CHAPTER 16

emotions were stirring within her, so I asked what I thought would be soothing questions about her daughter.

"We don't know each other very well, Sam," she said suddenly. "Even though we're cousins. You didn't come to my wedding."

"I wasn't back from the war."

"That's true." She hesitated. "Well, I've had a very tough time, Sam, and I'm pretty cynical about everything."

Evidently, she had reason to be. I waited, but she didn't say anything more, and after a moment, I weakly returned to the subject of her daughter.

"I suppose she talks and—eats, and everything?"

"Oh, yes." She looked at me absently. "Listen, Sam, let me tell you what I said when she was born. Would you like to hear?"

"Very much."

"It'll show you how I've come to feel about—things. Well, she was less than an hour old, and

Alex was God knows where. I woke up with a completely abandoned feeling and immediately asked the nurse if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and I

turned my head away and cried. 'All right,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool—that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'"

"You see, I think everything's terrible anyhow," she continued with conviction. "Everyone thinks so—the most advanced people. And I KNOW.