He looked up into the tree-tops again. "I think the sun has something to do with it," he went on, as though I hadn't said a word. "They seem to be sort of reaching for the sun, as if the sun gave them life...." His eyes met mine--cold and intensely blue and very frank. "Why don't you tell me the truth?" I stood up, fighting to control my rising anger. "Are you calling your Daddy a _liar_?" I shouted. "I only asked a simple question." "All right." I was regaining a little of my composure, but it was evident that I needed more time to think this through. "Let's just forget it for now.... Let's go over to the Rec Hall and have a game of chess, shall we?" Adam was Chess Champ of Fairyland. _Splash-splash-splash. His_ feet fluttered wildly in the water again. "I can't," he said. _Splash-splash-splash._ I raised my eyebrows. "Why not?" "I'm not through thinking." _What he needs is a spanking_, I thought grimly. But spankings were outlawed in Fairyland. They were old-fashioned, and conducive to the generation of neuroses. I'd never considered the regulation as a handicap--until now. "Okay, feller," I said, with exaggerated calm, "but just let me hear one more report--just _one_, mind you--about you telling the Kids there's no Santa Claus, or no fairies, and you'll be on the No Ice Cream List for a month!" _Splash-splash-splash._ "I get tired of ice cream every day." I stalked away, not trusting myself to speak. * * * * * That night after the Kids were bedded down in the dormitories, Mommy and I stretched out in our lounge-chairs to watch the video-cast from Earth. The news was dull, the kind that reminds you history repeats itself, and so what? The Martian colony was complaining about taxes and threatening to secede; the campaign for Galaxy Manager was in full swing and the network was allotting equal mud-slinging and empty-promise time to each Party; the Solar Congress had doubled the defense budget for next year; and an unconfirmed report had been received that an unidentified space ship had landed on the dark side of Earth's moon. I yawned and switched off the set. "Why the hell does anybody want to live on Earth?" I said. Ruth smiled at me, a sympathetic wifely smile. She'd been watching me all evening and she knew something wasn't right. "What's the matter, Harry?" I sighed. "Tell me about Adam-Two." "Oh, Him." "Yeah. Him." She looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't suppose you knew. Did _he_ tell you?" Now I was confused. "Did he tell me what?" She stood up suddenly. "Stop sparring with me, Harry. Did he tell you or not?" "Tell me _what_?" I almost shouted it this time. "That he ... he asked me to play House with him." "_Ruth!_" She laughed, a little shakily. "Don't get hysterical, Daddy. I didn't do it." I slumped in my seat. "That's encouraging." "What d'you suppose is the matter with him, Harry?"