couldn't get service until
morning. I invited them to watch our Wall."