of the people. In fact we will be able to convince very few. If you throw Holly off the bridge again, you could cause a war in here. I want you to think carefully. It won’t be nice if there is artillery shelling going on in your mother’s lungs. Hand-to-hand combat in her stomach. Swordplay in her heart. There will be cell damage. We are fighting for our very world. Would you destroy an entire people, an entire world, for your Mother?”
“Yes,” Ada said at once.
I was glad I didn’t have to answer that one. I didn’t even want to think about it.
“And what will you do, Ada, if you force our society into a state of primitive savagery,” Jessica said. “How do you think Holly will like having little bands of hunter/gatherers roaming around in her liver?”
“If her mind is free, she’ll be able to handle her liver.”
“We won’t move to a dog,” Jessica said, and then she was quiet.
Ada took her feet. “One more time, Barry.”
“But what about all those people?” I asked.
“Shut up.” Ada dropped Mom’s feet and wiped tears from her own eyes with a big blue-checked handkerchief from her back pocket. I shut up and took Mom under the arms again.
We threw her over the side. Jessica didn’t even scream this time.
We pulled her up after only a few bounces. Ada looked grim, and I feared that this whole business would fail. All those people. I could be honest with myself, at least in little short bursts. I understood how entire lives could be lived in minutes. I knew that Jessica was right when she said the nanopeople were as real as me. I understood that some of them were dying. We rolled Mom over. She looked dead herself, but when I grabbed her wrist, I felt a pulse. Ada sat her up and gently slapped her face over and over again. I scooted back and grabbed a soda out of the picnic basket and poured a little in my hand and flicked it at Mom. No response. Toby pushed his way in between Ada and me and licked Mom’s face again.
Some time passed.
Then Jessica opened Mom’s eyes.
“So much has changed.” Jessica sounded weak, diminished somehow. “But one thing is still firm. We will not abandon our world.”
Ada sighed. I hoped she wouldn’t want to toss Mom over the side again.
“We propose a compromise,” Jessica said.
“We’re listening,” Ada said.
“We propose to let Holly have more control over her life,” Jessica said. “We have combed through her memory and found a set of activities that we feel prepared to tolerate. Ballroom dancing, for example.”
Ada’s face got absolutely purple. Her hands closed in fists and opened in claws, closed and opened. When she spoke her voice was steady and cold but coiled like a spring, cobra tight. “You’re telling me that you will allow Dr. Holly Ketchum, a respected physicist and leading authority on nanotechnology, a woman so full of curiosity and life that some people simply have to step out of her light or get burned, a woman vibrating with sexual vitality and gentle innocent love and openness for almost everyone—” She jumped up and shouted, “A woman who thrives on the adrenaline rush of white water and rock faces and free fall— you’re telling me you’re going to allow this woman to do ballroom dancing? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Well, yes. Among other things.”
“Ada.” I grabbed her hand, and the look she turned down on me would have loosened the bowels of a biker. “Let me try,” I said. I thought she was going to say something to make me feel small or even hit me, but she jerked her hand away and stomped off to her truck instead. Toby and I watched as she kicked big dents in the door of her truck. When she stopped yelling and slumped to the ground, I turned to Mom and spoke to Jessica.
“If there is to be a compromise, Jessica,” I said. “It will have to be on our terms. Or if you think about that a little, it’ll have to be on Mom’s terms. You’re going to have to learn to live with what
“Yes,” Ada said at once.
I was glad I didn’t have to answer that one. I didn’t even want to think about it.
“And what will you do, Ada, if you force our society into a state of primitive savagery,” Jessica said. “How do you think Holly will like having little bands of hunter/gatherers roaming around in her liver?”
“If her mind is free, she’ll be able to handle her liver.”
“We won’t move to a dog,” Jessica said, and then she was quiet.
Ada took her feet. “One more time, Barry.”
“But what about all those people?” I asked.
“Shut up.” Ada dropped Mom’s feet and wiped tears from her own eyes with a big blue-checked handkerchief from her back pocket. I shut up and took Mom under the arms again.
We threw her over the side. Jessica didn’t even scream this time.
We pulled her up after only a few bounces. Ada looked grim, and I feared that this whole business would fail. All those people. I could be honest with myself, at least in little short bursts. I understood how entire lives could be lived in minutes. I knew that Jessica was right when she said the nanopeople were as real as me. I understood that some of them were dying. We rolled Mom over. She looked dead herself, but when I grabbed her wrist, I felt a pulse. Ada sat her up and gently slapped her face over and over again. I scooted back and grabbed a soda out of the picnic basket and poured a little in my hand and flicked it at Mom. No response. Toby pushed his way in between Ada and me and licked Mom’s face again.
Some time passed.
Then Jessica opened Mom’s eyes.
“So much has changed.” Jessica sounded weak, diminished somehow. “But one thing is still firm. We will not abandon our world.”
Ada sighed. I hoped she wouldn’t want to toss Mom over the side again.
“We propose a compromise,” Jessica said.
“We’re listening,” Ada said.
“We propose to let Holly have more control over her life,” Jessica said. “We have combed through her memory and found a set of activities that we feel prepared to tolerate. Ballroom dancing, for example.”
Ada’s face got absolutely purple. Her hands closed in fists and opened in claws, closed and opened. When she spoke her voice was steady and cold but coiled like a spring, cobra tight. “You’re telling me that you will allow Dr. Holly Ketchum, a respected physicist and leading authority on nanotechnology, a woman so full of curiosity and life that some people simply have to step out of her light or get burned, a woman vibrating with sexual vitality and gentle innocent love and openness for almost everyone—” She jumped up and shouted, “A woman who thrives on the adrenaline rush of white water and rock faces and free fall— you’re telling me you’re going to allow this woman to do ballroom dancing? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Well, yes. Among other things.”
“Ada.” I grabbed her hand, and the look she turned down on me would have loosened the bowels of a biker. “Let me try,” I said. I thought she was going to say something to make me feel small or even hit me, but she jerked her hand away and stomped off to her truck instead. Toby and I watched as she kicked big dents in the door of her truck. When she stopped yelling and slumped to the ground, I turned to Mom and spoke to Jessica.
“If there is to be a compromise, Jessica,” I said. “It will have to be on our terms. Or if you think about that a little, it’ll have to be on Mom’s terms. You’re going to have to learn to live with what
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