keeps, I mean." "Well, let's leave the Betas. 'Pert, pensive, patient, provocative--'" "Would you like me to look provocative?" "Well, I'm told that women want to." "Yes, but not all the time." "Stern, serious, saucy, sidelong." Joab cocked his eye at her. "How would 'sidelong' do?" But Jael could bear it no longer. Her eyes smarting with tears she jumped up, and ran into the next room, which she occupied as Joab's secretary. Work in plenty lay upon her writing table but she stared at it with unseeing eyes. Presently Joab followed her in, and sat down awkwardly on the other chair. "I'm sorry, Jael," he said. "I never realized you were such an emotional type." He glanced at her tear-stained face and red, swollen eyes. "Betas can't cry, you know," he went on kindly, "at least they can, but it runs off, the surface is waterproofed. Wouldn't you like Beta better?" Still sobbing, Jael shook her head. Her brother rose. "I'll leave you now," he said. "Take it easy this morning and in the afternoon go for a good walk." "But I'm going to Ely," spluttered Jael. Joab turned back. "Oh no, you won't. You'll see, nobody will go. A few may turn up, but the buses won't start unless they have a proper load." Jael said nothing.
Chapter Seven
JAEL started early for the Square where the coaches were accustomed to assemble. As she went she kept asking herself why she was so restless and unhappy and there seemed to be only one answer. "Because you're out of step! Ever since you refused to be Betafied you have been feeling the whole weight of the Community's disapproval. They may not look disapproving because disapproval isn't one of the recognized Shades of Expression; but underneath they are; if they could pull a face at you they would! And what have you got out of it? Only the doubtful blessing of your own face. You may be a Failed Alpha and prettier now than most people; but soon you will be old and plain, whereas Beta faces don't change, or only once, when they get their Older Women's Replacement! You'll never be happy until you can think and feel and look like other people. Remember what the slogan says: 'You can't be happy off the Beta Track.' " And now she was off the Beta Track again. Perhaps she was the only member of the whole community who was going to Ely. She looked around for confirmation of her fears. But they Were not confirmed. Others were going the same way she was, some singly, some in groups of two or three; they had a furtive, excited air, and talked in snatches interspersed by peals of high-pitched laughter. The March-day climate, with its chilly wind and pallid sun that never quite came through, tended to keep pedestrians on the move; but these were walking fast, sometimes running to keep up with each other. Jael had her seat reserved, but she couldn't help hurrying, too. Around the next bend the Square came into sight, square in name, but oval in shape, because of the Dictator's aversion to angles and straight lines. And it was full, or nearly full, of people. Jael could only see the tops of the six coaches, for the crowds that were surging around them. For a moment she thought that they all meant to board the coaches; she would never get in. A sharp stab of feeling, half disappointment, half relief, ran through her. Slowly she edged her way to where a placard, "A5," reared itself on a pole beside a bus. Sure enough, people were trying to get in and the conductor was fending them off and shouting, "Show your tickets!" Jael showed hers. "Make way there, make way there!" shouted the conductor, and she managed to squeeze through the throng and climb into her place. Once there, she looked down on a tossing sea of faces, upturned toward the coach; and though the great majority were Betas, and therefore incapable of much facial expression, their eyes were eloquent, and what did she see in most of them? Envy, Bad E--envy of her good fortune. It took her a moment or two to recognize it, for hitherto it had only been a name and an
Chapter Seven
JAEL started early for the Square where the coaches were accustomed to assemble. As she went she kept asking herself why she was so restless and unhappy and there seemed to be only one answer. "Because you're out of step! Ever since you refused to be Betafied you have been feeling the whole weight of the Community's disapproval. They may not look disapproving because disapproval isn't one of the recognized Shades of Expression; but underneath they are; if they could pull a face at you they would! And what have you got out of it? Only the doubtful blessing of your own face. You may be a Failed Alpha and prettier now than most people; but soon you will be old and plain, whereas Beta faces don't change, or only once, when they get their Older Women's Replacement! You'll never be happy until you can think and feel and look like other people. Remember what the slogan says: 'You can't be happy off the Beta Track.' " And now she was off the Beta Track again. Perhaps she was the only member of the whole community who was going to Ely. She looked around for confirmation of her fears. But they Were not confirmed. Others were going the same way she was, some singly, some in groups of two or three; they had a furtive, excited air, and talked in snatches interspersed by peals of high-pitched laughter. The March-day climate, with its chilly wind and pallid sun that never quite came through, tended to keep pedestrians on the move; but these were walking fast, sometimes running to keep up with each other. Jael had her seat reserved, but she couldn't help hurrying, too. Around the next bend the Square came into sight, square in name, but oval in shape, because of the Dictator's aversion to angles and straight lines. And it was full, or nearly full, of people. Jael could only see the tops of the six coaches, for the crowds that were surging around them. For a moment she thought that they all meant to board the coaches; she would never get in. A sharp stab of feeling, half disappointment, half relief, ran through her. Slowly she edged her way to where a placard, "A5," reared itself on a pole beside a bus. Sure enough, people were trying to get in and the conductor was fending them off and shouting, "Show your tickets!" Jael showed hers. "Make way there, make way there!" shouted the conductor, and she managed to squeeze through the throng and climb into her place. Once there, she looked down on a tossing sea of faces, upturned toward the coach; and though the great majority were Betas, and therefore incapable of much facial expression, their eyes were eloquent, and what did she see in most of them? Envy, Bad E--envy of her good fortune. It took her a moment or two to recognize it, for hitherto it had only been a name and an
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