Not Without Sorcery by Theodore Sturgeon

Author:Theodore Sturgeon [Sturgeon, Theodore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi Collection
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1975-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

Brat

“It’s strictly a short order proposition,” said Michaele, tossing her searchlight hair back on her shoulders. “We’ve got to have a baby eight days from now or we’re out a sweet pile of cash.”

“We’ll get one somewhere. Couldn’t we adopt one or something?” I said, plucking a stalk of grass from the bank of the brook and jamming it between my front teeth.

“Takes weeks. We could kidnap one, maybe.”

“They got laws. Laws are for the protection of people.”

“Why does it always have to be other people?” Mike was beginning to froth up. “Shorty, get your bulk up off the ground and think of something.”

“Think better this way,” I said. “We could borrow one.”

“Look,” said Mike. “When I get my hands on a kid, that child and I have to go through a short but rigorous period of training. It’s likely to be rough. If I had a baby and someone wanted to borrow it for any such purpose, I’d be damned if I’d let it go.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t be too tough,” I said. “You’ve got maternal instincts and stuff.”

“Shorty, you don’t seem to realize that babies are very delicate creatures and require the most skilled and careful handling. I don’t know anything about them. I am an only child, and I went right from high school into business college and from there into an office. The only experience I ever had with a baby was once when I minded one for an afternoon. It cried all the time I was there.”

“Should’ve changed its diapers.”

“I did.”

“Must’ve stuck it with a pin then.”

“I did not! You seem to know an awful lot about children,” she said hotly.

“Sure I do. I was one myself once.”

“Heel!” She leaped on me and rolled me into the brook. I came up spluttering and swearing. She took me by the neck, pulled me half up on the bank and began thudding my head on the soft bank.

“Let go my apple,” I gasped. “This is no choking matter.”

“Now will you cooperate? Shorty, quit your kidding. This is serious. Your Aunt Amanda has left us thirty grand, providing we can prove to her sister Jonquil that we are the right kind of people. ‘Those who can take care of a baby can take care of money,’ she used to say. We’ve got to be under Jonquil’s eye for thirty days and take care of a baby. No nursemaids, no laundresses, no nothing.”

“Let’s wait till we have one of our own.”

“Don’t be stupid! You know as well as I do that that money will set you up in a business of your own as well as paying off the mortgage on the shack. And decorating it. And getting us a new car.”

“And a fur coat. And a star sapphire. Maybe I’ll even get a new pair of socks.”

“Shorty!” A full lip quivered, green eyes swam.

“Oh darling, I didn’t mean—Come here and be kissed.”

She did. Then she went right on where she had left off. She’s like that. She can puddle

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