- And I was suddenly so relieved that I threw myself into her arms and hugged her and she hugged me back. It was Mrs. Grew, fat and friendly as ever.
And looked around and here was Clark, just sitting-and he looked at me and said, "Stupid," and looked away. And then I saw Uncle-sitting in another chair and was about to throw myself at him with wild shouts of glee-when Mrs. Grew's arms were suddenly awfully strong and she said soothingly, "No, no, dear, not quite so fast" and held me until somebody (Pinhead, it was) did something to the back of my neck.
Then I had a big comfortable chair all to myself and didn't want it because I couldn't move from my neck down. I felt all right, aside from some odd tingles, but I couldn't stir.
Uncle looked like Mr. Lincoln grieving over the deaths at Waterloo. He didn't say anything.
Mrs. Grew said cheerfully, "Well, now we've got the whole family together. Feel a bit more like discussing things rationally, Senator?"
Uncle shook his head half a centimeter.
She said, "Oh, come now! We do want you to attend the conference. We simply want you to attend it in the right frame of mind. If we can't agree-well, it's hardly possible to let any of you be found again. Isn't that obvious? And that would be such a shame
especially for the children."
Uncle said, "Pass the hemlock."
"Oh, I'm sure you don't mean that."
"He certainly does mean it!" Clark said shrilly. "You illegal obscenity! I delete all over your censored!" And I knew he was really worked up, because Clark is contemptuous of vulgar idioms; he says they denote an inferior mind.
Mrs. Grew looked at Clark placidly, even tenderly. Then she called in Pinhead again. "Take him out and keep him awake till he dies." Pinhead picked Clark up and carried him out. But Clark had the last word. "And besides that," he yelled, "you cheat at solitaire! I've watched you!"
For a split moment Mrs. Grew looked really annoyed. Then she put her face back into its usual kindly expression and said to Uncle, "Now that I have both of the kids I think I can afford to expend one of them. Especially as you are quite fond of Poddy. Too fond of her, some people would say. Psychiatrists, I mean."
I mulled that over....nd decided that if I ever got out of this mess, I would make a rug out of her hide and give it to Uncle.
Uncle ignored it. Presently there was a most dreadful racket, metal on resounding metal. Mrs. Grew
smiled. "It's crude but it works. It is what used to be a water heater when this was a ranch. Unfortunately it isn't quite big enough eIther to sit down or stand up in-but a boy that rude really shouldn't expect comfort. The noise comes from pounding on the outside of it with a piece of pipe." She blinked and looked thoughtful. "I don't see how we can talk things over with such a racket going on. I think I should have the tank moved farther away-or perhaps our talk would march even more quickly if I had it brought nearer, so that you could hear the sounds he makes inside the tank, too. What do you think, Senator?"
I cut in. "Mrs. Grew!"
"Yes, dear? Poddy, I'm sony but I'm really quite busy. Later we'll have a nice cup of tea together. Now, Senator-"
"Mrs. Grew, you don't understand my Uncle Tom at all! You'll never get anything out of him this way."
She considered it. "I think you exaggerate, dear. Wishful thinking."
"No, no, no! There isn't any way you could possibly get my Uncle Tom to do anything against Mars. But if you hurt Clark-or me-you'll just make him more adamant. Oh, he loves me and he loves Clark, too. But if you try to budge him by hurting either one of us, you're just wasting your time!" I was talking rapidly and just as sincerely as I know how. I seemed to hear Clark's screams. Not likely, I guess, not over that infernal clanging. But once when he was a baby he fell into a wastebasket ... and screamed something dreadful before I rescued him. I guess I was hearing that in my mind.
Mrs. Grew smiled pleasantly. "Poddy dear, you are only a girl and your head has been filled with nonsense. The Senator is going to do just what I want him to do."
"Not if you kill Clark, he won't!"
"You keep quiet, dear. Do keep quiet and let me explainr I shall have to slap you a few times to keep you quiet. Poddy, I am not going to kill your brother-"
"But you said-"
"Quiet! That native who took your brother away
didn't understand what I said; he knows only trade
Ortho, a few words, never a full sentence. I said what
I did for the benefit of your brother... so that, when
I do have him fetched back in, he'll be groveling, begging your uncle to do anything I want him to do."
She smiled warmly. "One piece of nonsense you've apparently been taught is that patriotism, or something silly like that, will overpower a man's own self-interest. Believe me, I have no slightest fear that an old political hack like your uncle will give any real weight to such a silly abstraction. What does wony him is his own political ruin if he does what I want him to do. What he is going to do. Eh, Senator?"
"Madam," Uncle Tom answered tightly, "I see no point in bandying words with you."
"Nor do I. Nor shall we. But you can listen while I explain it to Poddy. Dear, your uncle is a stubborn man and he won't accomplish his own political downfall lightly. I need a string to make him dance-and in you I have that string, I'm sure."
"I'm not!"
"Want a slap? Or would you rather be gagged? I like you, dear; don't force me to be forceful. In you, I said. Not your brother. Oh, no doubt your uncle goes through the solemn farce of treating his niece and his nephew just alike-Christmas presents and birt-hday presents and such like pretenses. But it is obvious that no one could love your brother... not even his own mother, I venture to say. But the Senator does love you-rather more than he wants anyone to suspect. So now I am hurting your brother a little-oh, just
a smidgen, at worst he'll be deaf-to let your uncle see what will happen to you. Unless he is a good boy and speaks his piece just the way I tell him to."
She looked thoughtfully at Uncle. "Senator, I can't decide which of two methods might work the better
on you. You see, I want to keep you reminded-after - -you agree to cooperate-that you did agree. Sometimes a politician doesn't stay bought. After I turn you loose, would it be better for me to send your nephew along with you, to keep you reminded? Or would it be better to keep him here and work on him just a little each day-with his sister watching? So that she would have a clear idea of what happens to her... if you try any tricks at Luna City. What's your opinion, sir?"
"Madam, the question does not arise."
"Really, Senator?"
"Because I will not be at Luna City unless both children are with me. Unhurt."
Mrs. Grew chuckled. "Campaign promises, Senator. I'll reason with you later. But now"-she glanced at an antique watch pinned to her gross bosom-"I think I had better put a stop to that dreadful racket, it's giving me a headache. And I doubt if your nephew can hear it any longer, save possibly through his bones." She got up and left, moving with surprising agility and grace for a woman her age and mass.
Suddenly the noise stopped.
It was such a surprise that I would have jumped if anything below my neck could jump. Which it couldn't.
Uncle was looking at me. "Poddy, Poddy-" he said softly.
I said, "Uncle, don't you give in a millimeter to that dreadful woman!"