When I was little and at home more, my mother used to try to tell me how to behave with T'Gato - how to be respectful and always obedient because T'Gatoi was the Tlic government official in charge of the Preserve, and thus the most important of her kind to deal directly with Terrans. T'Gatoi liked our body heat and took advantage of it whenever she could. I saw her turn away as several of T'Gatoi's limbs secured me closer. And toward the end of his life, when he should have been slowing down, he had married my mother and fathered four children.īut my mother seemed content to age before she had to. My father, who had never refused one in his life, had lived more than twice as long as he should have. The eggs prolonged life, prolonged vigor. Less of her hair would be gray if she indulged now and then. I lay against T'Gatoi's long, velvet underside, sipping from my egg now and then, wondering why my mother denied herself such a harmless pleasure. She sat, watching everyone drifting and dreaming without her. There was still enough to leave everyone feeling good. She insisted that I eat the other one alone. T'Gatoi gave one to my mother, brother, and sisters. T'Gatoi's sister had given us two sterile eggs. My last night of childhood began with a visit home.
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