"There's no way of being sure, but I am convinced."
"It's frightening."
"Is Bobby frightening? In all the time I've been tutoring him, has he
ever been out of line?"
"Bobby's no alien!"
"He may be."
"Well, anyway, of course Bobby isn't frightening. But that business of
the tigers--_that_ is!"
"They didn't hurt anyone."
"No, but don't you see, John? It's--irresponsible. How do you fit it in
with your super-intelligent super-beings?"
"Ann," he said impatiently, "we're dealing with fantastically
intelligent beings, but beings who are still _children_--can't you
understand that? They're just finding out their powers--one is a
telepath, another levitates, a third is a teleport. A riot is started by
Alec Cress or Jacky Hodge or one of those 3R hoodlums. And our child
genius can't resist making a kind of joke of his own."
"Joke? With _tigers_? John, I tell you I'm frightened." Her husband said
nothing and she looked at him sharply. "You _hope_ it's this way, don't
you?"
For a moment he didn't answer. Then he sighed. "Yes. Yes, I do both
believe and hope I'm right, Ann. I never thought that I'd be willing to
give up the struggle--that's what it amounts to. But I don't think the
human race can manage itself any more. So, I'm willing and glad to have
some other race teach us how to live. I know we've always looked on the
idea of domination by some race from the stars with both terror and
revulsion. But we've made such a mess of things on Earth that I, at
least, would be glad to see them come."