"He passed his pre-flight physical only a year ago. And--well, he lived all alone. He was careful not to let you see it, but I know he worried about these three trees on his place. And I know he got back from the Meeting in a worried state of mind. Then, obviously, the trees moved--grouped themselves around his cabin within easy range. But don't be afraid of them, Naomi. So long as you're not, they can't hurt you. They're not bothering us now." "No. But where's Richard?" Naomi's eyes swept past Ted, encompassing the cabin. No Richard! He'd been left outside ... Glass tinkled and crashed as she flung back the cabin door. "Richard! Richard!" Her child was not in sight. Nor within earshot, it seemed. "Richard Heckscher! Where are you?" Sanity returned with the conventional primness. And it brought her answer. "Here I am, Mommie! Look-at!" He was in a tree! He was fifteen feet off the ground, high in the branches of a tree-thing, swaying-- For an instant, dread flowed through Naomi as if in her bloodstream and something was cutting off her breath. Then, as the hands over mouth and throat withdrew, she saw they were Ted's. She let him drag her into the cabin and close the broken door. "Better not scare Richard," he said quietly, shoving her gently into a chair. "He might fall." Dumbly she caught her breath, waiting for the bawling out she'd earned. But Ted said, "Richard keeps us safe. So long as we fear for him, and not ourselves--" That was easy to do. Outside, she heard a piping call: "Look at me now, Mommie!" "Showing off!" she gasped. In a flashing vision, Richard was half boy, half vulture, flapping to the ground with a broken wing. "Here," said Ted, picking up a notebook that had been on the table. "Here's Cappy's present. A homemade picture book. Bait." "Let _me_ use it!" she said. "Richard may have seen I was scared just now." Outside again, under the tree, she called, "Here's Cappy's present, Richard. He's gone away and left it for you." Would he notice how her voice had gone up half an octave, become flat and shrill? "I'm coming down," Richard said. "Let me down, tree." He seemed to be struggling. The branches were cagelike. He was caught! Naomi's struggle was with her voice. "How did you _ever_ get up there?" she called. "The tree let me up, Mommie," Richard explained solemnly, "but he won't let me down!" He whimpered a little. He must _not_ become frightened! "You tell that tree you've got to come right down this instant!" she ordered. She leaned against the cabin for support. Ted came out and slipped his arm around her. "Break off a few leaves, Richard," he suggested. "That'll show your tree who's boss!" Standing close against her husband, Naomi tried to stop shaking. But she lacked firm support, for Ted shook, too. His advice to Richard was sound, though. What had been a trap became, through grudging movement of the branches, a ladder. Richard climbed down, scolding at the tree like an angry squirrel.