"Some boy started a panic. The fence gave way and the rest followed him." A second surge of people rounded the corner. "Welcome to the New Land, the Island of Opportunity," Rara called out. Then she laughed. "Where are they all going to go?" Alter asked. "Into the holes in the ground, into the cracks in the street. The lucky men will get into the army. But even that won't absorb them all. The women, the children...?" She shrugged. Just then a boy's voice came from halfway down the block. "Hey!" They turned. "Why that's the boy that broke the fence down," exclaimed Rara. "What does he want?" "I don't know. Before this afternoon I'd never seen him in my life." He was dark, with black hair; but as he approached, they saw that his eyes were water-green. "You're the woman who was selling things, huh?" Rara nodded. "What do you want to buy?" "I don't want to buy anything," he said. "I want to sell something to you." He was barefoot; his pants frayed into nothing at mid-calf, and his sleeveless shirt had no fastenings. "What do you want to sell?" she asked, her voice deepening with skepticism. He reached into his pocket, and brought out a rag of green flannel, which he unwrapped now in his hand. They had been polished to a milky hue, some streaked with gold and red, others run through with warm browns and yellows. Two had been rubbed down to pure mother-of-pearl, rubbed until their muted silver surfaces were clouded with pastel lusters. There in the nest of green, they swirled around themselves, shimmering. "They're nothing but sea shells," Rara said. Alter reached her forefinger out and touched a white periwinkle. "They're lovely," she told him. "Where did you get them?" They ranged in size from the first joint of her thumb to the width of her pinky nail. "By your departed mother, my own sister, we can't afford to give him a centiunit, Alter. I hardly sold a thing before that brute officer forced me away." "I found them on the beach," the boy explained. "I was hiding on the boat and I didn't have nothing to do. So I polished them." "What were you hiding for?" asked Rara, her voice suddenly sharp. "You don't mean you stowed away?" "Un-huh," the boy nodded. "How much do you want for them?" Alter asked. "How much? How much would it cost to get a meal and a place to stay?" "Much more than we can afford to pay," interrupted Rara. "Alter, come with me. This boy is going to talk you out of a unit or two yet, if you keep on listening to him." "See," said the boy, pointing to the shells. "I've put holes in them already. You can string them around your neck." "If you want to get food and a place to sleep," said Alter, "you don't want money. You want friends. What's your name? And where are you from?"