“Yeah, but not murder.”
“Hell, that wouldn’t be murder. He’s just a fuckin’ animal.”
“You think whoever took his place would be any better?”
“It could be you.” He shook Jeff’s arm. “Half the family thinks you’re some kind of god.”
Jeff started walking again. “The other half wants to see me on a cross. No thanks.”
The soup was a bland chowder of fish and bean curd. They took their bowls outside; the cafeteria’s air conditioning was set too high for Jeff’s joints.
“You don’t want to go back north because it’s too cold. Sure as hell ain’t goin’ any other direction without a boat We stay here, our luck’s gonna run out.”
“I don’t know,” Jeff said. “We may have plenty of time. And things could change.”
“Haven’t seen much change.” Tad went back inside to scrape himself some salt.
“You ever think about the Worlds?” Jeff said when he returned.
“Aw, they’re all dead. Saw it on the cube the day of the war.”
“What if that was a lie? Suppose they aren’t all dead.”
“So what? They ain’t comin’ down here and we ain’t goin’ up there.”
“You think they caused the war?”
“Huh? Sure, them and the Easter Bunny. It was the fuckin’ Soshies. Maybe us, who cares anymore?”
Jeff finished his soup in thoughtful silence. “They are still there. That’s where I got the vaccine.”
“You’re shittin’ me. How the hell you get up there?”
“I didn’t go there. They sent it down, in a robot rocket. From New New York.”
“You feel all right?”
“It’s true. That’s why I needed the fuel cell from you, so I could talk to them, let them know where to send it.”
“New New York, that’s where the girl was from. That Newsman showed us the picture of.”
“Yes, and I…I’ve talked to her, from the hospital in Plant City. She helped with the vaccine. She’s even been back to Earth, since the war, to Africa.”
“This is really straight? You’re not yankin’ me off?”
“It’s true.”
“So what, you think she’s comin’ here? Gonna come get you?”
“I don’t think she can. They went to Africa because it was the only place left with a spaceport.” He set down the bowl and stared out into the darkness.
“I’d just like to get back in touch with her. Let her know I’m alive. That’s why I’ve been hanging around the library with Newsman, thinking maybe I could fix up the dish and talk to them up there.”
“The dish antenna, there’s nothin’ wrong with that.”
“Not outside. All the-gear inside’s been pretty well smashed. I think I can learn enough electronics to rig up a simple transmitter, though. We have all the raw materials here and plenty of power.”
“Okay,” Tad said slowly, “so you get to talk with your girl. But that don’t solve anything. We’re still takin’ a big chance stayin’ here. Bigger every day.”
“Maybe not, maybe not. It could be the key.” The door opened behind them, and they both looked up to see Elsie the Cow squeeze through. She was taller than Jeff and weighed twice as much. Her features were large and coarse and she had a downy growth of beard.
“Warm night,” she said, and settled ponderously between them on the steps. She balanced a pail of soup on her lap and stirred it noisily with a large kitchen spoon.
“Come on, Elsie,” Jeff said, “we’re talking man talk.”
“You’re a man,” she said, and slurped at the ladle. “He just a boy. All of ‘em boys.”
“We’re talking,” Tad said. “You want me to hit you?”
“This ain’t your step. You wanna talk, you go talk someplace.”
Jeff stood up. “I’ve had as much of this stuff as I want, anyhow.”
“Yeah.” They took their bowls back inside and went out the back door, heading toward the deserted southern part of the Island, the abandoned naval base.
“You got some kind of a plan?” Tad said.
“Not definite. Just a few notions.” They picked their way along the broken sidewalk. There was no moon, and all the street lights were out in this part of town. “Look at it this way. The oldest people around were thirteen or fourteen when the war came. That’s old enough to have been following politics.”
“Some people, yeah. It’s Florida, though.”
“If we just came right out and explained about the war, about the death being caused by biological warfare, a lot of them would agree with us… most would at least understand, even if they didn’t—”
“But hell. One wrong person says the word and we’re fresh meat. No way around that.”
“The thing to do is to get to those people first. The people in power.”
“General and Major and Hotbox? They’re all buggy. Hungry, too—start talkin’ against Charlie and we’re the menu, sure as shit.”
“There’s Storm. He’s obviously ready.”
“Yeah, but you never see him go against any of them. He’s got a safe place and aims to keep it.”
“It’s a tough problem,” Jeff admitted. “Another reason to get in touch with the spacers. There are lots of people who have special training, dealing with adolescents and crazy people. Psychiatrists, maybe they could give us an angle.”
“What are they gonna come up with that you can’t? Hell, you spent most of your life in school.”
“Mostly criminology, a little business administration. These dingos are murderers, cannibals, and sadists, but they aren’t criminals. They’re normal, by the standards of those around them. Most of what I know about dealing with people just doesn’t apply.”
“I still think we oughta fade. Another couple of months with nobody gettin’ the death, hell. They’re dumb, but they ain’t that dumb.” He stumbled, cursed. “There’s anybody dumb around, it’s you. Why’d you give the vaccine to General and Major? They’d be the first ones to go.”
“That’d be the same as murder.”
“Shit. I don’t understand you at all.” There was a pale flickering light down at the Navy docks. They steered toward it. “Now, Hotbox, I can see keepin’ her. I’d like to pork her myself.”
Jeff laughed. “Just ask.”
“Think I haven’t? Christ and Charlie.” They walked over to the dim pool of light. It was a creepy place, the mountainous warships indistinct shadows looming over them, creaking, smell of greasy rust. It was a mothball fleet; some of the ships had been out of service for most of a century.
“Too bad we can’t take one of these,” Tad said. “We could—”
“Take it where?” Storm stepped quietly out of the darkness, barefoot, holding a pistol. “I been behind you since Duval Street. You guys got some real explainin’ to do.”
5 
I do admit to a number of personality defects, none serious, but I never thought jealousy was in my repertoire. Least of all sexual jealousy, since my husbands and I established at the outset, conventionally, that we were all free to do whatever we wanted with whomever. But when I got the news I was suddenly overcome with this alien emotion.
Daniel asked to marry Evelyn Ten. John wouldn’t veto it. I told him I had to think about it, snapped off the monitor, and shocked Sam Wasserman with my vocabulary. I went out into the garden to think. To fume.
I’ve known Evelyn since she was a child. She’s Ahmed’s granddaughter, a born charmer, talented but modest. Also young and quite beautiful, which I had to admit was the problem. I’m no longer one and never was the other.
Leave the coop for six weeks and the goddamned rooster goes on the prowl. Well, I knew it was deeper than that; it had been building for a couple of years. I did spend more time with John, and enjoyed sex with him more, though Daniel had better technique and raw material. The sex itself probably wasn’t that important. I hadn’t given him much affection lately, either, nor asked for much from him. If I needed a shoulder it was always John’s I would go to.