Gerald shuffled his feet. Gingerly he sat down. "Uh, did you see them last night?" he asked. "Of course. I always see them, except when my mother does something stupid." Quickly Amanda excused herself and went to the Food Center. She leaned against the counter, trying to overhear their conversation. They spoke in broken murmurs momentarily, then were silent. Kippie cleared her throat irritably. "Uh, nice weather," Gerald said loudly. "I haven't been out." They were silent again. She tried to make her fingers stop picking at a spot on the counter surface. Suddenly Kippie emerged hurriedly from the Wall room, looking put upon. "Where are you going?" Amanda demanded. "He can't talk like Bass, even when he tries. And his hair is the wrong color, and he has blue eyes." "But Kathryn--Kippie, those are external characteristics! You can't judge a person by the color of his hair and his eyes. You must get acquainted with him." "I won't do it. I don't love him. I love Bass!" She cocked her head, Kippie-like. "And besides, he loves the real Kippie. And I'll never have dimples. I'm going to call Replacements." Amanda seized her arm. "Call them, and I'll break the new Wall too. I'll break every Wall you bring into this house. Don't you understand what's happening?" "Quit being stupid." "I'll break every Wall you have installed." "And every time you do it, I'll order a new one." She broke loose and ran to the communicator. * * * * * She had to do something. She wondered briefly, must I do something? It could only be the survival instinct driving her. Perhaps, she thought wryly, she was the only person who still possessed that particular instinct. She could never break every Wall in the world, no matter how she tried. She picked up the magazine Kippie had thrown down that morning. Running her finger over the cover, she poked it through Bass's penetrating eye. She poked Kippie in the nose. She flipped the magazine open and went through it, mutilating the pages. "There's a hole in your head, Lester.... "One less eye for you, Alice.... "Poor little Kippie, I tore your chin. Right through the dimple. Will Bass love you now, Kippie? "Goodby, Bass." She crumpled him into a ball and threw him at the sink. On the next page was a print of a restaurant. She read the caption. "For two hours each evening, while filmed sequences are shown to the home audience, the stars retire to Antola's for sandwiches, drinks and shop talk." She tried to stop her thoughts as they went to the sleeping alcove and the old gun in the top shelf of the built-ins. Dell hadn't bothered to unload it since he'd cleaned it last. She dropped the magazine and went to the top shelf of the built-ins. The gun was there. * * * * *