The Anything Box

Should she tell him? This might precipitate an incident that—
"Splinter, how many times have you played with Doovie?"
"How many?" Splinter's chest swelled under his clean pajamas. "Let me
count," he said importantly and murmured and mumbled over his fingers for a
minute. "Four times!" he proclaimed triumphantly. "One, two, three, four whole
times!"
"Weren't you scared?"
"Naw!" he said, adding hastily, "Well, maybe a little bit the first time. I
thought maybe they might have tails that liked to curl around people's necks.
But they haven't," disappointed, "only clothes on like us with fur on under."
"Did you say you saw Doovie's mother, too?"
"Sure," said Splinter. "She was there the first day. She was the one that
sent all the others away when they all crowded around me. All grownups. Not
any kids excepting Doovie, They kinda pushed and wanted to touch me, but she
told them to go away, and they all did 'cepting her and Doovie."
"Oh Splinter!" cried Serena, overcome by the vision of his small self
surrounded by pushing, crowding Linjeni grownups who wanted to "touch him."
"What's the matter, Mommie?" asked Splinter.
"Nothing, dear." She wet her lips. "May I go along with you the next time
you go to see Doovie? I'd like to meet his mother."
"Sure, sure!" cried Splinter. "Let's go now. Let's go now!"
"Not now," said Serena, feeling the reaction of her fear in her knees and
ankles. "It's too late. Tomorrow we'll go see them. And Splinter, let's not
tell Daddy yet. Let's keep it a surprise for a while."
"Okay, Mommie," said Splinter. "It's a good surprise, isn't it? You were
awful surprised, weren't you?"
"Yes, I was," said Serena. "Awful surprised."
Next day Splinter squatted down and inspected the hole under the fence.
"It's kinda little," he said. "Maybe you'll get stuck."
Serena, her heart pounding in her throat, laughed. "That wouldn't be very
dignified, would it?" she asked. "To go calling and get stuck in the door."
Splinter laughed. "It'd be funny," he said. "Maybe we better go find a
really door for you."
"Oh, no," said Serena hastily. "We can make this one bigger."
"Sure," said Splinter. "I'll go get Doovie and he can help dig."
"Fine," said Serena, her throat tightening. Afraid of a child, she mocked
herself. Afraid of a Linjeni—aggressor —invader, she defended.
Splinter flattened on the sand and slid under the fence. "You start
digging," he called. "I'll be back!"
Serena knelt to the job, the loose sand coming away so readily that she
circled her arms and dredged with them.
Then she heard Splinter scream.
For a brief second, she was paralyzed. Then he screamed again, closer, and
Serena dragged the sand away in a frantic frenzy. She felt the sand scoop down
the neck of her blouse and the skin scrape off her spine as she forced herself
under the fence.
Then there was Splinter, catapulting out of the shrubbery, sobbing and
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screaming, "Doovie! Doovie's drownd-ing! He's in the go'fish pond! All underthe water! I can't get him out! Mommie, Mommie!"
Serena grabbed his hand as she shot past and towed him along, stumbling anddragging, as she ran for the goldfish pond. She leaned across the low wall andcaught a glimpse, under the churning thrash of the water, of green mossy furand staring eyes. With hardly a pause except to shove Splinter backward andstart a deep breath, she plunged over into the pond. She felt the burning biteof water up her nostrils and grappled in the murky darkness for Doovie—feelingagain and again the thrash of small limbs that slipped away before she couldgrasp them.
Then she was choking and sputtering on the edge of the pond, pushing thestill-struggling Doovie up and over. Splinter grabbed him and pulled as Serenaheaved herself over the edge of the pond and fell sprawling across Doovie.'
Then she heard another higher, shriller scream and was shoved off Doovieviciously and Doovie was snatched up into rose pink arms. Serena pushed herlank, dripping hair out of her eyes and met the hostile glare of the rose pinkeyes of Doovie's mother.
Serena edged over to Splinter and held him close, her eyes intent on theLinjeni. The pink mother felt the green child all over anxiously and Serenanoticed with an odd detachment that Splinter hadn't mentioned that Doovie'seyes matched his fur and that he had webbed feet.
Webbed feet! She began to laugh, almost hysterically. Oh Lordy! No wonderDoovie's mother was so alarmed.
"Can you talk to Doovie?" asked Serena of the sobbing Splinter.
"No!" wailed Splinter. "You don't have to talk to play."
"Stop crying, Splinter," said Serena. "Help me think. Doovie's motherthinks we were trying to hurt Doovie. He wouldn't drown in the water.Remember, he can close his nose and fold up his ears. How are we going to tellhis mother we weren't trying to hurt him?"
"Well," Splinter scrubbed his cheeks with the back of his hand. "We couldhug him—"
"That wouldn't do, Splinter," said Serena, noticing with near panic thatother brightly colored figures were moving among the shrubs, drawingcloser—"I'm afraid she won't let us touch him."
Briefly she toyed with the idea of turning and trying to get back to thefence, then she took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
"Let's play-like, Splinter," she said. "Let's show Doovie's mother that wethought he was drowning. You go fall in the pond and I'll pull you out. Youplay-like drowned and I'll—I'll cry."
"Gee, Mommie, you're crying already!" said Splinter, his face puckering.
"I'm just practicing," she said, steadying her voice. "Go on."
Splinter hesitated on the edge of the pond, shrinking away from the waterthat had fascinated him so many times before. Serena screamed suddenly, andSplinter, startled, lost his balance and fell in. Serena had hold of himalmost before he went under water and pulled him out, cramming as much of fearand apprehension into her voice and actions as she could. "Be dead," shewhispered fiercely. "Be dead all over!" And Splinter melted so completely inher arms that her moans and cries of sorrow were only partly make-believe. Shebent over his still form and rocked to and fro in her grief.
A hand touched her arm and she looked up into the bright eyes of theLinjeni. The look held for a long moment and then the Linjeni smiled, showingeven, white teeth, and a pink, furry hand patted Splinter on the shoulder. Hiseyes flew open and he sat up. Doovie peered around from behind his mother andthen he and Splinter were rolling and tumbling together, wrestling happilybetween the two hesitant mothers. Serena found a shaky laugh somewhere inamong her alarms and Doovie's mother whistled softly with her nose.
That night, Thorn cried out in his sleep and woke Serena. She lay in thedarkness, her constant prayer moving like a candle flame in her mind. Shecrept out of bed and checked Splinter in his shadowy room. Then she knelt and
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opened the bottom drawer of Splinter's chest-robe. She ran her hand over the
gleaming folds of the length of Linjeni material that lay there—the material
the Linjeni had found to wrap her in while her clothes dried. She had given
them her lacy slip in exchange. Her fingers read the raised pattern in the