1 ^ Virtual particles
and virtual unicorns

A sudden snow shower put an end to hockey practice.

"We can't even see the puck," Sandy Murry shouted
across the wind. "Let's go home." He skated over to the
side of the frozen pond, sitting on an already snow-covered
rock to take off his skates.

There were calls of agreement from the other skaters.
Dennys, Sandy's twin brother, followed him, snow gather-
ing in his lashes, so that he had to blink in order to see
the rock. "Why do we have to live in the highest, coldest,
windiest spot in the state?"

Hoots of laughter and shouted goodbyes came from the
other boys. "Where else would you want to live?" Dennys
was asked.

Snow was sliding icily down the inside of his collar.
"Baki. Fiji. Someplace warm."

One of the boys knotted his skate laces and slung his
skates around his neck. "Would you really? With all those
tourists?"

"Yeah, and jet-setters crowding the beach."

"And beautiful people."

4 -^s MANY WATERS

"Andlitterbugs."

One by one the other boys drifted off, leaving the twins.
"I thought you liked winter," Sandy said.

"By mid-March, I'm getting tired of it."

"But you wouldn't really want to go to some tourists^
paradise, would you?"

"Oh, probably not. Maybe I would have, in the olden
days, before the population explosion. I'm famished. Race
you home."

By the time they reached their house, an old white farm-
house about a mile from the village, the snow was begin-
ning to let up, though the wind was still strong. They went
in through the garage, past their mother's lab. Pulling off
their windbreakers, they threw them at hooks, and burst
into the kitchen.

"Where's everybody?" Sandy called.

Dennys pointed to a piece of paper held by magnets to
the refrigerator door. They both went up to it, to read:

DEAR TWINS, AM OFF TO TOWN WITH MEG AND CHARLES
WALLACE FOR OUR DENTAL CHECKUPS. YOUR TURN IS
NEXT WEEK. DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET OUT OF IT.
YOU'VE BOTH GROWN SO MUCH THIS YEAR THAT IT IS
ESSENTIAL YOL1 HAVE YOUR TEETH CHECKED.

LOVE, MOTHER

Sandy bared his teeth ferociously. "We've never had a
cavity,"

Dennys made a similar grimace. "But we have grown.
We're just under six feet."

"Bet. if we were measured today we'd be over."

Dennys opened the door to the refrigerator. There was
half a chicken in an earthenware dish, with a sign:

5 -&-« Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

VERBOTEN. THIS IS FOR DINNER.

Sandy pulled out the meat keeper. "Ham all right?"

"Sure. With cheese."

"And mustard."

"And sliced olives."

"And ketchup."

"And pickles."

"No tomatoes here. Bet you Meg made herself a BLT."

"There's tots of liverwurst. Mother likes that."

"Yuck."

"It's okay with cream cheese and onion."

They put their various ingredients on the kitchen coun-
ter and cut thick slices of bread fresh from the oven.
Dennys peered in to sniff apples slowly baking. Sandy
looked over to the kitchen table, where Meg had spread
out her books and papers. "She's taken more than her fair
share of the table."

"She's in college," Dennys depended. "We don't have as
much homework as she does."

"Yeah, and I'd hate that long commute every day."

"She likes to drive. And at least she gees home early."
Dennys plunked his own books down on the big table.

Sandy stood looking at one of Meg's open notebooks.
"Hey, listen to this. Do you suppose we'll have this kind of
junk when we're in college? /( seems quite evident that
there was definite prebiotic existence of protein ancestors
of polymers, and that therefore the primary beings were
not a-amino adds. I suppose she knows what she's writing
about. I haven't the foggiest."

Dennys flipped back a page. "Look at her title. The
Million Doller question: the chicken or the egg, amino

6 -V^ MANY WATERS

acids or their polymers. She may be a mathematical genius,
but she still can't spell."

"You mean, you know what she's writing about?" Sandy
demanded.

"I have a pretty good idea. It's the kind of thing Mother
and Dad argue about at dinner—polymers, virtual parti-
cles, quasars, all that stuff."

Sandy looked at his twin. "You mean, you listen?"

"Sure. Why not? You never know when a little useless
knowledge is going to come in handy. Hey, what's this
book? It's about bubonic plague. I'm the one who wants to
be a doctor."

Sandy glanced over. "It's history, not medicine, stupe."

"Hey, why are lawyers never bitten by snakes?" Dennys
asked.

"I don't know. And don't care."

"Well, you're the one who wants to be the lawyer. Come
on. Why do lawyers never get bitten by snakes?"

"I give up. Why do lawyers never get bitten by snakes?"

"Profession-il courtesy."

Sandy groaned. "Very funny. Ha- Ha."

Dennys slathered mustard over a thick slice of ham.
"When I think about the amount of schooling still ahead
of us, I almost lose my appetite."

"Almost."

"Well, not quite."

Sandy opened the refrigerator door, looking for some-
thing else to pile on his sandwich. "We seem to eat more
than the rest of the family put together. Charles Wallace
eaEs like a bird. Well, judging by the amount we spend on

7 -v^s. Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

bird feed, birds are terrible gluttons. But you know what
I mean."

"At least he's settling down in school, and the other kids
aren't picking on him the way they used to."

"He still doesn't look more than six, but half the time
I think he knows more than we do. We're certainly the
ordinary, run-of-the-mill ones in the family."

"The family can do with some ordinary, run-of-the-mill
people. And we're not exactly dumb. If I'm going to be a
doctor and you're going to be a lawyer, we've got to be
bright enough for all that education. I'm thirsty."

Sandy opened the cupboard above the kitchen door.
Only a year before, they had been too short to reach it
without climbing on a stool. "Where's the Dutch cocoa?
That's what I want." Sandy moved various boxes of lentils,
barley, kidney beans, cans of tuna and salmon.

"Bet Mother's got it out in the lab. Let's go look."
Dennys sliced more ham.    >-

Sandy put a large dill pickle in'his mouth. "Let's finish
making the sandwiches first."

"Food first. Fine."

With sandwiches an inch or more thick in their hands,
and full mouths, they went back out to the pantry and
turned into the lab. In the early years of the century, when
ihe house had been part of a working dairy farm, the lab
had been used to keep milk, butter, eggs, and there was
still a large churn in one corner, which now served to
hold a lamp. The work counter with the stone sink func-
tioned as well for holding lab equipment as it had for milk
and eggs. There was now a formidable-looking microscope,

8 -<^ MANY WATERS

some strange equipment only their mother understood,
and an old-fashioned Bunsen burner, over which, on a
homemade tripod, a black kettle was simmering.

Sandy sniffed appreciatively. "Stew."

"I think we're supposed to call it boeuf bourguignon."
Dennys reached up to the shelf over [he sink and pulled
down a square red tin. "Here's the cocoa. Mother and Dad
like it at bedtime."

"When's Dad coming home?" Dennys wanted to know.

"Tomorrow night, I think Mother said."

Sandy, his mouth full, held his hands out to the wood
stove. "If we had our driver's licenses, we could go to the
airport to meet him."

"We're good drivers already," Dennys agreed.

Sandy stuffed another large bite of sandwich into his
mouth, and left the warmth of the stove to wander to the
far corner of the lab. where there was a not-quite-ordinary-
looking computer. "How long has Dad had this gizmo
here?"

"He put it in last week. Mother wasn't particularly
pleased."

"Well. it 15 supposed to be her lab," Sandy said. '

"What's he programming?" Dennys asked.

"He's usually pretty good about explaining. Even though
I don't understand most of it. Tessering and red-shifting
and space/time continuum and stuff." Sandy stared at the
keyboard, which had eight rather than the usual four ranks
of keys. "Half of these symbols are Greek. I mean, literally
Greek."

Dennys, ramming the last of his sandwich into his

9 •^•s- Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

mouth, peered over his twin's shoulder "Well, I more or
less get the usual science signs. That looks like Hebrew,
there, and that's Cyrillic. I haven't the faintest idea what
these keys are for."

Sandy looked down at the lab floor, which consisted of
large slabs of stone. There was a thick rug by the sink,
and another in front of the shabby leather chair and read-
ing lamp. "I don't know how Mother stands this place in
winter."

"She dresses like an Eskimo." Dennys shivered, then put
out one finger and tapped on the standard keys of the
computer: "TAKE ME SOMEPLACE WARM."

"Hey, I don't think we ought to mess with that," Sandy
warned.

"What do you expect? A genie to pop up, like the one in
Aladdin and the magic lamp? This is just a computer, for
heaven's sake. It can't do anything it isn't programmed to

J     TT                                                            b-

do.

"Okay, then." Sandy held his fingers over the keyboard.
"A lot of people think computers are alive—I mean, really,
sort of like Aladdin's genie." He tapped out on the stand-
ard keys: "SOMEPLACE WARM AND SPARSELY POPULATED."

Dennys shouldered him aside, adding: "LOW HUMIDITY."

Sandy turned away from the odd computer. "Let's make
the cocoa."

"Sure." Dennys picked up the red tin, which he had set
down on the counter. "Since Mother's using the Uunsen
burner, we'd better go back to the kitchen to make the
cocoa."

"Okay. It's warmer there, anyhow."

10 -s^ MANY WATERS

"I could do with another sandwich. If they've gone all
the way into town, supper'll probably be late."

They left the lab, closing the door behind them. "Hey."
Sandy pointed. "We didn't see this." There was a small
note taped to the door: EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS. PLEASE
KEEP OUT.

"Uh-oh. Hope we didn't upset anything."

"We'd better tell Mother when she gets back."

"Why didn't we see that note?"

"We were busy stuffing our faces."

Dennys crossed the hall and opened the kitchen door
and was met with a blast of heat. "Hey!" He Cried to step
back, but Sandy was on his heels.

"Fire!" Sandy yelled. "Get the fire extinguisher!"

"Too late! We'd better get out and—" Dennys heard the
kitchen door slam behind them. "We've got to get out—"

Sandy yelled, "I can't find the fire extinguisher!"

"I can't find the walls—" Dennys groped through a per-
vasive mist, his hands touching nothing.

Came a great sonic boom.

Then absolute silence.

Slowly the mist began to clear away, to dissipate.

"Heyt" Sandy's changing voice cracked and soared.
"What's going on?"

Dennys's equally cracking voice followed. "Where on
earth ... What's happened ..."

"What was that explosion?"

"Hey!"

They looked around to see nothing familiar. No kitchen
door. No kitchen. No fireplace with its fragrant logs. No

1 1 "s.-5^ Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

table, with its pot of brightly blooming geraniums. No
ceiling strung with rows of red peppers and white garlic.
No floor with the colorful, braided rugs. They were stand-
ing on sand, burning white sand. Above them, the sun was
in a sky so hot that it was no longer blue but had a bronze
cast. There was nothing but sand and sky from horizon to
horizon.

"Is the house all right?" Sandy's voice shook.

"I don't think we went into the house at all..."

"You don't think it was on fire?"

"No. 1 think we opened the door and we were here."

"What about the mist?"

"And the sonic boom?"

"And what about Dad's computer?"

"Uh-oh. What're we going to do?" Dennys's voice started
out in the bass, soared, and cracked to a piercing treble.

"Don't panic," Sandy warned, but his voice trembled.

Both boys looked around wildly. The brazen sunlight
beat down on them. After the cold of snow and ice, the
sudden heat was shocking. Small particles of mica in the
sand caught the light and blazed up at them. "Hey."
Dennys's voice cracked again. "What're we going to do?"

Sandy tried to speak calmly. "We're the ones who do
things, remember?"

"We just did something." Dennys was bitter. "We just
blew ourselves here, wherever here is."

Sandy agreed. "Stupid. We were stupid, mucking around
with an experiment-in-progress."

"Only we didn't know it was in progress."

"We should have stopped to think."

12 -a^ Ai^jvr tv^r£fis

Dennys looked around at sky and sand, both shimmer-
ing with heat. "What do you suppose Dad was up to? If we
knew that—"

"Space travel. Tessenng. Getting past the speed of light.
You know that." Anxiety made Dennys sharp.

The sun beat down on Sandy's head, so that he reached
up and wiped sweat from around his eyes. "I wish we'd
never thought of that Dutch cocoa."

Dennys pulled off his heavy cable-knit sweater. Licked
his dry lips- Moaned. "Lemonade."

Sandy, too, stripped off his sweater. "We got what we
asked for, didn't we? Heat. Low humidity. Sparse popu-
lation."

Dennys looked around, squinting against the glare.
"Sparse wasn't meant to mean nobody."

Sandy unbuttoned his plaid flannel shirt. "I thought we
asked for a beach."

"Not on Dad's gizmo we didn't. Just sparse population.
Do you suppose we've blown ourselves onto a dead planet?
One where the sun is going into its red-giant phase before
it blows up?"

Despite the intense heat. Sandy shivered, glanced at the
sun, then quickly away. "I think the sun in its red-giant
phase would be bigger. This sun doesn't look any larger
than our own sun in movies set in deserts."

"Do you suppose it is our own sun?" Dennys asked
hopefully.

Sandy shrugged. "We could be anywhere. Anywhere in
the universe. If we were going to play with that doggone
keyboard, we should have been more specific. I wish we'd
just settled for Baki or Fiji, beautiful people or no."

I 3 ^vs- Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

"I'd just as soon see a beautiful person. Right now. I
wish we hadn't done whatever it is we've done." Dennys
pulled off his cotton turtleneck, stripping down to his
white briefs and tank top.

Sandy stood on one leg to start pulling off his warmly
lined pants, glanced again at the fierce sun, then quickly
closed his eyes. "They'll miss us when they get back from
the dentist."

"But they won't know where to look. Mother has more
sense than we have. She'd never mess around with any-
thing of Dad's unless he was right there."

"Mother's not interested in astrophysics. She's into vir-
tual particles and things tike that."
- "She'll still miss us."

"Dad'll be home tomorrow," Sandy said hopefully. He
was now stripped to his underclothes.

Dennys picked up his things and made a tidy bundle.
"Unless we find some shade, 'we're going to have to put
our clothes back on in half an hour, or at least some of
them, or we'll get a vicious sunburn."

"Shade." Sandy groaned, and scanned the horizon. "Den!
Do I see a palm tree?"

Dennys held his hand to shade his eyes. "Where?"

"There. All the way over there."

"Yes. No. Yes."

"Let's head toward it."

"Good. At least it's something to do." Dennys trudged
off. "If it's the same time of day it was when we left
home—"

"It was winter at home." Sandy's eyes were almost closed
against the glare. "The sun was already setting."

14 t^ MANY WATERS

Dennys pointed to their shadows, as long and skinny as
they were. "The sun's slightly behind us ... We might be
heading east, if it's our own kind of sun."

Sandy asked, "Are you scared? I am. We've really got
ourselves into a mess."

Dennys made no reply. They trudged along. They had
left on their shoes and socks, and Dennys suggested, "It
might be easier walking barefooted."

Sandy bent down and touched the sand with the palm
of his hand, then shook his head. "Feel it. It would burn
our feet."

"Do you still see chat palm tree?"

"I chink so."

They moved across the sand in silence. After a few min-
utes it seemed firmer under their feet, and they saw that
there was rock under the sand.

"That's better," Sandy said.

"Hey!"

The ground seemed to shudder under their feet. Dennys
flailed his arms to try to keep his balance, but was flung to
the ground. "Is this an earthquake or something?"

Sandy, too, was thrown down. Around them they could
hear a noisy grating of rock, and a deep, thunderous roar-
ing beneath them. Then there was silence, abrupt and
complete. The rock steadied under them. The earthquake,
or whatever it was, had lasted less than a minute, but it had
been of sufficient force to push up a large section of rock,
making a small cliff about six feet high. It was striated
and raw-looking, but it provided a shadow that stretched
across the sand.

Both boys climbed to their feet and headed into the

15 •'&•« Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

welcome shade. Sandy touched the sheared-off rock, and
it felt cool. "Maybe we could sit here for a minute . . ."

The sun was still fiercely hot. but the slab of rock they
sat on was cool. The relief of the shade was so great that
for a few minutes they sat in silence. Their bodies were
slippery with sweat; it trickled into their eyes. They sat
without moving, trying to take every advantage of the
shade.

"I don't know what's going to happen next, but what-
ever it is, I'm not likely to be surprised," Sandy said at
last. "Are you sure it was Dad's experiment we weren't
supposed to interrupt? Couldn't it have been Mother's?"

"Mother's doing something with sub-atomic particles
again," Dennys said. "Last night at dinner, she spent most
of the time talking about virtual particles."

"It sounded crazy to me," Sandy said. "Particles which
have a tendency to life."

"That's right." Dennys nodded- "Virtual particles. Al-
most-particles. What you said. Particles which tend to be."

Sandy shook his head. "Most of Mother's sub-atomic
experiments are so, oh, so sort of infinitesimal, it hasn't
mattered if we've come into the lab."

"But maybe if she's looking for a virtual particle—"
Dennys sounded hopeful.

"No. It sounds to me more like something of Dad's. It
was just sort of wishful thinking when I asked if it could
be something of Mother's. Why didn't we see that notice
on the door?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"And I wish our parents did ordinary things," Sandy
complained. "If Dad was a plumber or an electrician, and

16 •^^ MANY WATERS

if Mother was somebody's secretary, it would be a lot easier
for us."

"And we wouldn't have to be such great athletes and
good guys at school," Dennys agreed. "And—" He broke
off as the earth started to tremble again. It was a brief
tremor, with no heaving of stones, but both boys sprang
to their feet-

"Hey!" Sandy jumped, almost knocking Dennys over.

From behind the rock cliff came a very small person,
perhaps four feet tall. Not a child. He was firmly muscled,
darkly tanned, and there was a down of hair across his
upper lip and on his chin. He wore a loincloth, with a
small pouch at the waist. As he saw them. he reached for
the pouch in a swift, alarmed gesture.

"Hey, wait." Sandy held up his open hands, palm for-
ward.

Dennys repeated the gesture. "We won't hurt you."

"Who are you?" Sandy asked.

"Where are we?" Dennys added.

The small man looked at them in mingled curiosity and
fear. "Giants!" he cried. He had a man's voice, a young
man's voice, deeper than Sandy's or Dennys's.

Sandy shook his head. "We're not giants."

"We're boys," Dennys augmented. "Who are youP"

The young man touched himself lightly on the fore-
head. "Japheth."

"That's your name?" Sandy asked.

He touched his forehead again. "Japheth."

Perhaps this was the custom of the country, wherever in
the universe it was. Sandy touched his own forehead.
"Alexander. Sandy."

\ 7 -^x- Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

Dennys made the same gesture. "Dennys."

"Giants," the young man stated.

"No." Sandy corrected. "Boys."

The young man rubbed his head where a purplish egg
was forming. "Stone hit me. Must be seeing double."

"Japheth?" Sandy asked.

The young man nodded. "Are you two? Or one?" He
rubbed his eyes perplexedly.

"Two," Sandy said. "We're twins. I'm Sandy. 'He's
Dennys."

"Twins?" Japheth asked, his fingers once more reaching
for the pouch at his side. which appeared to be filled with
tiny arrows, about two inches long.

Dennys opened his hands wide. "Twins are when"—he
had started to give a scientific explanation, stopped him-
self—"when a mother has a litter of two babies instead of
one." His voice was soothing.

"You're animals, then?"      i.

Sandy shook his head. "We're boys." He was ready to
ask "What are you?" when he noticed a liny bow near the
pouch of arrows.

"No. No." The young man looked at them doubtfully.
"Only giants are as tall as you. And the seraphim and
nephilim. But you have no wings."

What was this about wings? Dennys asked, "Please, J—
Jay—where are weP Where is this place?"

"The desert, about an hour from my oasis. I came out,
dowsing for water." He bent down and picked up a wand
of pliable wood. "Gopher wood is the best for dowsing,
and I had my grandfather's—" He stopped in midsen fence.
"Higgaion! Hig! Where are you?" he called, as the twins

18 -^^ MANY WATERS

might have called for their dog at home. "Hig!" He looked,
wide-eyed, at the twins. "If anything has happened to him,
my grandfather will—there are so few of them left—" He
called again urgently, "Higgaioni"

From behind the outcropping of rock came something
grey and sinuous which the twins at first thought was a
snake. But it was followed by a head with small, bright,
black eyes, and great fans of ears, and a chunky body cov-
ered with shaggy grey hair, and a thin little rope of a tail.

"Higgaion!" The young man was joyful. "Why didn't
you come when I called you?"

With its supple trunk, the little animal, the size of a
small dog or a large cat, indicated the twins.

The young man patted its head. He was so small that
he did not have to bend down. "Thank El you're all right."
He gestured toward the twins. "They seem friendly. They
say they aren't giants, and while they are as tall as seraphim
or nephilim, they don't seem to be of their kind."

Cautiously, the little animal 'approached Sandy, who
dropped to one knee, holding out his hand for the creature
to sniff. Then, tentatively, he began to scratch the hairy
chest, as he would have scratched their dog at home. When
the little animal relaxed under his touch, he asked Japheth,
"What's seraphim?"

"And nephilim," Dennys added. If they could find out
what these people were who were as tall as they, it might
give them some kind of a clue as to where they had landed.

"Oh, very tall," Japheth said. "Like you, but different-
Great wings. Much long hair. And their bodies—like you,
not hairy. The seraphim are golden and the nephilim are

19 -^s Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

white, whiter than sand. Your skin—it is different. Pale,
and smooth, and as though you never saw sun."

"At home, it's still winter," Sandy explained. "We get
very tan in the summer when we work outdoors."

"Your little animal," Dennys questioned, "looks sort of
like an elephant, but what is it?"

"It's a mammoth." Japheth slapped the creature affec-
tionately.

Sandy withdrew his hand from petting Higgaion. "But
mammoths are supposed to be huge!"

Dennys saw in his mind's eye a picture of a mammoth
in a nature book at home, very like Japheth's animal.
japheth himself was a miniature version of a strong and
handsome young man, not a great deal older than them-
selves, perhaps as old as their sister's friend Calvin, who
was in graduate school. Perhaps in this place, wherever it
was, everything was in miniature.

"There aren't many mammoths left," Japheth ex-
plained. "I'm a good dowser, but mammoths are very fine
(or scenting water, and Higgaion is the best of all." He
patted the little animal's head. "So I borrowed him from
Grandfather Lamech, and together we found a good
source of water, but I'm afraid it's too far from the oasis
to be much use."

"Thank you for explaining," Sandy said, then turned to
Dennys. "Do you think we're dreaming?"

"No. We came home from hockey practice. We made
sandwiches. We went into the lab to find the Dutch cocoa.
We messed around with Dad's experiment-in-progress. We
were stupid beyond belief. But it isn't a dream."

20 •^c MANY WATERS

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Japheth said. "I was
beginning to wonder, myself. I thought I might be dream-
ing, because of the stone hitting my head in the earth-
quake."

"It was an earthquake?" Sandy asked.

Japheth nodded. "They come quite often. The seraphim
tell us that things aren't settled yet."

"So maybe this is a young planet." Dennys sounded
hopeful.

Japheth asked, "Where have you come from, and where
are you going?"

"Take me to your leader," Sandy murmured.

Dennys nudged him. "Shut up."

Sandy said, "We're from planet earth, late twentieth
century. We got here by accident, and we don't know
where we're going."

"We'd like to go home," Dennys added, "but we dun't
know how."

"Where is home?" Japheth asked.

Sandy sighed. "A long way away, I'm afraid."

Japheth looked at them "You are flushed. And wet."
He himself did not seem to fee! the intense heat.

Dennys said, "We're perspiring. Profusely. I'm atraid
we'll get sunstroke if we don't find shade soon."

Japheth nodded. "Grandfather Lamech's tent is closest.
My wife and I"—he flushed with pleasure as he said my
wife—"live halfway across the oasis, by my father's tent.
And 1 have to return Higgaion to Grandfather, anyhow.
And he's very hospitable. I'll take you to him, if you like."

"Thank you," Sandy said.

"We'd like to come with you," Dennys added.

2 I '^x- Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

"At this point, we don't have much choice," Sandy mur-
mured.'

Dennys nudged him, then took his turtleneck from the
bundle of clothes and pulled it back on, his head emerg-
ing from the rolled cotton neck, which had mussed up his
light brown hair so that a tuft stuck out like a parakeet's.
"We'd better cover ourselves. I think I'm sunburned al-
ready."

- "Let's go, then," Japheth said. "I'd like to be home
before dark."

"Hey—" Sandy said suddenly. "At least we speak the
same language. Everything's been so wild and weird I
hadn't realized it till—"

Japheth looked at him in a puzzled manner. "You sound
very strange to me. But I can understand you, if I listen
with my under-hearing. You talk a little like the seraphim
and the nephilim. You can understand me?"

The twins looked at each other. Sandy said, "I hadn't
really thought about it till now- If I think about it, you do
sound, well, different, but I can understand you. Right,
Den?"

"Right," Dennys agreed. "Except it was easier when we
weren't thinking about it."

"Come on," Japheth urged. "Let's go." He looked at
Sandy. "You'd better rover yourself, too."

Sandy followed Dennys's example and pulled on his
turtleneck.

Dennys unrolled his flannel shirt and draped it over his
head. "Sort of like a burnoose to keep us from getting
sunstroke."

"Good idea." Sandy did the same.

22 •^£- MANY WATERS

"If," Dennys added morosely, "it isn't already too late."
Then he said. "Hey, Japh—" stumbled over the name-
"Hey, Jay, what's that?"

On the horizon to the far left, moving toward them,
appeared a creature which shimmered in and out of their
vision, silvery in color, as large as a goat or a pony, with
light flickering out from its forehead.

Sandy also shortened Japheth's name. "What's that,
Jay?" The mammoth pushed its head under Sandy's hand.
and he began to scratch between the great fan-like ears.

Japheth looked toward the barely visible creature, smil-
ing in recognition. "Oh, that's a unicorn. They're very
odd. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't- If we
want one, we call and it'll usually appear."

"Did you call on one?" Sandy asked.

"Higgaion may have thought about one, but he didn't
really call it. That's why it isn't all the way solid. Unicorns
are even better about scenting for water than mammoths,
except that you can't always count on them. But probably
Higgaion thought one might be able to confirm where we
thought there was a spring." He smiled ruefully. "Grand-
father always knows what Hig is thinking, and I make
guesses."

The twins stopped and looked at each other, but the
mammoth had left Sandy and was trotting after Japheth,
who was walking toward the oasis again, so they followed.
In the intensity of the desert heat, their limbs felt heavy
and uncooperative. When they looked to where the uni-
corn had been, it was no longer there, though there was
left in its piace a mirage-like shimmering.

23 "s^ Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

Sandy panted. "I don't believe this."

Dennys, jogging beside him, agreed. "We've never had
very willing suspensions of disbelief. We're the pragmatists
of the family."

"I still don't believe it," Sandy said. "It I blink often
enough, we'll be back in the kitchen at home."

Dennys took one of the flapping sleeves of his shirt and
wiped his eyes. "What I believe right now is that I'm hot.
Hot. Hot."

Japheth turned his head and looked back. "Giantsl
Come on. Stop talking."

With their long legs, it was easy enough for the twins
to catch up with Japheth- "We're not giants," Dennys re-
iterated. "My name is Dennys."

"Dennysim."

Dennys touched his forehead, as Japheth had done.
"One Dennys. Me."

Sandy, too, touched his forehead. "I'm Sandy."

"Sand." Japheth looked around. "We have plenty of
Sand."

"No, Jay," Sandy corrected. "It's short for Alexander.
Sandy."

Japheth shook his head. "You call me Jay. I call you
Sand. Sand is something I understand."

"Talking of strange names"—Dennys looked at the
mammoth, who was again butting at Sandy, to be petted—
"Hig-"

"Hig-gai-on." Japheth sounded it out.

"Are all mammoths his size? Or are there some really
big ones?"

24 -v^ MANY WATERS

Japheth looked puzzled. "Those that are left are like
Higgaion."

Sandy looked at his brother. "Didn't horses start out
very little, back in pre-hislory?"

But Dennys was looking at the horizon. "Look. Now
you can see that there are tots of palm trees."

Although they could now see that there were many trees,
the oasis was still far away. Despite their much longer legs,
the boys began to lag behind Japheth and the mammoth,
who were moving across the sand at an easy run.

"I'm not sure I can make it," Dennys said, grunting.

Sandy's steps, too, lagged. "I thought we were the great
athletes," he said, panting.

"We've never been exposed to heat like this before."

Japheth, evidently realizing that they were no longer
behind him, turned around and jogged back toward them,
seemingly cool and unwinded. "What's the matter? You're
both all red. The same red. You truly are two people?"

"We're twins." Sandy's voice was an exhausted croak.

Dennys panted. "I think—we're getting—heat—heat
prostration."

Japheth looked at them anxiously. "Sun-sickness can be
dangerous." He reached up and touched Dennys's cheek.
Shook his head. "You're cold and clammy. Bad sign." He
put his hand against his forehead. Appeared to be thinking
deeply. Then: "What about a unicorn?"

"What about it?" Sandy asked. He felt tired and irrit-
able.

"If we could get a couple of unicorns to become real and
solid for us, they could carry you to the oasis."

25 '^K Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

The twins looked at each other, each seeing a red,
sweating mirror version of himself. "We've never gone in
for mythical beasts," Dennys said.

Sandy added, "Meg says unicorns have been ruined by
overpopularity."

Japheth frowned. "I don't understand what you're say-
ing."

Dennys, too. frowned. Thinking. Then: "Jay's unicorns
sound more like Mother's virtual particles than like myth-
ical beasts."

Sandy was exasperated. "Virtual particles aren't myth-
ical. They're theoretical."

Dennys shot back, "If Mother can believe in her way-
^  out theories, we ought to be able to believe in virtual
^-   unicorns."

"What kind of unicorns?" Japheth looked puzzled. "Is it
because you're some strange kind of giant that there's all
''.   this confusion?"              !"

"Unicorns have never been a matter of particular im-
portance before." Sandy wiped his hands across his face
and was surprised to find that the beads of sweat were in-
deed cold-

"They're important now." Dennys groaned. "Mother
believes in virtual particles, so there's no reason there
can't be virtual unicorns."

"Hig—"Japheth urged.

':     The mammoth turned and faced the horizon. A faint
^.   shimmering glimmered on the sand in front of him. Slowly
i   it took the shape of a unicorn, transparent but recogniz-
able. Beside it, another unicorn began to shimmer.

26 "s^ MANY WATERS

"Please, unicorns," Dennys begged. "Be real."

Slowly the transparency of both creatures began to solid-
ify, until there were two unicorns standing on the sand,
with silvery-grey flanks, silver manes and beards. Silver
hooves, and horns of brilliant light. They looked at the
twins and docilely folded their legs under to lie down.

"Ohi" japhech exclaimed. "It's a good thing you're both
so young. For the moment, I'd forgotten that unicorns will
not let themselves be touched by anyone who is not a
virgin."

The twins glanced at each other. "Well, we don't even
have our driver's licenses yet." Dennys said.

"Get up on them before they decide they aren't needed,"
Japheth ordered.

The twins climbed each onto the back of one of the
silver creatures, both feeling that this was a dream from
which they could not wake up. But, without the unicorns,
they would never make it to the oasis.

The unicorns flew across the desert, their hooves barely
touching the surface. Occasionally, where the sand had
been blown clear and there was rock, a silver hoof struck
with a clang like a bell, and sparks flew upward. Small
desert creatures watched them fly by. Sandy noticed, but
did not mention, some scattered bones bleached by sun
and wind.

"Hold on!" Japheth cried in warning. "Don't fall offi"

But there was a sense, in riding the unicorns, of un-
reality. If this was no stranger than their mother's world
of particle physics, it was at least equally as strange-

"Hold onl" Japheth shouted again.

27 "S^K. Virtual particles and virtual unicorns

But Dennys felt himself sliding off the smooth flanks.
He tried to grasp the mane, but it sifted through his fingers
like sand. Was the unicorn becoming less real, or was the
still-blazing sun affecting him?

"Dennys! Don't fall off!" Sandy shouted.

But Dennys felt himself slipping. He did not know
whether il was himself or the unicorn who kept flickering
in and out of being.

Then he felt something solid. Sandy on his unicorn
pressing against him. Sandy's strong arms shoving him
back onto the unicorn, the virtual particle suddenly real,
not just something in the lab. His head hurt.

Japheth and the mammoth were running beside them,
amazingly swift for such small creatures- "Hurry," Japheth
urged the unicorns. "Hurry."

Sandy, his flannel shirt still draped over his head, was
hardly aware that he was supporting his brother. His arms
felt as fluid as water. He was breathing in great searing
gulps which burned his throat. His head began to swell,
to be filled with hot air like a balloon, so that he was afraid
he was going to float off into the sky.

The mammoth passed Japheth and the unicorns, lead-
ing the way to the oasis, so that his stocky legs were no
more than a blur of motion, like hummingbirds' wings-
Occasionally he would raise his trunk and make a trumpet-
ing noise, urging the unicorns along. Japheth ran along-
side, beginning to breathe, open-mouthed, with effort.

But they were not fast enough for Dennys, who was slip-
ping into unconsciousness, and as the world blackened
before his eyes, his unicorn's horn became dim and the

28 -s^ MANY WATERS

silver creature began to dissolve as Dennys lost sight and
hearing and thought. And Dennys flickered in and out of

being with his mount.

Sandy, barely holding on to consciousness, was not aware
that the arm he had held Dennys with was now holding
nothing. He felt himself drop to the ground. He did not
land on searing sand but on soft green. His burning body
was shaded and cooled by the great fans of a palm tree.

His unicorn had made it to the oasis.

2 w Telkan in the wilderness

Sandy slid slowly into consciousness, eyes tightly closed.
No alarm clock jangling, so it must be Saturday. He lis-
tened to hear it Dennys was stirring in the upper bunk.
Felt something cool and wet sprayed across his body. It
felt good. He did not want to wake up. On Saturday they
had heavy chores. They washed the floor of their mother's
lab, of the bathrooms. If it was showing again, there would
be snow to shovel.

"Sand—"

He did not recognize the odd, slightly foreign voice. He
did not recognize the smell that surrounded him, pungent
and gamy. Again his body was sprayed with cool wetness.

"Sand'"

Slowly, he opened his eyes. In the light which came from
directly above him, he saw two brown faces peering anx-
iously into his. One face was young, barely covered with
deep amber down. The other face was crisscrossed with
countless wrinkles, a face with ancient, leathered skin and
a long beard of curling white.

30 •^c MANY WATERS

Unwilling to believe that he was not waking from a
dream, he reached up to touch Dennys's mattress above
him. Nothing- He opened his eyes more widely

He was in a Cent, a sizable tent made of goatskins, judg-
ing by the smell. Light came in from the roof hole, a rosy,
sunset light. A funny little animal crossed the tent to him
and sprayed his body with water, and he realized that he
was hot with sunburn. The animal was bringing water
from a large clay pot and cooling him with it.

"Sand?" the young man asked again. "Are you awake?"

"jay?" He struggled to sit up, and his burned skin was
scratched by the skins on which he was lying.

"Sand, are you all right?" Japheth's voice trembled with
anxiety.

"I'm okay. Just sunburned."

The old man put his hand against Sandy's forehead.
"You have much fever. The sun-sickness is hard on those
unaccustomed to the desert. Are you from beyond the
mountains?"

Sandy looked at the ancient man, who was even smaller
than Japheth but had the same brightly blue eyes, startling
against the sun-darkened skin. Sandy touched his forehead
as Japheth had done. "I'm Sandy."

"Sand. Yes. Japheth has told me." The old man touched
his forehead, tipped with softly curling white hair. "La-
inech. Grandfather Lamech. Japheth carried you to my
tent."

Sandy looked around in alarm. "But Dennys—where's
Dennys?" He was now fully awake, aware that he was not
in the bunk bed at home but in this strange desert place

31 "s-^ Pelican in the wilderness

which might be on any planet in any solar system in any
galaxy anywhere in the universe. He shuddered. "Dennys?"

"He went out with the unicorn."

"What!"

"Sand," Japheth explained patiently, "Dennys must
have fainted. I told you about unicorns. Sometimes they
are, sometimes they aren't. When Den fainted, the unicorn
went out, and took Den with him."

"But we've got to find him, bring him back!" Sandy
tried to struggle to his feet.

Grandfather Lamech pushed him back down onto the
skins with amazing strength for so small a person. "Hush,
Sand. Do not worry. Your brother will be all right."

"But—"

"Unicorns are very responsible," Lamech explained.

"But—"

"It is true that they are unreliable in that we cannot rely
on them to be, but they are very responsible."

"You're crazy," Sandy said.

"Hush, Sand," Grandfather Lamech repeated. "We do
not know where the unicorns go when they go out, but
when somebody calls the unicorn again and it appears,
Den will appear, too."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. I am sure," the old man said, and for a moment
Sandy relaxed at the authority in his voice.

Then: "Well, call a unicorn, call him now!"

The old man and Japheth looked at Higgaion. Higgaion
raised his trunk toward the roof hole of the tent. The rosy
glow had faded, and the old man and Japheth and Hig-

32 -^^ MANY WATERS

gaion were barely visible shadows in the tent. There was
a sudden fiash, and Sandy could see the shimmering silver
body of a unicorn. But no Dennys.

"Dennys!" he cried.

And heard Japheth echo, "Den!"

Higgaion appeared to be consulting with the unicorn.
Then he looked toward Japheth and the old man. Trum-
peted.

There was another flash of light, and then a faint glim-
mering and the unicorn was gone.

Grandfather Lamech said, "It would appear that some-
one has already called the unicorn on which the Den was
riding."

Sandy jumped to his feet, but was so weak that he sank
back onto the skins. "But he could be anywhere, any-
wherel" he cried wildly.

"Hush," the old man repeated. "He is on the oasis. We
will find him."

"How?" Sandy's voice was a frightened small boy's
squeak.

Japheth said, "I will look for him. When I find him, I
will bring him to you."

"Oh, Jay—I want to come with you."

"No." Grandfather Lamech was firm. "You have the
sun-sickness- You must stay here until you are well." He
looked up at the roof hole. The fading sunset was gone,
and the moon, not full, but beaming bright, shone down
on them. The old man touched Sandy's arm, his thigh.
"Tomorrow you will be all blisters."

Sandy's head felt strangely buzzing and he knew that it

S3 'v>s- Pelican in the wilderness

was from fever and that Grandfather Lamech was right.
"But Dennys—"

"I will find him and bring him to you," Japheth
promised.

"Oh, Jay, thank you."

The young man turned to his grandfather. "One of the
women—my wife, or one of my sisters—will bring you a
night-light. Grandfather."

The old man looked at the moonlight which brightened
the tent. "Thank you, my dear grandson. My grand-
children are kind to me, so kind . . ." His voice faltered.
"My son . . ."

Japheth sounded embarrassed. "You know I can't do
anything with Father. I don't even tell him when I've
come to your tent."

"Better that way." The old man was sorrowful. "Better
that way. But one day—"

"Of course, Grandfather. Oneway. I'li be back with the
Den as soon as I can." He pushed out of the tent. and the
flap slapped closed behind him.

Higgaion dribbled cool water from the jar onto the
cloth on Sandy's burning forehead.

"Giant"—the little old man leaned over him—"where
do you come from?"

"I'm not a giant," Sandy said. "Really. I'm just a boy.
Dennys and I are still growing, but we're not giants, we're
just ordinary tall."

The old grandfather shook his head. "In our country
you are giants. Can you tell me where you come from?"

"Home." Sandy felt hot and feverish. Home might be

34 -^s MANV WATERS

galaxies away. "New England. The United States. Planet
earth."

The wrinkles in the old man's forehead crisscrossed
each other as he frowned. "You don't come from around
here. Nor from Nod. The people there are no taller than
we are." He put his hand on Sandy's forehead. The hand
felt cool, and dry as an autumn leaf crumbling to dust.
"Your fever will go down, but you must stay here, in my
tent, out of the sun, until the burning is healed. I will ask
one of the seraphim to come tend to you. Seraphim do not
burn in the sun. They are better healers than I." Sandy
relaxed into Grandfather Lamech's kindness.

The mammoth started toward the water jar, then
dropped to its haunches, whimpering in terror, as some-
thing screeched past the tent like an out-of-control jet
plane- But on this planet, wherever it was, there were no
planes.

The old man leaped to his feet with amazing agility and
grabbed a wooden staff.

The hideous screech, not bird, not human, came again,
closer, and then the tent flap was pushed aside and a large
face peered in. It was the largest face Sandy had ever seen,
a man's face with filthy hair and a matted beard, tangled
eyebrows over small, suspicious eyes, and a bulbous nose.
From the mat of hair came two horns, curved downward,
with sharp points like boar's reeth. The mouth opened
and shouted, "Hungry!"

The rest of the creature pushed into the tent. The head
did not belong to a man's body but to a lion's, and as it
came all the way into the tent. Sandy saw that the lion

35 -B^s Pelican m the wilderness

did not have a lion's tail but a scorpion's. Sandy was
terrified.

The old man beat at it futilely with his staff. The man /
lion / scorpion knocked the staff out of his hand and
sent him flying across the tent. Grandfather Lamech fell
onto a pile of skins. The mammoth lay flat on the skins
by Sandy, trembling.

"Hungry!" The roar made the skins of the tent tremble.

Instinctively, Sandy thrust the mammoth behind him
and, exerting the last remnant of his strength, rose, lotter-
ing, to his full height and took a step toward the monster.
.  "Giant!" the man's head screeched. "Giant!" And scor-
pion's tail, lion's body, and man's head backed out of the
tent, so that the flap snapped back into place.

The old man pulled himself out of the corner where he
had been flung. "Ridiculous manticore," he grumbled,
"wanting to eat my mammoth."

Higgaion got unsteadily to his feet, raised his trunk, and
trumpeted, but it was more of a whiffle than a call of tri-
umph. He rubbed up against Sandy.

The old man retrieved his staff. "Thank you. You saved
my mammoth from being eaten."

"I didn't do anything." Sandy's legs crumpled under
-him as he fell back onto the skins. "It's the first time I've
ever scared anybody, just by being tall and sunburned.".

"A gentle giant," the old man said.

Sandy felt too weak to contradict him. "Anyhow, the
manticore is a mythical beast."

Grandfather Lamech shook his head. "I don't know
what you mean."

36 -fc^ MANY WATERS

"Things like rnamicores are mythical," Sandy stated.
"They aren't supposed to be real."

Grandfather Lamech's smile crinkled. "You will have
to ask the seraphim to explain. In this time many things
are real, you see." He looked around. "Where's the scarab
beetle?"

The mammoth, too, looked around, but they both
stopped, and the old man's face lit up as a soft scratching
was heard on the outside of the tern Hap. It was obviously
some kind of signal, because he called out gladly, "Come
in, Granddaughter-" Then he turned courteously to Sandy.
"Yalith, my youngest granddaughter."

The lent Hap opened enough to let a girl through, a
girl about the size of the old man. barely four feet tali. She
carried a shallow stone bowl which contained oil and a
softly burning wick. By its light, which was brighter than
the moonlight, which had moved beyond the roof hole,
Sandy could see that the girl, who wore only a loincloth,
like Japheth and Grandfather I^unech, was gently curved,
with small rosy breasts. Her skin was ihe color of a ripe
apricot. Her softly curling hair was a deep bron/e, which
glimmered in the lamplight and fell against tier shoulders.
She looked. Sandy thought, about his age, and suddenly
his burning skin was not as painful as it had been, and he
felt energy returning to his limbs. He got to his knees and
stood to greet her, bowing clumsily.

She saw him and almost drop[>cd the stone lamp. "A
giant'"

The mammoth reached up with his trunk to Sandy, and
Grandfather Lamech said, "He says th;it he is not a giant,

37 -a^ Pelican in the wilderness

dear Yalith. Japheth carried him here, and they tell me
that there is another one just like him, but he went out
with a unicorn. Japheth is looking for him. This one"—he
beamed at Sandy—"appears to be human, and he just
saved Higgaion from the manticore."

Yalith shuddered. "I heard it screeching and going off
with a rat." She put her stone iamp on a wooden keg. "I've
brought your night-light, Grandfather Lamech."

"Thank you, my dear." There was a deep tenderness in
the old man's voice.

Sandy bowed again. "Hello. My name's Sandy Murry."
He could not keep a foolish grin off his face.

She looked at him dubiously, backing away slightly.
"You do not speak like one of us. Are you sure you're not
a giant?"

"I'm a boy. I'm sorry I look so awful. I have a fierce
sunburn."

Now she looked at him withouL flinching. "Oh, yes, you
do. How do we help you?"

Higgaion dipped his trunk into the water pot again and
showered Sandy with it.

Grandfather Lamech said, "Higgaion is keeping his skin
wet. But I think we ought to get one of the seraphim to
look at him."

"Yes. That would be good. Where did you say you were
from, giant—Sand?"

"The United States," Sandy said, though he knew it
would mean nothing to this beautiful, strange girl.

The girl smiled at Sandy, and the warmth of her smile
enveloped him.

38 -s^ MA^Y WATERS

"The United States is—are—a place," he tried [o ex-
plain. "You might say that my brother and I are represen-
tatives." —Even if inadvertent ones.

"And you have a brother, who is out with a unicorn?"

Her question made it sound as though Dennys and the
unicorn had gone off cavorting someplace together-

"My brother Dennys. We're twins. Identical twins- We
do look a lot alike to people who don't know us well. Your
brother Japheth is trying to find him."

"Well, he will find him, then. Do you need anything
more, Grandfather Lamech?"

"No, my dear Yalith."

"I'd better go home, then. My brothers' wives are all
there, and our mother likes to have me around to help
keep everybody from fighting."

She smiled, turning from the old man to Sandy, who
was dizzy with fever, but also with Yalith. He gazed at her
as she said good night to them. For the first time in his
life. Sandy had a flash of gratitude that Dennys was not
with him.

Then anxiety surfaced. "Dennys—"

"Japheth will find him," the old man said. "Meanwhile
—Higgaion, see if you can find our scarab friend."

Higgaion trumpeted softly and left the tent.

After Yalith and Higgaion had gone, Sandy was assailed
by a wave of feverish sleep. It was dark now, with no moon-
light coming through the tent's roof hole, and the oil lamp
burned low. He closed his eyes, curled on his side to sleep.
and felt an emptiness.

Dennys. He was just as happy that Dennys had not seen

39 '^s'- Pelican in the wilderness

Yalith. Nevertheless, he had never before gone to sleep
without Dennys. At home he could just reach up and
punch the mattress above his to get his twin's attention.
At Scout camp they had always been in the same cabin.
Despite their parents' efforts to allow the twins to develop
as individuals, never dressing them alike, the fact remained
that they were twins- He did not know what it was like to
go to sleep without Dennys.

Higgaion came in and went to Grandfather Lamech,
plucking something from his ear with his trunk and hold-
ing it out to the old man. Grandfather Lamech took it on
his palm, a scarab beetle, glinting bronze in the lamplight.
The old man stroked it gently with a trembling forefinger,
and closed his palm.

Then came a vivid flash of light, similar to that of the
unicorn's horn, and a tall presence stood in the tent, smil-
ing at the old man, then looking quietly ac Sandy- The
personage had skin the same glowing apricot color as
Yalith's. Hair the color of wheat with the sun on it,
brightly gold, long, and tied back, falling so that it almost
concealed tightly furled wings, the light-filled gold of the
hair. The eyes were an incredibly bright blue, like the
sea with sunlight touching the waves.

Lamech greeted him respectfully. "Adnarel, we thank
you." Then he said to Sandy, "The seraph will be able to
help you. Seraphim know much about healing."

So this was a seraph. Tall, even taller than the twins.
But the only resemblance was in height. Otherwise, it was
totally different, beautiful, but alien. The seraph turned
to Lamech. "What have we here?"

Lamech bowed, seeming more than ever like a small

40 ^^ MANY WATERS

brown nut in comparison with the great winged one. If
al! the ordinary people in this strange place were as little
as Japheth and Lamech and Yalith, it was small wonder
that Sandy and Dennys were confused with giants. Lamech
said, "We have with us a stranger—"

Adnarel touched Sandy's shoulder, pressing him back
down on the skins as he started to struggle to his feet.

Lamech continued, "He is, as you can see, almost as tall
as you are, but not as—not as completely formed."

"He is very young." Adnarel the seraph said, "barely
hatched, as it were. But you are correct. He is not one of
us. Nor of the nephilim."

"Nor of us," Lamech said. "But we think he is not to be
feared."

Adnarel reached out to touch Sandy gently on the back,
the long fingers delicately exploring the shoulder blades.
"No wings, not even rudimentary ones."

Higgaion approached the seraph, butting him to get his
attention, then indicated the water pitcher.

Adnarel reached down Co scratch between the mam-
moth's ears. "Call the pelican," he ordered.

Higgaion left the tent. Lamech looked up, up, to meet
Adnarel's startling blue eyes. "Are we doing the right
thing, keeping him cool and wet to bring down the fever
and heal the burning?"

Adnarel nodded, as the tent flap opened and Higgaion
returned, followed by a pelican, large and white and sur-
prising. It waddled over to the clay water pitcher, opened
its great beak, and filled the pitcher.

Lamech asked anxiously, "The pelican will see to it that

41 "s^ Pelican in the wilderness

we have plenty of water? It will take many trips to the
well, too many for me now that I am old and—"

"P'ear not. Alarid will sec to it," Adnarel reassured.

"A pelican in the desert?" Sandy asked, feeling that the
great bird was part of a fevered dream.

"A pelican in the wilderness," Adnarel agreed. He
dropped to one knee and put his hand against Sandy's red-
dened cheeks. Through the fingers flowed a healing
warmth, a warmth which had nothing to do with the
stifling heat in the tent. Sandy had almost grown accus-
tomed to the strong, gamy smell of the skins, but the seraph
seemed to bring a lightness and a freshness to the air.

"Where, young one. are you fromP" Adnarel asked.

Sandy sighed. "Planet earth, where I hope I still am?"

The seraph smiled again, not answering the question.
He touched Sandy's forehead gently, and the touch helped
him to clarify his thoughts, which seemed 10 lose their
focus- "And from where on plahet earth do you come?"

"From the United States. The Northeast. New England."

"How did you get here?"

"I'm not sure, uh, sir." There was something about
Adnarel's presence which brought out the old-fashioned
forms of respect. "Our fattier is working with a theory
about the fifth dimension and the tesseract . . ."

"Ah." Adnarel nodded. "Did he send you?"

"No, uh, no, we—"

"We?"

"Dennys. my twin brother, and I. It was our lault. I
mean, we have never before done anything so incredibly
stupid as to mess with anything of Dad's when an experi-

42 -^s MANY WATERS

ment was in progress, except we didn't realize chat an
experiment was in progress."

"Where is Dennys?"

"Oh, please—" Sandy implored.

Grandfather Lamech explained, "The brother, the
Dennys, went out with a unicorn, and has evidently been
called back elsewhere, japheth is looking for him."

The seraph listened gravely, nodding at what Sandy felt
was an insufficient and unclear explanation. "Fear not,"
Adnare! said to Sandy. "Your brother will be returned.
Meanwhile, Grandfather Lamech and Higgaion are doing
the best thing for you, in keeping your skin moistened."
From a pocket deep in his gown he took out what looked
like a handful of herbs and dropped them into the water
jar. "This will help the heaiing." He smiled. "It is good
that you have at least some knowledge of the Old Lan-
guage."

"But I don't—" Sandy started.

"You have been able to understand, and talk with, first
Japheth, and now Grandfather Lamech, have you not?"

"Well. Yes. I guess so "

"Perhaps the gift has been awakened because you have
not had time to think." The seraph's smile illumined the
tent. Adnarel turned from Sandy to Lamech. "When the
cool of night comes, wrap him in this." And the seraph
took off his own creamy robe. His wings were visible now,
as golden and shining as his long hair. He gave an effect
ofsunniness in the dark tent, lit only by the oil lamp. "The
animal skins are too rough for his burned flesh. I wilt come
by in the morning to see how he is doing. Meanwhile, I
will check on Japheth and see if he has found the brother."

43 -s^y Pelican in the wilderness

As Adnarel talked, Sandy felt his eyes dose. Japheth was
looking for Dennys. Adnarel was going to help him. Sureiy,
if the seraph was involved, then everything would be all

right.

His thoughts drifted off into soft darkness.

3 -^ Japheth's sister Yalith

When Yalith left her grandfather's tent, she hurried to-
ward home, near the center of the oasis. Ac her side she
had a small pouch of darts, similar to Japheth's, but instead
of the miniature bow she carried a small blowpipe. The
arrows were tipped with a solution which would tempo-
rarily stun but not kill a predator, even one as large as the
manticore. The manticores were strong and bad-tempered,
but not intelligent or brave. She feared the manticores
less than she feared some of the young men in the town,
and she kept a dart in her hand in case she needed it.

After leaving the grazing grounds around Lamech's tent,
she walked through one of his groves that led her onto
the desert of white sand lapping against brown grasses.
Wherever there were not enough wells to provide for irri-
gation, the desert took over. But she preferred walking
across the desert to the dusty, dirty paths of the oasis. Stars
were bright against the velvet black of sky. At her feet, a
late beetle hustled to burrow itself under the sand until
morning. To her right, high in the trees of Lamech's
groves, the baboons were chittering sleepily.

45 'fc^ Japheth's sister'Yalith

She looked toward the horizon, and on an outcropping
of rock similar to the one the earthquake had made when
Sandy and Dennys met Japheth and the mammoth Hig-
gaion, she saw the shadow of a supine form. She looked to
make sure it was a lion, then called softly, "Aariel!"

The creature rose slowly, languidly, and then leapt down
from the rock and loped toward her, and she saw that she
had been deceived in the starlight, for it was not a lion
but one of the great desert lizards, called dragons by most
people, although its wings were atrophied and it could not

fly-
She stood frozen with anxiety on the starlit sand, her

hand holding one of the tiny arrows. As the lizard neared
her, it rose straight upward to a height of at least six feet,
and suddenly arms were outstretched above the head; the
tail forked into two legs, and a man came running toward
her, a man of extraordinary beauty, with alabaster-white
skin and wings of brilliant purple. His long hair was black
with purple glints, and his eyes were the color of amethysts.

"You called me, lovely one?" He bent down toward her
tenderly, a questioning smile on his lips, which were deeply
rosy in his white face.

"No, no," she stammered. "Not you. I thought—I
thought you were Aariel."

"No. I am Eblis, not Aariel. And you called, and here
I am," his voice soothed, "at your service. Is there any-
thing you want?"

"Oh, no, thank you, no."

"No baubles for your ears, your lovely little neck?"

"Oh, no, thank you, no," she repeated. Her sisters would
think her stupid for refusing his offer. The nephilim were

46 MANY WATERS

generous. This nephil could give her everything he had
offered, and more.

"And all of a sudden you have changed," he said. "You
were a child, and now you are not a child any longer."

Instinctively, she folded her hands across her breasts,
stammering. "B-but, I am a child. I'm not nearly a hun-
dred years old yet. . ."

He reached out one long, pale hand and softly pushed
her starlit hair back from her forehead. "Do not be afraid
of growing up. There are many pleasures ahead for you to
taste, and 1 would help you to enjoy them all."

"YouP" She looked, startled, at the glorious creature by
her, light shimmering like water from the purple wings.
"I. sweet little one, I, Eblis, of the nephilim."
No nephil had paid attention to her before. She was too
young. Then she saw, in her mind's eye, the strange young
giant in her grandfather's tent. She was no longer a child.
She did not react to the young giant as a child.

"There are many changes to come," Eblis said, "and you
will need help."

Her eyes widened. "Changes? What kind of changes?"

"People are living too long. El is going to cut the life
span back. How old is your father?"

"He must be, oh, close to six hundred years. Middle-
aged." She looked at her fingers. Ten. That was really as
far as she could count accurately-

"And your Grandfather Lamech?"

"Let's see. He was very young when he had my father,
not quite two hundred years old. He, too, has lived for
very long. His father, Methuselah, my great-grandfather.

47 -tt-^ Japhefh's sister YaUth

lived for nine hundred and sixty-nine years- And his father
was Enoch, who walked with El, and lived three hundred
and sixty and five years, and then El cook him—" Involved
in the great chronologies of her fathers, she was not pre-
pared for him to unfurl his great wings and gather her in,
enveloping her in great swirls of purple touched with
brilliance as with stars. She gasped in surprise.

He laughed softly. "Oh, little one, little innocent one,
how much you have to learn, about men's ways, and about
El's ways, which are not men's ways. Will you let me teach
you?"

To be taught by a nephil was an honor she had never
expected. She was not sure why she was hesitant- She
breathed in the strange odor of his wings, smelling of stone,
of the cold, dark winds which came during the few brief
weeks of winter.

Enveloped in Eblis's wings, she did not hear the rhyth-

b^.

mic thud as a great lion galloped toward them across the
desert, roaring as it neared them. Then both Yalith and
Eblis turned and saw the lion rising to its hind legs, as the
lizard had done, leaping up into the sky, a great, tawny
body with creamy wings, gilt-tipped, unfurling and stretch-
ing to a vast span. The great amber eyes blazed.

Eblis removed his wings from around Yatith, hunched
them behind his back. "Why this untoward interruption,
Aariel?"

"I ask you Eo leave Yalith alone."

"What's it to you? The daughters of men mean nothing
to the seraphim." Eblis smiled down at Yalith, stroking his
long fingers delicately across her burnished hair.

48 •^^ MANY WATERS

"No?" Aariel's voice was low.

"No, seraph. A nephil may go to a daughter of man. A
nephil understands pleasure." He touched a fingertip to
Yalith's lips. "I would teach you, sweeting. I think you
would like what I can give you. I will leave you now to
Aariel's tender ministries. But I will see you again." He
turned away from them, toward the desert, and his nephil
form dropped into that of the great dragon/lizard. He
loped away into the shadows.

Yalith said, "Aariel, I don't understand. I thought I saw
you on the rock. I was sure it was you, and I called, and
then it wasn't you, it was Eblis."

"The nephilim are masters of mimicry. He wanted you
to think it was I. 1 beg you, little one, be cautious."

Her eyes were troubled. "He was very kind to me."

Aariel put his hand under her chin and looked into her
eyes, clear and still childlike. "Who would not be kind to
you? Are you on your way somewhere?"

"Home. I took Grandfather Lamech his night-light. But,
oh, Aariel, there is a strange young giant in Grandfather
Lamech's tent. Japheth carried him there. He has a ter-
rible sunburn. He can't be from anywhere around here.
He says he is not a giant, and I have never seen anyone
like him. He is as tall as you are, and his body is not hairy,
it is smooth like yours, like the nephilim, and his skin,
where it wasn't burned red, was pale- Not white, like the
skin of the nephilim, but pale and tender, like a baby's."

"You seem to have observed him carefully," Aarie! said.

"There's never been anyone like him on the oasis be-
fore." She flushed, turned slightly away.

49 "S^K japheth's sister Yalith

Aariel asked, "What is being done for his burn? Does he
have fever?"

"Yes. Higgaion is keeping him sprayed with cooi water,
and they are going to ask a seraph what to do for him."

"Adnarel?"

"Yes. The scarab beetle."

"Good."

"He is not one of you, this young giant, and he is not
one of the nephilim. Their skin burns white and whiter in
the sun, like white ash when the fire has burned fiercely
in the winter weeks."

The creamy wings trembled, the golden tips shimmer-
ing in the starlight. "If his skin burns, he is not of the
nephilim."

"Nor of you."

"Does he have wings?"

"No. In that, he is like a human. He seemed very young,
though he is as long as you, and thin."

"Did you observe his eyes?"

She did not notice the twinkle in his own. "Grey. Nice
eyes, Aariel. Steady. Not burning, like—not giving out
light, like yours. More like human eyes, mine, and my
parents' and brothers' and sisters'."

Aariel touched her gently on the shoulder. "Go on
home, child. Do not fear to cross the oasis. I will see that
you are not harmed."

"You and Eblis. Thank you." Like a child, she held her
face up for a kiss, and Aariel leaned down and pressed his
lips gently against hers. "You will not be a child much
longer."

50 -^s. MANY WATERS

"I know ..."

He touched her lips again, lightly, and a moment later
a large lion was running lightly across the desert.

Yalith turned onto a sandy path through a field of
barley. At the end of the path was a stone road cutting
through white buildings of sun-baked clay, low buildings,
built to withstand the frequent earth tremors. Some of
these low buildings contained small shops for baked goods,
for stone lamps, for oil; there were shops with hanging
meat, shops with bows and arrows, shops with spears of
gopher wood. Some entryways were curtained with strands
of bright beads, which tinkled in the evening breeze.

Out of one of these came a nephil, his arm around a
young woman who was gazing up at him adoringly, lean-
ing against him so that her rosy breasts touched his pale
flesh. Her glossy black hair fell down her back, past her
hips; and the eyes with which she regarded him were the
deep blue of lapis lazuli.

Yalith stopped in her cracks. The girl was Mahlah,
Yalith's sister, the only girl besides Yalich to be in the
home tent. Their two older sisters were married and lived
in another part of the oasis with their husbands. Mahlah
had been away from [he home tent a great deal lately. Now
Yalith knew where she had been.

Mahlah saw her younger sister and smiled.

The nephil smiled, too, graciously acknowledging
Yalith.

Before they came out of the shadows, Yalith thought he
was Eblis, with a sense of shock and betrayal. But in the
full starlight she could see that his wings were much
lighter, a delicate lavender. She could not tell what color

51 -s>^ japheth's sisler Yalith

his long hair was, but it, coo, was lighter, and seemed to
have an orange glow. He had a sinuous, snake-like curve
to his neck, and hooded eyes.

He smiled again, tenderly. "Mahlah will stay with me
this night. You will let your mother know."

Yalith blurted out, "Oh, but she will worry. We are not
allowed to stay out at night..."

Mahlah laughed joyously. "Ugiel has chosen mel I am
his betrothed!"

Yalith gasped. "But does Mother know?"

"Not yet. You tell her, little sister."

"But shouldn't you tell her yourself? You and—"

"Ugiel."

"But shouldn't you—"

Mahlah's laugh pealed again, like little bells. "The old
ways are changing, little sister. This night I meet Ugiel's
brethren."

The nephil stretched a soft wing about Mahlah. "Yes,
little sister. The old ways are changing. Go and tell your
mother."

Yalith turned, and they watched her go, fingers waving
at her in farewell. At the end of the street she heard foot-
steps and turned to see a young man following her. She
reached for a dart and put it in her blowpipe, but he dis-
appeared around the corner of a building.

The low white buildings gave way to tents, each tent
surrounded by the land of the dweller, at first the small
plots of the shopkeepers, then groves and fields, sometimes
many acres. Along the path she saw sheep, goats, camels
grazing. Grapes were ripe on the vines.

Her father's tent was a large one, flanked by several

•••¥••

52 -s^- MANY WATERS

smaller tents. She hurried into the main tent, calling out
to her mother.

It was the smell that brought Dennys back to conscious-
ness. His nostrils twitched. His stomach heaved. There
was a smell of cooking, smoky, rancid. A smell worse than
the rotten-cheese smelf of silage which clung to the farm-
hands near home. A smell far stronger than that of the
manure spread on the fields in the spring; that was a fresh,
growing smell. This was old manure, rotting. A smell that
made the urinals in the lavatories at school seem sweet-
And over it all, but not covering it, a cloying smell of per-
fume and sweat, body sweat which had never been near a
shower.

He opened his eyes.

He was in an enclosed space, lit by the moonlight pour-
ing in through a hoJe in what seemed to be some kind of
curved roof, and by the equally brilliant light which
poured from a unicorn's horn. The silver creature looked
around, sniffing, pawing the dirty earthen Hoor. At its feet,
a mammoth cringed.

Dennys almost cried out, "Higgaion!" But this mam-
moth was not the one who had accompanied Japheth. This
mammoth had matted fur on its flanks, and it was so thin
that the skeleton showed through. Its eyes were dulied.
and it seemed to be apologizing to the unicorn.

Staring at the unicorn, still unaware of Dennys, were
several small people. But, just as the mammoth was unlike
Higgaion, so these people were unlike Japheth. They
smelled. The men's bodies were hairy, giving them a

53 -s-^ japheth's sister Yaltth

simian look. Their goatskin loincloths were not clean.
There were two full-bearded men, and two women, naked
except for the loincloths. Both the women had red hair,
and the younger woman's hair was so vivid it almost
seemed like flame, and some care had been taken with it.
The older woman was wrinkled and discontented-looking.

The unicorn's light flashed against the younger woman's
green eyes, making them sparkle like emeralds. "You see!"
she cried triumphantly. "I knew our mammoth could call
us a unicorn!"

The light in the horn dimmed.

The younger of the two men, who had matted brown
hair and a red beard unkempt and spotted with food,
snarled at the girl. "And now, dear sister Tiglah, that we
have a unicorn in the tent, what do you want of it?"

The girl approached the unicorn, her hand held out as
though to pet it. The horn blazed with blinding brilliance,
and then the tent was dark so suddenly that it took several
seconds for Dennys's eyes to adjust to the moonlight com-
ing through the hole in the roof.

The men roared with laughter. "Ho, Tiglah, you
thought you could fool us, didn't you?"

Even the older woman was laughing. Then she saw
Dennys, who was struggling to his knees. "Great auk, what
have we here?"

The redheaded girl gasped. "A giant!"

The older, bowlegged man approached Dennys. He held
a spear, and Dennys, gagging from the stench in the Eent,
felt an overriding surge of fear. The man nudged him with
the spear, so that he fell back onto a pile of filthy skins.

54 -*^ ;V.4A'F |y/*T£ffS

The man flipped him over, using the spear, which
scratched but did not cut him. He felt the tip of the spear
as it was drawn lightly along his shoulder blades.

"Is this one yours, Tiglah?" the younger man asked. "I
thought you were seeing a nephil."

Tiglah looked curiously at Dennys. "He's no nephil."

The older woman stared. "If he's a giant, he's a baby
giant. He can't hurt us."

"What will we do with him?" Tiglah asked.

The brown, hairy man withdrew his spear "Throw him
out." His voice held no particular malice. Dennys was just
a thing, to be disposed of. He felt two pairs of hands lifting
him, as the younger man helped his father. The mam-
moth whimpered, and the older woman kicked at him.
Certainly, Dennys thought, anything would be better than
this horrible-smelling place full of horrible little people.

There was a brief whiff of fresh air. A glimpse of a night
sky crusted with stars. A smoky redness on the horizon,
like the light from some enormous industrial city. Then
he felt himself being flung, thrown, like offal. He felt him-
self rolling down a steep incline. He gagged. Vomited. He
had been thrown into what was evidently a garbage dump.
It was even worse than wherever he had been before.

He managed to pull himself up onto his knees. He was
in some kind of pit. There was an overwhelming stench of
feces, of rotting flesh. He did not know what else was in
the pit with him, and he did not want to know. Frantically
he scrambled up the side, climbing, slipping on bones, on
ooze, on decaying filth, sliding back, climbing, sliding,
slipping, scrabbling, until at last he pulled himself out

55 -V^K {apheth's sister Yalith

and up onto his feet and stood there tottering, filthy and
terrified.

There was no sign of Sandy. No sign of the unicorn. Or
of Japheth and Higgaion. He had no idea where he was-
He looked around. He was standing on a dirt path which
bordered the pit. Beside it was his rolled-up bundle o£
clothes. On the other side of the path were a number of
tents. He had seen pictures of bedouin tents in his social-
studies books at school. These were similar, though they
seemed smaller and more closely clustered. It was prob-
ably from one of these tents that he had been thrown.
Beyond the tents were palm trees, and he staggered toward
these.

He needed to shower. Did he ever need to shower! He
carried with him the smell of the pit. He ran, barely keep-
ing himself upright, to the grove of palms. Beyond these
he could see white. White sand. The desert. If he could
only reach the desert, he could-roll in the moon-washed
sand and get clean.

"Sandy!" he called, but there was no Sandy. "Jay! Jay!"
But no small, kind young man appeared. "Higgaion!" He
shuddered. If he never saw any human being again, he
would not go back to the tent where he had been poked
at with a spear, and from which he had been thrown, like
garbage.

Racing, he was suddenly out of the grove of palms and
sliding in sand. He fell down, rolled and rolled, then
picked up handsful of sand and rubbed it over himself,
wiping off the slime and filth of the pit. He pulled off his
turtleneck and flung it away. Rolled again in sand. His

56 -a^ MANY WATERS

underclothes were filthy from the pit and he tore them off,
flinging them after the turtleneck. He did not even realize
that he was scraping off his own sunburned skin, so eager
was he to get clean. The sand was cool under the daisy
field of stars, and he took off his sneakers and socks, fling-
ing them after his clothes. They would never be clean
again. He rubbed more sand on his feet, his ankles, his
legs, not even realizing that he was sobbing like a small
child.

After a while, from sheer exhaustion, he calmed down.
Began to assess his situation. He was badly sunburned. He
had made it worse by scouring himself with sand. He was
shivering, but it was not from cold; it was from fever.

He sat there, naked as Adam, on the white desert, his
back to the oasis. The not yet full moon was sliding down
Coward the horizon. Above him, there were more stars
than he had ever seen before. Ahead of him was that
strange reddish glow, and then he saw that it came from
a mountain, the tallest in a range of mountains on the far
horizon. Of course. If he and Sandy had somehow or other
blown themselves onto a young planet in some galaxy or
other, naturally volcanoes would still be active.

How active? He hoped he wouldn't find out- At home
the hills were low; old hills, worn down by wind and rain,
by the passing of the glaciers, by eons of time. Home. He
began EO sob again.

With a great effort, he calmed himself. He and Sandy
were the practical ones of the family, the ones who found
solutions to problems. They could do minor repairs when
the plumbing misbehaved. They could rewire an old lamp

57 "ft-^ fapheth's s^ter Yahth

and make it work again. Their mother's reading lamp in
the lab was one they had bought at a church bazaar and
made over for her. Their large vegetable garden in the
summer was their pride and joy, and they sold enough of
their produce to augment their allowances considerably.
They could do anything. Anything.

Even believe in unicorns. He thought of the unicorn.
the unicorn he had come to think of as a virtual unicorn,
and who hdd, somehow or other, brought him to that tent
of horrible, primitive little people who had thrown him
into the pit. The sad, undernourished mammoth evidently
had called the unicorn, and Dennys had been called back
into being, too. But the unicorn had gone out in a blaze of
light. A unicorn, even a virtual one, evidently could not
stand the smell.

All right. If he thought that a unicorn couldn't stand
the ugliness of the smell, it must mean that he believed in
unicorns- Virtually.            '"

Of course there were no unicorns. But neither was it
possible that he and Sandy, tapping into their father's
partly programmed experiment, could have been flung to
wherever in the universe they were, on a backward planet
of primitive life forms. Again he looked around. The stars
were so clear that he seemed to hear a chiming of crystal.
From the mountain came a wisp of smoke, a small tongue
of fire.

"Oh, virtual unicorn!" he (ried. "I want to believe in
you, and if you don't come, I will die." He felt something
cool and soft nudging his bare body, and there was the
scraggly little mammoth, touching him tentatively with the

58 -s^ MANY WATERS

pink tip of its long grey trunk And then a burst of silver
blazed in front of him, and was reduced to a shimmer A
unicorn knell before him on the sand Dennys did not
have the strength to mount the unicorn and sit astride He
gave the mammoth a look ot mute gratitude, then draped
himself over the unicorn's back He closed his eyes He
was burning with fever He would burn the unicorn He
felt that they were exploding like the volcano

Mahtah, Yalith's sister, betrothed to Uglel the nephil,
lay on a small rock ledge, ten minutes' walk into the desert
Her heart beat rapidly with excitement LJgiel had brought
her to the rock, covered her with kisses, and then told her
to wait until he returned with his brethren to seal their
betrothal

She heard the beating of wings and looked up, catching
her breath. Above her a pelican, white against the night
sky, flew in circles which grew smaller as it descended It
touched the ground and raised its great wings until they
seemed to brush the stars, and there was no longer a pelican
in front of Mahlah but a seraph, with wings and hair
streaming silver in the desert wind, and eyes as bright as
stars.

Mahlah scrambled to her feet, letting her long black
hair swirl about her. "Aland—"

The seraph took her hand, looking down into her eyes
"Are we really losing you?"

She withdrew her hands, dropping her gaze, laughing a
small, self conscious laugh "Losing me? What do you
mean?"

59 -fc<« japheth's sister Yalith

"Is it true that you and llgiel—"

' Yes, it is true," she said proudly "Be happy for me,
Aland llgiel is still your brother, is he not?"

Aland dropped to one knee, so that he no longer tow
ered over her 'Yes, we are still brothers, though we have
chosen very different ways "

' And you're sure yours is the better way?" There was
scorn in Mahlah's voice

Aland shook his head sadly "We do not Judge The
seraphim have chosen to stay close to the Presence "

"But you're too close to be able to see it' The nephihm
have distance and objectivity" He looked at her, and
her glance wavered for a moment "Yes Ugiel told me
that"

Aland rose slowly to his full height With one silver
wing he drew her briefly to him, and she smelled starlight.
Then he let her go "You will not forget us?"

"How could I forget you' ' she exclaimed "You have
been my friend since Yalith took me out to greet the dawn
and I met you and Aanel "

"You have not greeted the dawn lately "

"Oh—I am learning about the night "

Aland bent down and kissed the top of her dark head
Then he walked slowly across the desert Tears fell silently
onto the sand

Mahlah looked down When she raised her head, she
saw a pelican flying up, up, to be lost among the stars

Yalith hurried into her family tent "Mahlah is be-
trothed to one of the nephihm1"

60 -s^ MANY WATERS

No one heeded her. Her parents, brothers, and sisters-
in-law were lying around on goatskins, eating, and drink-
ing wine her father had made from the early grapes.
Several stone lamps lit the tent with a warm glow; too
warm, Yalith thought. Almost no breeze came through the
open tent flap, or the roof hole. The moon was descending,
and only stars were visible. She looked around for Japheth,
her favorite brother, but did not see him. Probably he was
still out looking for the brother of the young giant in her
grandfather's tent.

Her mother was stirring something in a wooden bowl,
intent on what she was doing. A mammoth, well fed, with
lustrous long hair on its flanks, lay sleeping at her feet.

Someone had been sick, probably Ham, who had a weak
stomach, and the smell of Ham's sickness mingled with the
smell of wine, of meat from the stewpot, of the skins of
the tent. Yaiith was accustomed to all these odors, and
noticed only that Ham was lying back on a pile of skins,
looking pale. Ham was, in any event, the lightest-skinned
in the family, and the smallest, having been, according to
Matred, born a full moon early. Anah, his red-haired wife,
knelt by him, offering him wine. Languidly he pushed it
away, then pulled Anah down to him, kissing her full,
sensual mouth.

Yalith went up to Matred, her mother. Repeated:

"Mahlah is betrothed."

Matred looked up briefly. "She's not old enough."

"Oh, Mother, of course she is. And she is."

"Old enough?" Matred was preoccupied with what she
was doing.

japhelh's siller Yalith

"Betrothed."

"Who is it this timeP"

"It's not one of us. It's one of the nephilim."

Mdtred shivered, but went on stirring, without focus.
"Mahlah has changed. She is no longer my merry little girl
who was satisfied to see a butterfly, or a drop of dew on a
spider's web. She is no longer satisfied to be with u*> in the
home tent." A tear dropped into the bowl.

Yalith patted her mother's arm. "She's grown up,
Mother."

"So have you. But you don't go chasing about the oasis
at night. You don't run after nephihm."

"Maybe the nephil ran after her?"

"She's pretty enough. But it is not right for me to hear
something like this at secondhand. That is not how things
are done. That is not how my daughter behaves."

"I'm sorry," Yalith said uncomfortably. "I was walking
home from Grandfather Lamech's,and I saw them, Mahlah
and a nephil. His name is Uglei He asked me to tell you,
so that you would not be worried."

"Worried!" Maned exclaimed- "Just don't tell your
father, that's all- What's to prevent this L'gh—"

"Ugiel."

"This nephil from (oming himself, with Mahlah, to tell
me and your father, according to the custom."

Yalith frowned worriedly. "He said that times are chang-
ing." Eblis had said that, too. She felt a jolt of insecurity
in the pit of her 'itomac h. She did not tell her mother about
Eblis.

Matred put down her wooden spoon with a bang. "There

62 -^^ MANY WATERS

are many who think it an honor to be noticed by a nephil
and accept their ways. Anah"—Matred looked across at
her son Ham's wife, redheaded, still luscious, but begin-
ning to be overblown—"Anah tells me that her younger
sister, Tiglah, is being singled out by a nephil for marriage.
Anah is thrilled."

"But you're not."

"Tiglah is not my daughter. Mahlah is." Matred turned
away. "Child, I am not star-dazzled by the nephilim. They
are very different from us."

"They are beautiful—"

"Beautiful, yes. But they will make changes, and not all
changes are good."

—I don't want things to change, Yalith thought- And
then, in her mind's eye, she saw again the young giant who
had bowed to her in Grandfather Lamech's tent, and who
was unlike anybody she had ever seen.

Matred continued: "Change is, I suppose, inevitable,
and sometimes it brings good things." She looked across
the tent to her oldest son, Shem, who was sitting with his
wife, Elisheba, eating some of the grapes from the vine-
yard which were not pressed for wine but kept for the
table. Shem was pulling one grape at a time from the
bunch, and throwing it to Elisheba. She would catch each
grape in her open mouth and they would both laugh with
pleasure at this simple, sensual game. It seemed amazingly
young and romantic for this stocky, solid couple. "Elisheba
is a great help to me. And then, Japheth's wife—"

Yalith looked to where a young woman with softly curl-
ing black hair against creamy skin was scouring a wooden

63 -^s japhfth's sister Yalith

bowl with sand. The young woman looked up and waved
in greeting.

Matred said, "She comes to us from another oasis, and
with a strange name."

"0-holi-bamah." Yalith sounded it out.

"Look at her," Matred commanded.

Yalith looked again at her sister-in-law. Oholibamah was
fairer of complexion than Yalith or the other women, even
fairer than Ham. Her hair and brows were blacker than
the night sky, a rippling, purply biack. When Ohotibamah
stood, she was nearly a head taller than the other women.
And beautiful. She always seemed lit by moonlight, Yalith
thought. "What about her?" she asked her mother.

"Look at her, child. Look at her."

Yalith was shocked. "You mean you think she—"

Matred shrugged slightly. "She is the youngest daughter
of a very old man." She held up the fingers of both hands.
"More than ten years younger than her brothers and sis-
ters. I love Oholibamah as though she were my own. And
if Oholibamah was indeed sired by a nephil, then great
good has been brought into our lives."

Yalith looked at Oholibamah as though seeing her for
the first time. After Yalith and Mahlah. Oholibamah was
the youngest woman in the tent, younger by several years
than Elisheba, Shem's wife, or Anah, Ham's wife. All three
of Yalith's brothers had married at unusually young ages,
and all three had grumbled at having to take on domestic
duties so soon. Shem had protested, "But we are too young
to marry. I'm the oldest, and I've barely reached my first
hundred years."

64 -ax- MANY WATERS

His father had replied, "There is a certain urgency, my
son."

"Whyp And how will you find wives for us when we are
so young?"

"You are fine-looking men," the patriarch assured him.

Ham had joined in. "But why the rush, Father? What is
this urgency you speak of?"

The patriarch pulled at his long beard, which was begin-
ning to show white. "Yesterday, when I was working in
the vineyard, the Voice spoke to me. El told me that I must
find wives for you."

"But whyp" Ham protested. "We're young, and we need
time."

"There are changes, great changes coming," the patri-
arch said.

"Is the volcano going to erupt?" Shem asked.

"If the volcano erupts," Ham said, "wives won't do us
any good."

Their tather told them only lhat the word of El had
come to him in the vineyard, and that El had given no
explanation.

Elisheba and Anah were easily found for Shem and
Ham. The patriarch had a reputation as an honest man.
He had the largest and best vineyards on the oasis, and
fine flocks of goats and sheep- The fame of his wine had
spread to many other oases round about. Matred was a
woman of unquestionable virtue and beauty, and her girth
attested to her skills as a cook. It was a privilege to marry
into her tent.

Japheth was young enough so that no one stepped for-

65 -^s- japheth's sister Yalith

ward. His face was still smooth and beardless. His body
hair was no more than soft down. His eyes were friendly
and guileless- BuE he was on the threshold of manhood.
His father went off on his camel one day, and came back
with Oholibamah.

Japheth had been at the well, getting water for the ani-
mals, when he saw a young girl on a white camel, a young
girl of fair complexion, with dark hair tumbling richly
against her ivory shoulders. His eyes met Oholibamah's
eyes, dark as the night sky between stars, and his knees
became Huid. She slid off the white camel's back and came
toward him, slender hands outstretched. Their love was a
bright flower, youthful, and radiantly beautiful.

Oholibamah. 0-holy-bamah. A name as strange as her
moonlit beauty. But soon it flowed easily from their lips.

Oholibamah was Yalith's first real friend. They were
not far apart in age, both of them barely out of childhood
and into womanhood. They were alike, too, in their un-
likeness EO the others. They saw and rejoiced in what most
people of the oasis never noticed. Both liked to leave the
tent at first dawn to watch and wait for the sun to rise
over the desert, delighting in the calling of the stars just
before daylight. It was during one of her dawn walks that
Yalith had met the great lion who was the seraph Aariel,
and on another walk, when she had persuaded Mahlah to
join her, that she had introduced Aariel and Alarid the
pelican to her sister. But once Oholibamah came, Mahlah
preferred to sleep in the morning.

So Yalith and her youngest sister-in-law would slip out
quietly. When the great red disk of day pulled above the

66 "s^ MANY WATERS

white sand, and the stars dimmed and their songs faded
out, scarab beetles who had slept under the sand during
the hours of the dark came scuttling up into the light. At
the edge of the oasis, the baboons leapt from the trees,
clapping their hands and shrieking for joy at the rising of
the sun. Behind them on the oasis the cocki crowed, and
in the desert the lions roared their early-morning roar
before retreating to their caves to sleep during the heat of
the day. Yalith and Oholibamah shared a silent and joyful
companionship.

Now, in the warm and noisy tent, Oholibamah beckoned
to Yalith. "Have you eaten?"

"No." Yalith shook her head. "I meant to eat with
Grandfather, but 1 forgot all about food because there was
a strange young—"

Ham interrupted her, calling out from the pile ot skins
on which he was reclining. "I have a headache, Oholi. I
need you."

Oholibamah said sharply, "Let Anah rub your head- She
is your wife."

"Her fingers do not have the touch that yours do." And,
indeed, Oholibamah had a reputation for having healing
in her fingers.

She was still sharp. "If you don't want a headache, don't
eat and drink too much." She turned away and went to
the cook pot, ladled some stew into a wooden bowl, and
handed it to Yalith. The mammoth left Matred and came
and nudged Yalith's knee.

"No, Selah," Yalith scolded. "You know I won't give
you anything more to eat. You're getting fat." She deftly
picked pieces of meat and vegetable from the bowl and ate

67 -^f: Japheth's sister Yahth

them, then raised it to her lips to drink the broth. It tasted
wonderful, and she realized that she was very hungry-

Beside her, Oholibamah sighed.

"What's the matter?" Yalith asked.

The mammoth moved to the older girl, who scratched
its grey head. "I was walking through the town this mom-
ing. We needed some provisions. One of the nephilim
came out of one of the bathhouses, smelling of oil and
spices, and stood in my path." She paused.

"And?" Yalith prodded.

"He said that I was one of them, one of their daughters."

Yalith glanced at her mother, then back at Oholibamah.
Thought of Eblis and his glorious purple wings. "Would
that be so terrible?"

"It is absurd. I love my parents. 1 love my father."

Yalith had never seen Oholibamah's parents. And how
would she herself feel if someone suggested that her father
was not, in fact, her father? But now that Matred had
put the thought in her mind, it was easy to believe that
Oholibamah had been sired by a nephil. She had gifts of
healing. Ham was right about that. Her voice when she
sang was beautiful as a bird's. She saw things no one else

saw.

But then, Yalith reminded herself, she, too, was differ-
ent, the seventh child of her parents, and she knew quite
well who her parents were, and that they had been disap-
pointed when they had had a fourth daughter instead of a
fourth son.

"Did you hear me saying that Mahlah is betrothed to a
nephil?" she asked Oholibamah.

"Yes, I heard. Mahlah likes pretty things. The wives of

68 -s^ MANY WATERS

the nephilim live in houses of stone and clay, not. in tents.
I'm sure Mahlah feels proud to have been chosen."

"What do you think about it?" Yalith asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure what I think about the
nephilim. Especially if—" She broke off.

"And the seraphim?" Yalith asked.

"I'm not sure what I think about them, either." Oholi-
bamah pressed her fingers against her ears as Ham started
to shout.

For a small man, he had a powerful voice. "Selah, come
here! If Oholibamah won't help me, then I need a uni-
corn!"

Anah said crossly, "You know a unicorn can't come near
you."

"It doesn't have to come near," Ham grunted. "They
can cast their light from any distance. It's only the light I
need."

Anah muttered, "You need more than that."

"Yalith! You can call a unicorn. Or Selah! Call me a
unicorn!"

A sudden flash of light made them all blink. It was as
though lightning had somehow managed to get inside the
heavy hides of the tent, perhaps flashing down through
the roof hole.

"Getaway!" Ham cried. "Who are you!"

He was not referring to the unicorn, which stood glim-
mering in the tent. On the skins right by Ham lay a very
young man, with raw, sunburned skin, and eyes glazed
with fever.

Matred peered down at the boy. "How did he get here?
Ham, is he a friend of yours?"

69 ^s japheth's sister Yahth

Ham looked totally bewildered. "I've never seen him
before."

"What is he?" Shem demanded.

The patriarch, who had been chewing on a mutton
bone, looked at the boy. "Another kind of giant," he said
disgustedly.

Oholibamah said, "Whoever he is, give him air. Don't
crowd around. Look, he has sun fever. Oh my, he looks
terrible."

Elisheba, Shem's wife, peered at the boy. "If he's a giant.
he's a very young one."

Yalith managed to push between Matred and Oholi-
bamah so that she could see. She shrieked, "It's my young
giant!"

"What's that, daughter?" Matred asked. "You've seen
him before?"

"In Grandfather's tent, when I took him his night-
light."                         '-

The patriarch scowled. "If my father, Lamech, doesn't
want a giant in his tent, why should I have him in mine?"

"Oh, please. Father," Yalith begged.

"You've really seen him before?" Oholibamah asked.

"When I brought Grandfather Lamech his night-light,"
Yalith repeated, "there was this young, sunburned giant in
his tent." She looked at the fevered young man- "I'm not
sure this is ... Where's Japheth?"

The tent flap was pushed aside, and Japheth came in.
"Why, here I am, looking for a unicorn and—"

Selah raised her trunk and trumpeted.

"Why!" Japheth exclaimed. "I've been looking all over
the oasis and there's one right here! And—so is the Den,

70 -s^ MANY WATERS

the one I've been looking fort" He dropped to his knees.
"Great auk. Is he alive?"

Oholibamah ordered, "Move back, all of you." She put
her hand against Dennys's bare chest. "He's alive, but he's
burning with fever."

Anah moved back slightly, pushing her red hair away
from her face with a dirty hand. "Is he a seraph or a
nephil?"

Yalith shook her head. "He doesn't have wings. Oh.
Japheth, I'm glad you're back. He is the other one, isn't
he, the one you were looking forP"

"Yes," Japheth said. "But he looks burned nearly to
death."

Oholibamah pressed her hand against the reddened fore-
head, wincing at the heat of it, turning to look for the
unicorn, who had almost dimmed out of being. "Unicorn,
can you help?"

The unicorn's outline sharpened, and it bent toward
the flushed boy, and light flowed from its forehead, cooling
the burning skin.

Ham pushed up from his pelts and blundered toward
the unicorn. "Me. I need help. I feel sick. Help me." His
fair hair was stringy with sweat. The even lighter hair on
his chest held drops of moisture.

Again there was a flash of light, and when they could see
again, the unicorn had disappeared.

"Idiot." Anah's green eyes sparked. "You know you can't
get near a unicorn."

"Meanwhile," the patriarch said, "how are we going to
get rid of this half-baked giant?"

7 i -»^ japheth's sister Yalith

"My dear," Matred protested, "surely we should show
him some hospitality."

"My good father, Lamech, evidently threw him out of
his tent," her husband retorted.

"No, Father!" Yalith protested. "You don't understand!
There are two giants, and Grandfather has the other one
in his tent and is taking care of him."

"I don't know what you're talking about," her father
said. "How can there be two of these peculiar giants?"

"Oh, Father, if only you'd go to see Grandfather
Lamech!"

"I will have nothing to do with coddling the old man.
Or his strange giants. We have enough troubles without
sick giants being added to them."

Yalich knelt beside Oholibamah and looked at the boy,
who lay breathing shallowly, eyelids twitching slightly.
Yalith reached out a tentative finger and touched the boy's
flushed cheek. "You're not Sand? You're his brother?"

The reddened eyelids opened slightly. "Dennys.
Dennys." Then the boy flung his arm over his face, as
though to ward off a blow. His limbs began to shake
convulsively.

"What's happened?" Japheth demanded. "Somebody's
hurt him. And he doesn't recognize me."

"He's afraid!" Elisheba's voice was shocked.

Shem protested. "Surely Grandfather Lamech couldn't
have hit him!"

"Never," Japheth defended swiftly.

"Not Grandfather!" Yalith spoke at the same time.

"Ell His skin is rubbed raw!" Oholibamah exclaimed.

72 -s^ M^Ny M^TfAS

"Someone between Grandfather Lamech's tent and here

has hurt him."

Matred bent close, asking softly, "Who could have done
this? Even to a deformed giant?"

Japheth asked, "Dennys?"

"Dennys," the boy moaned.

"Where have you been? Did someone call you and the
unicorn back into being? Who was it?"

Oholibamah touched her husband's hand. "Selah called
a unicorn, and suddenly this wounded giant was here."

"But he's been somewhere else on the oasis." Japheth
took his wife's hand and pressed it against his cheek. "And
he has been abused. He's barely conscious. This is ter-
rible."

Anah peered over Yalith's shoulder. "Are you sure he's

human?"

JapheEh frowned. "They said they are twins, but I think

twins is human."

The patriarch murmured, "What with the winged crea-
tures around, sleeping with the daughters of men, it is
hard to know anymore who is human and who is not." He
looked at Oholibamah, but not unkindly.

Oholibamah touched Dennys's forehead again, and he
opened his eyes and flinched. "Shh. I will not hurt you.''
She looked at Yalith and Japheth. "The unicorn's horn
has taken away some of his fever, but he is still very hot.
Was it this bad when you saw him, Japheth?"

Japheth shook his head. "He was sun-sick, worse than
the Sand, but not like this."

The patriarch asked, "You say there are two of these

giants?"

73 '^£ Japheth's sister Yalith

"Two. Exactly alike. I left the one called Sand in Grand-
father Lamech's tent"—he looked rather defensively at his
father—"to go look for this one. And then, to my surprise,
when I'd given up for the night, he was here, right in our
own home tent."

Ham suggested, "We've never seen two look-alikes. We
should send someone to Grandfather Lamech's tent to
make sure there's another one."

"You doubt me?" Japheth demanded.

"Just want to make sure," Ham said.

Less hotly, Japheth said, "I found it difficult to believe
at first, myself."

Cutting across their conversation, Oholibamah said,
"We should bathe him with water, to try to keep him cool
and moist."

"Wateri" Matred exclaimed. "Even the mammoths are
having difficulty scenting for water. But there is plenty of
wine."                      ''

"Not my wine!" the patriarch roared. "Woman! You
have no idea how hard I work in the vineyard."

"I do," Japheth commented mildly. "I work with you."

Oholibamah frowned slightly. "I don't think wine will
do."

Japheth said, "Higgaion sprayed water from Grand-
father Lamech's water pot on the Sand, and I think it
helped." He looked toward Selah, who again was at
Matred's feet-

Anah glanced out of the corner of her green eyes at
pasty Ham, then at Dennys's recumbent form. "If his skin
didn't look like raw meat, he'd be quite gorgeous."

Elisheba, Shem's wife, stocky and sensible-looking, with

74 -o^ M.47Vy W^TfRS

thickly curling black hair and dark, placid eyes, snorted.
"Keep away from him, Anah. You saw that the unicorn
went right to him. For all his giant's size, he's barely more
than a baby. And he's trembling- He's frightened."

Matred said fiercely, "Whatever, he shall not be ill-
treated again."

Yalith looked gratefully at her mother.

Her father snorted. "Women. I'm always being bullied
by women and their good works- Matred feeds any lazy
beggar who comes to the tent, and Elisheba helps her keep
the soup pot full."

"People do not choose to be poor and hungry," Matred
said calmly. "We have enough, and to spare. Husband, I
will not have this young giant abused."

"Do what you want with him," the patriarch said. "It
makes no difference to me, as long as I'm not bothered
about it."

Oholibamah looked at her husband. "We shouldn't
leave him here. It's too hot and crowded. He was near
death when the unicorn's light touched him, and I think
he's still very ill."

"Listen to Oholi," Ham said. "She knows what she's
talking about."

For Yalith, no matter what Japheth had said, Dennys
was the same young man she had seen in her grandfather's
tent. She had been afraid of him when she had first seen
him, and now, this time, it was the young giant who
seemed terrified. "Where can we take him?"

"He's just a child," Oholibamah suggested. "What about
the women's tent?"

75 Jnpheth's sister YaUih

In Yalith's eyes, Sandy/Dennys was not a child.
Elisheba asked, "How near to the time of the moon is it
for any of us?"

Malred, who was the one to keep track of such things,
drew her brows together in thought, and touched her
fingers, counting. "Not for a while. Soon he will be well
enough to sleep here in the big tent. Or he will be dead."

Yalith shuddered. "Don't say that. He is our guest. We
don't let our guests die."

"My dear," Matred said. "He is badly burned. His skin
is raw, as though someone has been scraping him, like a
carrot."

"Perhaps we should call on one of the seraphim?"
Japheth suggested.

His mother nodded. Looked at Yalith. "Your friend
Aariel would come. would he not?"

"I think so, yes." If she had to call Aariel, Yalith would
make very certain that it was Aariel, not Eblis, though she
was not sure why she felt that making sick calls was not
part of the business of the nephilim.

"Elisheba," Matred continued, "if you will look into the
chest by my sleeping skins, you will find some soft linen
for him to lie on. The animal skins are too rough."

Anah simpered, "Mother always knows best, eh, Ham?"
and moved away.

"I will crush some figs and make juice for him to drink."
Matred always felt better when there was something to do.

Oholibaniah pressed her palm against Dennys's forehead
again. "He is so hot." She frowned, as he flinched and
moaned, eyes tightly closed.

76 -^ MANY WATERS

The patriarch said, "If he's going to die on us, get him
out of the tent, quickly."

Yalith protested, "Father!"

japheth reached comfortingly for her hand-

The patriarch said, "You will have to learn, daughter,
that you cannot nurse every broken-winged bird or
wounded salamander back to health."

"I can try!"

"Perhaps you make them suffer more that way," her
father suggested, "than if you let them die?"

"Oh, Father—"

"Now." Matred bustled back. "Enough talk. Japheth
will help us carry our strange little giant to the women's
tent. Quick, now!"

4 '"^ Qrandfalher JLamech
and grandfather Enoch

When Dennys opened his eyes and found himself sur-
rounded by little brown people, he was terrified- How had
he got back into that terrible tent? Surely the unicorn
wouldn't have returned him to the people who had tossed
him out into the dung heap. Where was the unicorn?

Brilliant light flared against his closed eyelids, then
darkness. He began to shiver, uncontrollably, and he felt
a hand against his forehead. Cool. Gentle. It might almost
have been his mother's hand. When he had had flu, only
his mother's touch could cool him. "Mother," he moaned.
Then, like a small child, "Mommy . . ."

A small woman leaned over him, looked at him with
twinkly eyes surrounded by a crisscrossing of wrinkles. She
did not look as though she would throw him into a garbage
pit.

She moved away, and then two pairs of younger eyes
were looking at him. One pair was a deep amber, with
golden flecks, and belonged to a girl with hair as amber as
the eyes. Beautiful eyes. Pure. The other girl's eyes were

78 -«^ MANY WATERS

black, but a black which held light, and wisdom. Wherever
he was. it could not be the tent from which he had been
thrown by the men while the girl with flaming-red hair
looked on.

Men. He looked around fearfully. There were men
there. Spears were stacked against the side of the tent. One
of the men held a wineskin. They did not seem to be
threatening.

Then one of the small men came over to him, and smiled
down at him, and he felt a great wave of relief. It was
Japheth.

"Jay—" he whispered through parched lips.

"Den!" Japheth exclaimed gladly. "Oholi, he's coming
back to consciousnessi"

"Jay—" Dennys's teeth were chattering.

"Who's hurt you?" Japheth asked. "Can you tell us?"

Dennys closed his eyes again.

"Don't bother him with questions now," Oholibamah

said.

"Don't be afraid. Den," Japheth encouraged. "We're
not going to let anybody hurt you." Japheth bent down to
him. "I'm going to carry you to some place where it's cool
and quiet. Don't be afraid." Japheth picked Dennys up as
carefully as possible and slung him over his shoulder.

Japheth was the tallest man in the tent; even so, he was
so much smaller than Dennys that the boy's feet dragged
on the ground, and he curled his fingers to keep them from
scraping, too. No wonder in this place he and Sandy were
thought of as giants, Dennys had a feverish vision of a trip
his class had taken to a museum, where everybody had been

79 '^s- Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

amazed at the exhibition of knights' armor. How small
those knights must have beeni The people on this planet
where he and Sandy had been flung were even smaller
than the medieval knights.

His thoughts misted off, as tenuous as the virtual uni-
corns. The remembrance of the field trip to the museum
was no more of a dream than his being carried by Japheth,
who was amazingly strong for so small a man, a short young
shepherd carrying a lamb. A very small shepherd. Dennys's
toes scraped over a rock, and he cried out. If he could wake
up, if he could shake off the heat of this feverish dream,
he and Sandy would be in their bunk bed at home.

He opened his eyes, and the stars were brilliant, and he
took a gulp of fresh air. Then his head brushed against a
tent flap, and he felt himself being lowered onto something
soft but so delicate that he could feel the rough skins
underneath. He licked his cracked lips and realized that
he had a raging thirst. "Water, Jay,',' he managed to croak,
but could not summon the energy to add, please.

The "black-eyed girl bent over him and held a wineskin
to his lips, and he tasted something bitter and sweet at
the same time. It stung his throat as he swallowed, but at
least it was wet.

The black-eyed girl withdrew the skin. "We shouldn't
give him too much wine."

"I forgot the fig juice," the plump, nut-like woman ex-
claimed. "I'll be right back."

Dennys heard the pad of bare feet, and the thud of a
leather tent flap falling.

"He recognizes me now." Japheth's voice was troubled.

80 -^^ MANY WATERS

"I don't think he's afraid of us anymore," the younger
girl said, the one with amber eyes.

"Water—" Dennys begged.

The amber-eyed girl said, wistfully, "Grandfather La-
mech's wells still have water to spare."

The other girl agreed. "I wouldn't mind going to get a
pitcherful, but I wish Grandfather Lamech did not live at
the bottom of the oasis."

Japheth put his arm lovingly about the girl. "I'll take
one of the camels and go. I don't want either of you cross-
ing the oasis at this time of night. Every moon, there are
more bandits and thieves."

"Oh, but be careful," the younger girl begged.

"Take my camel, love," the black-haired woman offered.
"She's the swiftest, and you'll be safe on her."

"Thank you, Oholibamah, my wife." Japheth leaned to
her and kissed her on the lips. Dennys, watching through
the confusion of headache and fever, thought that it was
a nice kiss. It was the kind of kiss he had seen his father
give his mother. A real kiss. If he lived through "this, he
would like to kiss someone like that.

He heard Japheth leave, and closed his eyes, sliding into
a fevered sleep. Like his virtual unicorn, he seemed to
flicker in and out of being. He retreated deep within him-
self in order to retreat from the flaming pain of his scraped
skin. He did not know how long he had been unconscious
before he became aware of the two women speaking softly.

"Why won't my father reconcile with Grandfather La-
inech?" the lighter voice asked. "I had to beg him for the
oil for Grandfather's night-light."

81 -v^ Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

The older girl, the one Japheth had kissed, with an odd
name, Oholi something, had a voice like velvet. "Your
father was hurt when Grandfather Lamech insisted on
staying in his own tent."

"But as long as Grandfather can care for himself—"

"It's complicated," the dark voice said. "People don't
revere old people the way they used to. They don't want to
listen to their stories."

"I love Grandfather's stories!"

"I,too,Yalith."

Yalith, that was the name of the amber-eyed one. Yalith
and Oholi. Dennys was vaguely aware of something cool
touching his skin, something that numbed the pain.

The one called Oholi continued. "I always enjoy it when
it's my turn to take him the night-light. And at. least your
mother feels as we do. She'll always manage to get the oil
for us to take to him."

"When did it change?" Yalitliasked. "People need to sit
at the feet of the old people and listen. But now—I heard
Anah say that her grandfather was put out in the desert to
die, and his bones were picked clean by vultures."

"Oh, El, what are we coming tol"

At the trouble in the dark voice, Dennys opened his
eyes.

"He is still so hot, so hot," Oholi said. "I wish we knew
who had hurt him."

"But what could we do?" Yalith asked. "What in El's
name could we do? People are ugly to one another today.
Were we this cruel before the nephilim and the seraphim
came?"

82 '<^ MANY WATERS

"I don't know."

"And who came first?"

"I don't know," the dark-eyed one repeated. "There is
much we don't know. Where did this young wounded
giant come from, for instance?"

"The other one," Yalith said, "the one in Grandfather
Lamech's tent, said that they came from some kind of
Nighted Place."

"United States," Dennys corrected automatically. Then
Yalith's words registered. "Where is my brother?"                ^

"Oh, good, he's coming to!" Yalith cried. Then said,      •j,
kindly, to Dennys. "He's in my Grandfather Lamech's      la-
tent, being cared for by Grandfather and Higgaion. He's      ^
sun-struck, too, but not nearly as badly as you are."

The words began to buzz into meaninglessness as Dennys
slid back into unconsciousness. He knew that the com-
bination of too much sun, of being thrown into Ehe pit,
of scraping himself with sand, had made him ill. Very ill,
indeed. This was far worse than when he had flu and a
temperature of over 105°. Then he had antibiotics to fight
the fever. Heaven knew what had been in that garbage pit-
Heaven knew what horrible infection might follow. He
thought that he was probably dying from overexposure to
the sun, and he didn't much mind, except that he wished
he was at home, on his own planet, rather than here,
wherever in the universe here was, with these strange small
people. He wished he was young enough to call out and
wake his mother, so that she would come in to him and she
would wake him from the nightmare and take off the

83 -^ff Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

knight's helmet that was pinching his skull and giving him
a terrible headache.

He drifted into darkness.

For the first few days in Grandfather Lamech's tent,
Sandy was miserable. His reddened skin bubbled into
blisters. Where he didn't sting, he itched. But as his fever
abated he began to look for Yalith in the evening. She
did not come, and he felt only a weary indifference to the
older women who brought the light, often staying to chat
with the old man so that they would have an excuse to
stare at Sandy.

He knew now that Dennys was safe in a tent near
Japheth's, and that he was being well cared for. He knew
that he and Dennys were objects of intense curiosity to the
women who came each evening.

"I've never seen anything like it!" the oldest one. called
Matred, exclaimed. "Except that our giant is burned so
much more badly, I would not believe that they are Ewo."

Anah and Elisheba took their turns taking the night-
light to Grandfather Lamech, whispering over Sandy and
his likeness to their own twin, still burning with fever in
the women's tent. But they shyly held back from talking
with Sandy, speaking softly so that he could not hear what
they were saying.

Adnare! came each day, at least long enough to drip
fresh herbs or powders into the water with which Higgaion
continued to bathe the bumed skin. The pelican kept the
water jar filled, and when Grandfather Lamech thanked

84 -v^ MANY WATERS

the great bird. he treated it as more than a pelican, causing
Sandy to wonder. The old man spent hours cooking con-
coctions to tempt Sandy's appetite, and the ones that tasted
best were the ones which reminded him of his mother's
Bunsen-burner stews. Sandy wanted to ask the old man
about the women who came in the evening and, most im-
portantly, to ask him why Yalith was not one of them, but
he was embarrassed and held his peace. And slept, and
slept, healing.

On the first night when it was apparent that Sandy's
fever had left him and he was weak but recuperating,
Lamech suggested that they go out of the tent and sit
under the stars. "Their light cannot harm your healing
skin. Your skin is so fair, so fair. No wonder you had the
sun fever." He held out his hand and Sandy took it, letting
the old man pull him to his feet. His legs felt weak and
unused. Lamech pushed through the tent flap, holding it
aside for Sandy, who had to bend over to go through. Not
far from the tent was a large and ancient fig tree, too old
to bear fruit any longer. One root had pulled up from the
ground and formed a low seat, before it dipped down into
the earth again. Lamech sat on it, and beckoned to Sandy
to sit beside him.

"Look." Lamech pointed to the sky.

Sandy had already been staggered by the glory of the
night sky on his nocturnal visits to the grove which served
as outhouse. He had tried to question the old man as to
where he was, what planet, what galaxy. But Lamech had
been bewildered. Sun, moon, and stars revolved around the

85 -^s- Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

oasis and the desert, put there by El for their benefit. So
Sandy still had no idea where he and Dennys had ended
up with their foolishness.

Now he simply looked up at the sky in awe. At home,
even in winter when the air was clearest, even deep in the
countryside where they lived, the stars were not like these
desert stars. It seemed that he could almost see the arms
of spiral galaxies moving in their great circular dance. Be-
tween the radiance of the stars, the blackness of the firma-
ment was deeper and darker than velvet.

Except at the far horizon. "Hey." Sandy asked. "Why is
it so light over there? Is there a big city. or something?"

"It is the mountain," Lamech said.

Sandy squinted and could just make out a range of
mountains against the sky, with one peak higher than the
others, a long way off, much farther off than the palm tree
which had led them to Japheth and Higgaion and the
oasis. "A volcano?" he asked.    "-

Lamech nodded.

"Does it erupt often?"

Lamech shrugged. "Perhaps once in every man's life-
time. It is far away. When it goes off, we do not get the
fire, but we get a rain of black dust that kills our crops."

The light tingeing the horizon was indeed so far away
that it did not even dim the magnificence of the stars.
Sandy asked, "Is it always this clear?"

"Except during a sandstorm. Do you have sandstorms
on the other side of the mountain?" Lamech had set it in
his mind that the twins came from beyond the mountains.
That was as far away as he understood.

86 "^ MANY WATERS

"No. We're nowhere near a desert. Everything is green
where we live, except in winter, when the trees lose their
leaves and the ground has a good cover of snow."

"Snow?"

Sandy reached down and picked up a handful of the
clean white sand. "It is even whiter than this, and it is
softer, and it—in winter it falls from the sky and covers
the ground, and it's called poor man's fertilizer, and we
need it to make sure we'll have good crops in summer-
Dennys and I have a big vegetable garden."

The old man's face brightened- "When you are better
and can go out in the daylight, I will show you my garden.
What do you grow in yours?"

"Oh, tomatoes and sweet corn and broccoli and brussels
sprouts and carrots and onions and beans, and almost any-
thing you want to eat. We eat what we can, and what we
can't, we can." Then he realized that the old joke would
mean nothing to Lamech. He amended, "We can some of
our produce, or freeze it."

"Can? Freeze?"

"Well, uh, putting by food that we've grown in the
summer so that we'll have it to eat in the winter."

"Do you grow rice?" Lamech asked.

"No."

"You don't have good enough wells for it?"

"We have wells," Sandy said, "but I don't think we have
the right kind of growing conditions for rice." He was
going to have to look up rice cultivation when they got
home.

"Lentils?" Lamech pursued.

87 -^s. Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

&
,'t.
SP

P

"No."

"Dates?"

"It's too cold where we live for palm trees."

"I've never been on the other side of the mountains. It
must be a very strange place."

Sandy did not know how to correct him. "Well, where
we live, it's very different."

The old man murmured. "You are the beginning of
change. We are living in end times. It can be very lonely."

Sandy, looking at the stars, did not hear. "Grandfather
Lamech, is my brother really getting better?"

"Yes. That is what I am told."

"Who tells you?"

"The women, when they bring the night-light."

"Do the men never come? I haven't seen your son."

"It is only the women who care." Lantech's voice was
bitter.

"Japheth—"                <-

"Ah, Japheth. Japheth comes when he can, my youngest
grandson, my dear boy." He sighed, wearily. "When my
son, my only son, was born, I predicted that he would
bring us relief from our work, from the hard labor that
has come upon us because of the curse upon the ground."

Sandy felt an uncomfortable prickling. "What curse?"

"When our forebears had to leave the Garden, they
were told, Accursed shall the ground be on your account.
It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You shall gain
your bread by the sweat of your brow." He sighed again,
then all his many wrinkles wreathed upward in a smile.
"It is as I predicted. My son has brought us relief- The

88 "s^e MANY WATERS

vines flourish. The herds and flocks increase. But he has
grown proud in his prosperity. I am lonely in my old age.
I am glad that you have come."

The mammoth came out of the tent and came to them,
putting his head on Lamech's knee. "The women keep
telling me that I am welcome in my son's tent. But I will
stay here, where my son was born, where his mother died.
That is no reason for my son to refuse to come see me,
because I choose to remain in my own tent. He is stiff-
necked. What will he do in his turn when his sons want his
tent?"

"Does he want your tent?"

"I have the deepest and best wells on the oasis. I have
always given him all the water he needs for his vineyards,
but he complains about having to fetch it. Too bad. I will
stay in my own tent."

"Maybe," Sandy suggested, "your son is stubborn be-
cause his father is stubborn?"

The old man smiled reluctantly. "It could be so."

"If he doesn't come to see you, why don't you go see
him?"

"It is too far for an old man to walk. I have given my
camels and all my animals to my son. I keep only my groves
and garden." Lamech reached out and patted Sandy's knee
with his gnarled hand. "I hope you won't be wanting to
leave right away, now that you are getting well. It is pleas-
urable having someone to share my tent."

Higgaion nudged the old man.

Lamech laughed. "You're a mammoth, my dear Hig-
gaion. And while I have deep devotion for you, I am feel-


;i 89 's>:s: Grandfather Lamech and. Grandfather Enoch

ing the need of a human companion, especially during my
last days."

"Your last days?" Sandy asked. "What do you mean?"

"I am not as old as my father, Methuselah, but 1 am
older than his father, Enoch. Now, there was a strange man.
my grandfather. He walked with El and then he was not.
And he was younger than I. El has told me to number my
days."

Sandy felt distinctly uncomfortable. "How many num-
bers?"

Lamech laughed. "Dear young giant, you know that
numbers are merely many or few. The voice of El said few.
Few can mean one turn of the moon, or several."

"Hey, wait a minute," Sandy said. "Grandfather La-
mech. are you telling me that someone said you're going
to die?"

Lamech nodded. "El."

"El what?"                 '-

"El. These are troubled times- Men's hearts are turning
to evil. It is good that I will be able to go quietly. My years
are seven hundred and seventy and seven—"

"Hey! Wait!" Sandy said. "Nobody lives that long.
Where I come from."

Lamech pursed his lips. "We have not used our long
years well."

Suddenly the starlight seemed cold. Sandy shivered. La-
mech's fingers again touched his knee. "Don't worry. I
won't leave you until you are all well, and reunited with
your brother, and are both able to take care of yourselves
and return home."

90 "s^ MANY WATERS

"Home," Sandy said wistfully, looking up at the stars-
"I don't even know where home is, from here. I'm not sure
how we got here, and I'm a !ot less sure about how we're
going to get home."

Higgaion raised his trunk to touch his ear, and Sandy
noticed that the scarab beetle was there, bright as an ear-
ring. Sandy understood that the glorious seraph Adnarel
sometimes took the form of a scarab beetle—but of course
that was impossible. Now he looked at the bronze glitter,
suddenly wondering.

Lamech mused, "Japheth asked me where I would go
when I die." He smiled. Even in the starlight, the skin of
his skull showed through the thin wisps of hair. "I thought
my Grandfather Enoch might come back, or send some
kind of message. I hope my son will put aside his stubborn-
ness long enough to come and plant me in the ground."

Higgaion nudged him again, and the old man laughed.
"Who knows? Perhaps I will come up again in the spring,
like the desert flowers. Perhaps not. Very little is known
about such things. After living for so many hundreds of
years, I look forward to a rest."

The mammoth moved over to Sandy, standing on his
stocky hind legs and putting his big forepaws on Sandy's
knees, like a dog. Sandy picked him up, holding him
tightly for comfort, and the pink tip of the trunk deli-
cately patted his cheek. "Grandfather Lamech, I think I'd
better go back to the tent. I'm cold."

Lamech looked first at Sandy, then at the mammoth.
"Yes. This is enough for a first excursion."

Sandy went gratefully to his sleeping skins, and Hig-

91 ^^ Grandfather Lamech and Grandfather Enoch

gaion lay down at Sandy's feet. Sandy tried not to scratch.
The pink skin under the paper-like flakes was tender. He
closed his eyes. He wanted to see Yalith. He wanted to talk
to Dennys. How were they going to be able to get home
from this strange desert land into which they had been
cast and which was heaven knew where in all the countless
solar systems in all the countless galaxies?

5 ^ The nephilim

Dennys was sleeping fitfully when he heard the tent flap
move. He opened his eyes and could see only the small
light of a stone lamp coming toward him. He called out in
alarm. "Who is it?" Yalith or Oholibamah would not have
needed the light.

He felt a gentle pressure, something soft touching his
arm, and realized that it was a mammoth. He vaguely re-
membered seeing a mammoth when he had been in the big
tent.

A bearded man squatted beside him. "We thought you
might like Selah, our mammoth, for company, now that
you are getting better."

"Thank you," Dennys said. "Who are you?"

"Yalith's father, Noah."

It was not always easy for Dennys to remember where he
was. When his fever rose, he thought he was at home, and
dreaming. When the fever dropped, he understood dimly
that somehow or other he and Sandy had precipitated
themselves into a primitive desert world inhabited by

93 ^s The nephilim

small brown people. He remembered Yalith, the beautiful,
tiny person with amber hair and eyes who tended him
gently. He remembered the slightly older person, and at
least part of her name, Oholi, who poured first water and
then unguents and oils onto his skin, and who seemed to
know what to do to make him feel better. He remembered
Japheth, Oholi's husband, who, like a shepherd, had car-
ried Dennys to this tent, which he thought of as a strange
kind of hospital.

He had not seen Yalith's father since he had been taken,
half dead, from the big smelly tent to this smaller, quieter
one. The piece of linen he had been given to lie on helped
protect his raw, healing skin. Even so, it hurt to move- He
shifted position carefully. "My brother Sandy, how is he?"

"Almost all well, I am told." Noah's deep voice was
kind. The name had a familiar ring in this unfamiliar
world, but Dennys could not place it in his fever-muddled
mind. The man continued, "TRe women tell me he has
made new skin. You, too, will be well soon."

Dennys sighed. That was still hard to believe, with the
remains of his skin coming off in painful patches, leaving
oozing misery until dark scabs formed. "When can I see
my brother?"

"As soon as you are well. Not long."

"Where is he?"

"As you have been told. In my father Lamech's tent."

"I keep forgetting."

"That is from the sun fever."

"Yes. Brain fever, I think it used to be called in India."

"India?"

94 -^^ MANY WATERS

"Oh. Well. That's a place on our planet where the Brit-
ish—people with skin like mine—used to go to, oh, muck
around with white men's burdens and stuff, and built an
enormous empire. Anyhow, they couldn't take the sun.
And their empire's gone. Thank you for taking such good
care of me. How did you know the right things to do for
burns?"

"It was mostly common sense," the man said. "Oholi-
bamah can tell with her fingers how much fever you have,
and we try to cool you accordingly. And she consulted with
the seraphim about the use of herbs."

"Who are the seraphim?" Dennys asked.

The stocky, brown man smiled. "You are better. This is
the first time you have asked questions."

"You have been to see me before?"

"Several times."

Selah snuggled up against him, and he put his arm
around her, and his skin was healed enough so that her
fur did not scratch and hurt. "And seraphim?"

"They are sons of El. We do not know where they came
from, or why they are here."

"Are they angels?"

"You have angels where you come from?"

"No," Dennys said. "But we don't have mammoths or
virtual unicorns, either. I am not as much of a skeptic as I
used to be."

"Skeptic?"

"Someone who doesn't believe in anything that can't be
seen and touched and proved one hundred percent. Some-
one who has to have laboratory proof."

95 -s^c Thenephilim

"Lab what?"

"Oh. Well. I guess you can't prove virtual particles any
more easily than you can prove virtual unicorns."

"What kind of unicorns?"

"Oh. Just what I call them."

The man interrupted. "Are you feverish again?"

"No." Dennys touched the back of his hand to his cheek,
which felt quite cool. "Sorry. Your name is—what?"

"Noah. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Noah. Noah and the flood. So they were on their own
earth after all, and not in some far-flung galaxy. Somehow
or other, he and Sandy had been flung through time into
the pre-fiood desert. That was a lot better than being in
some unknown corner of the universe. Or was it? "I wish
I had a Bible," he said.

"A— Perhaps you need a drink of something cool?"

"I'm all right. I'm sorry." There would not have been
a Bible in Noah's time. Probably not even a written lan-
guage. Not yet. Neither Dennys nor Sandy had given much
of their concentration to Sunday school. They didn't go in
for stories.

No? He remembered their mother reading to them every
night until too much homework got in the way. What did
she read? Stories. Greek and Roman myths. Indian tales,
Chinese tales, African tales. Fairy tales. Bible stories.

Who was Noah? Noah and the flood. Noah built an ark
and took his wife, and their sons and their sons' wives, and
many animals, onto the ark. What about Yalith? He
couldn't remember anything about Yalith- Or Oholi—
Oholibamah. Japheth. Maybe that had a familiar ring.

96 '^K MANY WATERS

Shem Yes Maybe But not Elisheba. Elisheba was all
right. She had rubbed ointment all over him one day,
matter-of-factly, when something had taken Yalith and
Oholi away, not flinching at the suppurating sores, the
crusting scabs She had talked through, at, and around him
the day she had attended him in the hospital tent, and he
remembered her muttering something about it being a
shame to leave the old grandfather all alone in his tent
with only a mammoth to take care of him.

Selah snuggled against Dennys's shouldei He continued
to try to think. There was Shem. And there was Ham. He
barely remembered a small, pale man and a redheaded
woman in the big tent that hrst night "Is Higgaion all
right?" he asked suddenly.

"Higgaion?" Noah sounded surprised. "He's helping
take care oE your brother "

"Are there many mammoths around?" Dennys asked.

"Very few. Many have been eaten by manticores, and
most of the rest have fled to where they feel safer " Noah
shook his head "It is a hard time for mammoths. Hard
times are coming for us all. El has told me that."

Dennis frowned. This pre-flood world was weird Mam
moths. Manticores Virtual unitorns Seraphim and—

"Who are the nephihm?" he asked.

Noah pulled at his beard. "Who knows? They are tall,
and they have wings, though we seldom see them fly. They
tell us that they come from El, and that they wish us well.
We do not know. There is a rumor that they are like fall-
ing stars, that they may be falling stars, flung out oE
heaven."

"Seraphim, too?"

97 -fc^ The nephihm

"We do not know. We do not know how it is that their
skin is young and not yet shriveled from the sun, though
they are ageless, it would seem—older, even, than my
Grandfather Methuselah."

—Old as Methuselah. It had a familiar ring. Vaguely.

Dennys shifted on Matred's linen cloth. The remnant
of his bundle of clothes had been found, and taken by
Japheth and Oholibamah, to be aired and put away. In
this hot land he would not need flannel shirts or cable-
knit sweaters. He had been given a soft kid loincloth, and
Yalith had told him that Sandy had been given one, too.

In this tent where he was recovering, the stench was
less disturbing than in the big tent. Yalith had bathed him
with water scented with herbs and flowers. Oholibamah
had rubbed him with fragrant ointment. Both young
women were reticent about where they came by the per-
fumes, and Dennys thought he had heard Yalith say-
ing something about Anah and Mahlah. Anah: Ham's
redheaded wife, he reminded himself. Mahlah was Yalith's
sister, who, it appeared, seldom came home. Who were all
these people he did not remember as being part of the
story? He needed Sandy. Sandy might be able to suggest
some way for them to get home before the flood. How
much had this El told Noah?

Noah said, "El has told me that these are end times for
us all. Perhaps we will have a great earthquake."

"An earthquake?"

Noah shrugged. "The mind of El is a great mystery."

"Is he good, this El?"

"Good and kind. Slow to anger, quick to turn again and
forgive."

98 -s-^ MANY WATERS

"But you still think he's going to nuke everybody?"

"What's that?"

"You think he's going to send some big disaster and wipe
everybody out?"

Noah shook his head. "It is true, as El says, that people's
hearts are turned to wickedness."

"Yalith's isn't," Dennys said. "Oholibamah's and Japh-
eth's aren't. I'd be dead if it wasn't for them."

"And for my wife, Matred," Noah added. "1 might not
have let you stay in my tents had it not been for Matred."
He looked thoughtfully at Dennys. "Sometimes I have
wondered why I let the women insist on keeping you. But
I think you mean us no harm."

"I don't. We don't. Listen, what about my brother?
When can I see Sandy?"

"As you have been told, he is in my father's tent." Noah's
voice indicated that the subject was now closed.

"Have you seen him? Sandy?" Dennys asked.

"I do not go to my father's tent."

"Why not?"

"He is a stiff-necked old man, insisting on staying alone
in his own tent, with his wells, the best in the oasis."

"But why don't you go see him?" Dennys was baffled.

"He is old. It is nearly time for him to die. He can no
longer tend to his crops."

"But don't you help him?"

"I have all I can do, taking care of my herds and my
vineyards."

"But he's your fatheri"

"He should not be so stubborn."

"Listen, he's taking care of Sandy all by himself. He

99 -v^s. Thenephihm

doesn't have Yalith or Oholibamah to do the nursing. Only
the mammoth."

"One of the women takes him a light every night."

"But he's your father," Dennys protested. "Wouldn't he
appreciate it if you took him the night-light?"

Before Noah's growl became audible, the tent flap
shifted and a pelican waddled in, followed by Yalith. A
pelican seemed a strange creature to appear in this desert
place. The bird approached Dennys, then opened its enor-
mous bill. and from it flowed a stream of cool, fresh water,
filling the large bowl from which the women bathed him.

Dennys asked, "Hey, you've been here before, haven't
you?"

Yalith spoke delightedly. "He is truly better! He's re-
membering things."

The water felt healing as Yalith dipped a cloth in it snd
cooled his skin. She knelt beside him and with thi   .i
cloth touched some of the loosened scabs. "They will soon
be off."

Dennys regarded the pelican. "Where did the water
come from?"

"From Grandfather Lamech's. And the pelican has been
kind enough to bring it to us, flying across the oasis."

The pelican nodded gravely to Dennys.

"Do you have a name?"

The pelican blinked.

Yalith said, "When he is a pelican, we usually call him
pelican."

"When he is a pelicani What else is he?"

"Don't confuse the young giant," Noah said.

"I can't be much more confused than I am," Dennys

100 -^^ MANY WATERS

expostulated. It was a relief to know that he was still on
his own planet; even so, he felt lost, and far from anything
familiar.

The pelican stretched its angled wings toward the roof
hole, raised its beak, seemed to thin out and stretch up-
ward, and suddenly a tall and radiant personage was look-
ing down at Dennys.

"What—" he gasped.

"A seraph," Yalith said.

The glowing skin of the seraph was the color of Yalith's,
and there were great silvery wings, and hair the color of
the wings. Was it a man? A woman? Did it matter? Yet,
with Yalith and Oholibamah, and even more with Anah,
Dennys was very well aware that he was male and they
were female.

The seraph raised its wings, then dropped them loosely.
"Fear not. I am Aland, and I have been helping with your
healing. At last you are getting better. No. Don't try to
stand. You are still too weak." Strong arms enfolded
Dennys, and he was taken out of the tent and lowered onto
a soft bed of moss. In the starlight, the moss shimmered
like water.

"There," the seraph said. "So. I am Alarid. And you are
the Den."

"Dennys."

"Den is simpler."

"And your name is Alarid? And what about Oholi-
bamah?"

Alarid smiled gravely. "I take your point, Dennys. For-
give me. Now, I have conferred with my companion,
Adnarel, who has been helping to take care of the Sand."

101 ^^ The nephilim

"Sandy. Alexander."

"Alexander? Is there not an Alexander who wants to
conquer the world?"

"Not in our time," Dennys said. "Way back in history.
Not as far back as now. But back."

"Ah," Alarid said. "I tend to see time in pleats. Now,
Dennys, there seems to be considerable confusion over who
and what you are, and why you are here."

In his weakness, Dennys could not hold back the tears
which sprang to his eyes. "We are fif teen-year-old boys who
come from a long time away."

"You come from a far time, and yet you speak the Old
• Language?"

"The whatP"

"The Old Language, the language of creation, of the
time when the stars were made, and the heavens and the
waters and all creatures. It was the language which was
spoken in the Garden—"        '-

"What garden?"

"The Garden of Eden, before the story was bent. It is
the language which is still, and will be, spoken by all the
stars which carry the light."

"Then," Dennys said flatly, "I don't know why I speak
it."

"And speak it with ease," Aland said.

"Does Sandy speak it, too?" Dennys asked.

Alarid nodded. "You were both speaking it when you
met Japheth and Higgaion in the desert, were you not?"

"We certainly didn't realize it," Dennys said. "We
thought we were speaking our own language."

Alarid smiled. "It 15 your own language, so perhaps it

102 -^^ MANY WATERS

is best that you didn't reali2e it. Do others of your time
and place speak the Old Language?"

"I don't know. Sandy and I aren't any good at lan-
guages."

"How can you say that," Alarid demanded, "when you
have the gift of the original tongue?"

"Hey. I don't know. Sandy and I are the squares of the
family. Our older sister and our little brother are the
special ones. We're just the ordinary—"

Alarid interrupted him. "Because that is how you are,
or because that is how you choose to be?"

Dennys looked at the seraph, his eyes widening. "What
happened to the Old Language?"

"It was broken at Babel."

"Babel?"

"The tower of human pride and arrogance. It has not
happened yet, in this time you are in now. You do not
know the story?"

Dennys blinked. "I think I remember something. Peo-
ple built a big tower, and for some reason they all began
to speak in different languages, and couldn't understand
each other anymore. It was in, oh, pre-history, and it's a
story to. sort of, explain why there are so many different
languages in the world."

"But underneath them all," Alarid said. "is the original
language, the old tongue, still in communion with the
ancient harmonies. It is a privilege to meet one who still
has the under-hearing."

"Hey," Dennys said. "Listen. I guess because we got
here so unexpectedly and everything was so strange, and

103 "o^ The nephilim

we didn't have time Co think, and when we met Japheth
it just seemed natural to speak to him—"

"It is a special gift," Alarid told him.

"We're not special, neither Sandy nor I. We're just the
sort of ordinary kid who gets along without making waves."

"Where in the future," Alarid asked him abruptly, "do
you come from?"

"A long, long way," Dennys said. "We live at the end of
the twentieth century."

Alarid closed his eyes. "A time of many wars."

"Yes."

"And the heart of the atom has been revealed."

"Yes."

"You have soiled your waters and your air."

"Yes."

"Because you speak the Old Language there must be
some reason for you to be here. But for the future to touch
the past can be dangerous. It could cause a paradox. How
did you get here?"

"I'm not sure." Dennys frowned, then added, "Our
father is a physicist who specializes in space travel, in the
tesseract."

"Ah, yes. But space travel is supposed to deal with space,
not time."

Dennys said, "But you can't separate space and time. I
mean, space/time is a continuum, "and . . ."

Yalith and Noah came out of the tent, and Yalith put
her hand lightly against Alarid's. "Look, he is very pale.
You are tiring him."

"Be careful of our young giant," Noah warned.

104 -s^ MANY WATERS

Aland regarded Dennys. "You are right. This is enough
for tonight." The seraph's eyes were compassionate, and
their silver-green seemed to darken- "I am glad that you
are better, and that you are coming back to yourself. Please,
be very careful what you say, what you do. Be careful that
you do not change anything."

"Listen," Dennys said- "All I want is to go home. To
my own time. I'm just grateful to be on my own planet,
and I'm not a bit interested in rewriting the Bible." Did
Atarid know that there was going to be a Bible? That
there was going to be a flood? He looked at the seraph,
whose face, serene and severe at the same time, did not
change expression. Dennys was willing to accept that
Alarid and the pelican who brought the water were some-
how one and the same, but he was not willing to accept
that his presence in this time and place might have an
effect on anyone except himself. And, of course. Sandy.

"Sleep well, Dennys," Alarid said. "Yalith and Oholi-
bamah will continue to take good care of you."

—Yalith, Dennys thought. For Yalith he might be will-
ing to change history.

Sandy could not sleep. Not only was the tent hot, but
Higgaion was snoring. Grandfather Lamech was not.
Grandfather Lamech was tossing. Turning. Grunting.
Sighing.

At last. Sandy could not stand it any longer. He crawled
over to Grandfather Lamech's sleeping skins. "Grand-
father, are you awake?"

"Urn."

105 -s^ Thenephtlim

"What'&the matter?"

The old man grunted.

Sandy spoke to him as he would have to Dennys. "Come
on. I know something's bothering you. What is it?"

"El spoke to me."

Sandy tried to peer at him through the dark. Did this
mean that the old man was about to die? Right then? That
night?

But the old man said, "Great troubles are coming after
I die. Terrible things are going to happen."

"What kind of terrible things?"

Lamech moved restlessly. "El did not say. Only that

%

j   men's hearts are evil and hard, and it repents El that he
^   has made human creatures."

"So what's he going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Lamech said. "But I fear for my son
and his family. El plans to spare no one. I fear for Yalith.
I fear for you. Sand, so far from your home."

"Oh, I can take care of myself,*' Sandy said automati-
cally. But his words sounded hollow.

Yalith and Oholibamah came to Dennys in the deep
dark just before dawn.

"You need to get out of the tent into some air," Oholi-
bamah told him. "You need to exercise. You will not re-
cover until you walk about under the sky."

"Starlight is healing." Yalith's voice was as gentle, he
thought, as a small brook. But there were no brooks in this
arid land.

He followed them out of the tent. Each took one of his

106 ^s MANY WATERS

hands, and their hands were small as children's. They
walked past the grove which served as outhouse, which was
as far from the tents as he had ventured. Beyond them, the
large tent was a dark shadow, with the smaller tents clus-
tered about it.

His bare feet were still tender, and he walked gingerly.
The girls guided him to the smoothest ways, until the
sharp dry grasses and pebbles gave way to sand, and they
were in the desert. The sand felt cooi to the burning soles
of his feet.

They paused ai a low slab of white rock, which cast a
silvery shadow on the sand. "Japheth and I agreed that
this is as far as you should go," Oholibamah said. "Let's
sit here and rest for a while. We'll take you back to the
tent before dawn."

He sat between them on the rock, leaning back on his
elbows so that he could look up at the sky. "I've never seen
so many stars."

"You don't have stars where you come from?" Yalith
asked.

"Oh, yes, we have stars. But our atmosphere is not as
clear as yours, and not nearly as many stars are visible."

Yalith clasped Dennys's arm tightly. "It is frightening
when the stars are hidden by the swirling sand. Their song
is distorted, and I can't hear what they say."

"What the stars say?" Dennys asked.

"Listen," Yalith suggested. "Alarid says you are able to
understand,"

At first, Dennys heard only the desert silence. Then, in
the distance, he heard the roar of a lion. Behind them, on

107 's-^ Thenephdim

the oasis, the birds chirred sleepily, not yet ready for their
dawn concert. A few baboons called back and forth. He
listened, listened, focusing on one bright pattern of stars.
Closed his eyes. Listened. Seemed to hear a delicate, crystal
chiming. Words. Hush. Heal. Rest. Make peace. Fear not.
He laughed in excitement. Opened his eyes to twinkling
diamonds.

Yahth laughed, too. "What did they say?"

"They told me—I think—to get well, and—and to make
peace. And not to be afraid. At least, I think I heard them,
and I don't think it was just my imagination." Suddenly
he was glad that Sandy was not there. Sandy was pragmatic.
Sandy would likely think Dennys was hallucinating from
sunstroke. At school, if Dennys got lost in a daydream,
Sandy always managed to cover for him.

"Yes, that is what the stars told you." Yalith turned
toward him with a delighted smile, very visible in the
starlight. "You see!" she said fo Oholibamah. "It is not
everybody who can listen to the night. If the stars told you
to make peace. Den, perhaps you will be the one to make
peace between my father and my grandfather."

"A big perhaps," Oholibamah said.

"But maybe, maybe he can." She turned back to Dennys.
"What else do you hear?"

Dennys listened again. Heard the wind rattling the palm
leaves like sheafs of paper. There seemed to be words in
the wind, but he could not make any sense out of them. "I
can't understand anything clearly—"

Yalith withdrew her fingers and clasped her hands to-
gether. Shook her head. Opened her eyes. "The wind

108 -s^ MANY WATERS

seems to be talking of a time when she will blow very hard,
over the water. That's strange. The nearest water is many
days away from here. I cannot understand what she is try-
ing to say."

"The wind blows where she wills," Oholibamah said.
"Sometimes she is gentle and cooling. Sometimes she is
fierce and blows in our eyes and stings our skin like insects
and we have to hide in the tents until she is at peace again.
It is good, dear Den, that you have not come at a time
when the wind blows hot against the sand. You will heal
better now, at the time when she is more gentle, and the
grapes and gardens grow."

They were silent then, listening to the dawn noises be-
coming louder, as birds and baboons began to get ready to
greet the day. Tentatively. Dennys reached for Yalith's
hand. She gave his fingers a little squeeze, then freed her-
self and jumped up. "It is time we took you back to the
tent. This is more than enough for a first excursion. How
do you feel?"

"Wonderful." Then, acknowledging: "A little tired." It
would be good to lie down on the soft linen spread over
the skins. To sleep a little. To have something cool to
drink. He stifled a yawn.

"Come." Oholibamah held out her strong hands. To his
surprise, he needed her help in getting up.

When Yalith and Oholibamah needed ointments and
unguents for Dennys's burned skin, Anah, or Mahlah, if
she happened to be home, would take them across the oasis
to the close cluster of houses and shops to meet Tiglah,
Anah's sister.

109 '<^- The nephihm

"I don't like it," Japheth said EO his wife. "I don't like
your going to such places."

She bent toward him to kiss him. "We don't go in. I
wouldn't take Yalith into such a place even if Mahlah—"

Japheth gave a shout of anger and anguish. "What has
happened to Mahlah!"

Oholibamah said, softly, "We all have choices to make,
dear one, and we do not all choose the same way."

"Why can't I get what you need for you?"

"Oh, love, it is a house for women. You would not be
welcome."

"I have seen men coming out. And nephilim."

"Japheth. My own. Please don't argue. We'll be all right.
Anah is tough."

"And MahlahP"

Oholibamah put her arms around her husband, pressed
henheek against his- Did not answer.

Mahlah went with Oholibamah and Yalith less and less
frequently, because she was less and less often in the home
tent. And when she was there, she came in late, after every-
body else was asleep, then slept late herself, and managed
to avoid confrontation with Matred.

Matred. herself, allowed Mahlah to avoid her. She was
waiting for her daughter to come to her and her husband
with LJgieI, according to custom, but IJgiel did not come,
and Mahlah did not speak, and Matred said nothing to
Noah of Mahlah's betrothal to a nephil. Until the be-
trothal was made formal, and recognized by Mahlah's fam-
ily, there would be no talk of marriage.

Marriages were often casual affairs, no more than an
agreement between the two sets of parents, with the bnde's

110 -^s- MANY WATERS

mother and father bringing her to the tent of the groom.
Matred liked to have things done properly, not overdone,
but well done. Yalith and Mahlah's two older sisters,
Seerah and Hoglah, had been taken to their husbands'
tents after Matred and Noah had prepared a feast, with
plenty of Noah's good wine.

Elisheba, Shem's wife, had come quietly to Noah's com-
pound and Shem's tent, accompanied by her widowed
father, and bearing several gold rings, and her teraphim.
the small figures of her household gods. Anah, Matred
said, had had a vulgar wedding, with crowds of people,
many uninvited. There were musicians, dancers, and far
too much wine, inferior, at that—who would dare compete
with Noah's wine?—for far too many days. Such excesses
were not only unnecessary, they were unseemly.

Cleaning out the big tent with Yalith's help, Matred
said, "I do not understand Mahlah."

Yalith shook out a sleeping skin. "Neither do I. I wish
she would come speak to you and Father, instead of avoid-
ing you."

Matred fiercely beat the dust out of one of the floor
skins. "If your father knew what she's up to, he'd be furi-
ous. There's something on his mind, something he's not
telling me about, or he'd have noticed her strange be-
havior. You think that this Ugh—"

"Ugiel."

"That nephil—you think he means to marry her?"

"I don't know." Yalith scrubbed out one of the stone
lamps with sand. "Mahlah thinks so."

"Speak to her," Matred begged, "Try to make her see

111 -s^ Thenephilim

reason. All she needs is to come to us with her nephil and
tell us that they are betrothed, and we will make all the
arrangements for a wedding feast."

"I'll try," Yalith said, "but I'm not sure she'll listen."
Mahlah had always been closer to and more like the older
sisters than Yaiith, the youngest, the different one. "I'll
try," she reassured her mother.

The next day she went with Oholibamah and Anah to
get a fresh supply of the ointment that softened Dennys's
scabs. Perhaps Mahlah would be with the redheaded
Tiglah, and Yalith could talk with her then.

Anah walked slowly, with her usual undulating of hips.
Yalith and Oholibamah walked on ahead.

"Tiglah frightens me," Yalith whispered to Oholibamah.
"I know she's Anah's sister, and she is probably the most
beautiful woman on the oasis, but—"

"Her beauty is for sale," Oholibamah stated flatly. "But
there is no reason to be afraid ofTier."

They turned onto the narrow path which ran between
low white stone buildings. "I don't like coming here,"
Yalith murmured.

"I don't like it, either," Oholibamah said, "but there is
no other way to get the salves for the Den. The last of his
scabs will be off in a few days. Then we can forget the
ointment. The herbal water the pelican brings will be
enough."

"Den is getting better," Yalith said. "That's one good
thing."

"Only one?" Oholibamah laughed.

Yalith shuddered. "Everything seems to be changing.

112 -*^ MANY WATERS

Mahlah avoids our parents. And my father keeps hearing
the Voice in the vineyards, and whatever it says is upset-
ting him, but he won't tell us what El says."

"What El says is good." Ohoiibamah smiled. "El said
thatJapheth was to marry. That is why I am here."

"You wouldn't rather have waited?"

"I love Japheth." Oholibamah's voice was tender. "I
know we were both very young and unready ror marriage.
But we love each other. When the time comes, we will
have children together."

Yalith sighed. "I would like to love someone the way
you loveJapheth."

"Be patient, little sister. Your time will come."

They had reached the white house with the brightly
beaded curtains at the entry, the house where Tiglah got
the ointments they needed, and they stopped to wait for
Anah, who made it very clear that she was doing them a
great favor in being the go-between- The beads glittered
and jangled, and Tiglah came out, followed by Mahlah—
Tiglah with her head of radiant red hair, Mahlah with her
cascade of black hair, the two girls startling foils for each
other.

"Where's Anah?" Tiglah asked.

"She's coming." Ohoiibamah looked balk down the path
to where Anah was slowly following them.

"Mahlah!" Yalith exclaimed. "I'm glad to see you. I
need to talk to you."

Mahlah raised her hands and pushed back a thick fall
of black hair. "That's funny. I want to talk to you, too.
Shall we go inside?"

H3 The nephilim

"No." Yaltth drew back. "Please—"

"I could have your hair brushed," Mahlah coaxed, "the
way Tiglah's and mine is, so it would look more beautiful."

"No," Yalith repeated.

Mahlah shrugged. "We can sit over here then, while
Anah and Ohoiibamah go with Tiglah to get the oint-
ment." She led Yalith a little way down the path to a low
wall. Yalith, with sudden and unexpected shock, saw that
Mahlah's usually flat belly was softly rounding.

"Mahtah," she urged. "Please, please, you and Ugiel
please come to our parents and tell them that you're
betrothed."

Mahlah's little hands proudly touched the small round-
ness. "And will be married soon."

"Then please come and tell them. Mother will need
time to prepare a wedding feast."

"No, she won't," Mahlah said. "That is not how things
are done with the nephilim. I will have a nephil wedding."

"But Mother—"

Again Mahlah's little hands stroked her stomach. "I'm
sorry, really, I'm sorry. But she had it her own way with
our sisters. She'll probably have it her own way with you.
So she'll just have to let roe do it my way."

"But why? Isn't the old way good enough for you?"

Mahlah laughed. "Customs change- We have to move
with the times." There was a slight hiss to her speech which
Yalith had never heard before. She sounded more like
Ugiel than like Mahlah. The sisters sat side by side on the
wall, the silence between them becoming more and more
uncomfortable, until at last Yalith broke it.

114 -s^ MANY WATERS

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Can't you guess?"

-No."

"Eblis."

Yalith looked at her in surprise. "But why—"

"He likes you," Mahlah said. "He says he has offered to
teach you."

"No—"
"Why not?"

"I'm taking care of the Den. That's why we're here, to
get salve for him."

Again Mahlah sounded more like Ugiel than like Yalith's
sister. "That's all very noble. But it needn't stop you from
going out with Eblis. Don't you realize what an honor that

is, to have Eblis interested in you?" She sounded strangely
sibilant.

"I know he does me much honor." Yalith's voice was
low.

"What's wrong, then?"
"I have to stay with the Den," Yalith whispered.

"I know you're taking good care of him- But Oholi is
there, too, isn't she?"

"She—she is Japheth's wife. She has to be in her own
tent. She tells me what to do, but—"

"Little sister," Mahlah said. "Don't be foolish."
Yalith looked down at her long, straight toes. Blurted

out, "I don't care about Eblis as much as I do about the

Den and the Sand."

"What!" Mahlah was scandalized.
"You heard me."

"But we don't know if they're even humani"

1 15 -s^ The nephilim

"We know that the nephilim are not," Yalith retorted.

"They're more than human," Mahlah said proudly.
"The two—what are they? twins?—they seem subhuman."

"No," Yalith protested. "They're human, I know they
are."

"Giants human?"

"Yes."

"And you think if you start going out with giants, human
or no, our parents wouldn't be upset?"

"Everybody loves them ..."

"Yes? Anyhow, they're too young, much too young."

"I know that." Yalith hung her head even lower. "But I
think that, where they come from, years are counted differ-
ently than here. And I would be willing to wait."

"For which one?" Mahlah demanded.

A slow flush spread across Yalith's cheeks. She sEill
thought of the twins as one person divided into two places.
"I saw the Sand first, in Grandfather Lamech's tent. and
I have helped bring the Den back to life when he was
nearly dead."

"That is not enough reason for this stupidity. Eblis can
give you anything you want."

"Even if I want the twins?"

.."Don't be a fool," Mahlah snapped, and jumped down
from -the wall as Anah and Ohoiibamah came toward
them, Ohoiibamah carrying a small jar.

"Well, Mahlah." Anah looked at her pointedly. "Are
you getting ready to move into your own tent?"

Mahlah smiled a secret smile and tossed her head so that
the dark hair glinted in the light. "I will not have a
tent. I will have a house, a house of white stones." She

116 "^^ MANY WATERS

drew back as a snake uncoiled at her feet, spreading a
jeweled hood. "Ugiel—" she gasped-

For a moment of mirage, the snake seemed to uncoil
upward, to raise great lavender wings, to quiver with white
skin and amethyst eyes. Then the mirage was gone. and
the snake undulated across the path and disappeared into
a clump of scrubby patmettos-

Yalith reached for Oholibamah's hand.
Anah gave Mahlah a malicious smiie. "Is he playing
tricks with you?"

Mahlah raised her head proudly. "Ugie! comes to me
only when I am alone." She turned back to Yalith, asking
in such a low voice that she excluded the others. "If it
were not for the young giants, would you go with Eblis?"
"I don't know," Yalith said. "I don't know."
Mahlah spoke in a louder voice. "Tell our parents I'll
be sure to let them know when I'm married."

"Couldn't you bring yourself to tell them, beforehand?"
Yalith begged.

Mahlah shrugged. "We'll see. I have to go now." And
she turned back to the low white house and shouldered her
way through the tinkling curtain of beads.

"Let's go," Anah said. "I have other things to do." And
instead of dawdling as she had done on the way in, she
strode off impatiently.

Oholibamah spoke calmly. "It's really very good of
Anah, and of Tiglah, too, to get the ointments for us."

"They aren't doing it for nothing," Yalith said. "I gave
them all my share of the figs, and the crop was good this
year. And you gave them all your almonds."

117 -s^ Thenephilim

Oholibamah stated a known fact. "Anah and Tiglah
don't know how to do something for nothing. That's how
they are."

"But Mahlah wasn't like that," Yalith protested. "She's
changed. I don't know her anymore."

She jumped as a rat scuttled across her toes. Again there
was a flickering of height, of wings and brilliant eyes, and
then there was only the sleek body of the rat. Yalith
thought of the dragon/lizard Eblis, who could offer her
more than she could dream. And then she thought of the
twins, of Sandy bowing to her in her grandfather's tent, of
Dennys sitting with her at night—Dennys, who was able to
understand the language of the stars.

And she knew she would never go with Eblis.

She turned, to see tears in Oholibamah's eyes. "Oholi,"
she started in surprise.

Oholibamah reached up to wipe away her tears, smiled
her quick smile. "This morning t saw my face reflected in
the water jar. Oh, Yalith, little Yaifth, I love my father,
and now I don't know it he is my father, after all."

Yalith took her sister-in-law's hand. "If you love him, he
is your father, no matter what."

Oholibamah nodded gratefully. "Thank you, little sister.
I needed to hear that."

"You are my brother's wife," Yalith continued, "and my
friend. And if—well, if the nephilim are related to the
seraphim, which my father believes, then you are like the
seraphim."

"Hurry up," Anah called, and beckoned to them im-
periously.

1)8 -^ MANY WATERS

"We're coming," Oholibamah said. And they hurried
toward the central section of the oasis, where Noah's vine-
yards were, and his grazing grounds, and his tents. And
where Dennys was waiting for them.

The moon set, its path whiter than the desert sands
dwindling into shadow. The stars moved in their joyous
dance across the sky. The horizon was dark with that deep
darkness which comes just before the dawn.

A vulture flew down, seemingly out of nowhere, stretch-
ing its naked neck, settling its dark feathers.

—Vultures are underestimated. Without us, disease
would wipe out all life. We clean up garbage, feces, dead
bodies of man and beast. We are not appreciated.

No sound was heard and yet the words seemed scratched
upon the air.

A scarab beetle burrowed up out of the sand and blinked

at the vulture. —It is true. You help keep the world clean.
I appreciate you.

And it disappeared beneath the sand.

A crocodile crawled across the desert, lumbering along
clumsily, far from its native waters. It was followed by the
dragon/lizard, who stretched his leather wings, showing
off. A dark, hooded snake slithered past them both.

A small, brown, armored creature, not much bigger than
the scarab beetle, skittered aiong beside the snake. —We
are invulnerable. We have survived the fire of the vol-
canoes, the earthquakes that pushed the continents apart

and raised the mountain ranges. We are immortal. We
cover the planet.

A bat, brighter than gold, swooped low over the cock-

119 The nephilim

roach. —You are proud, and you can survive fire and ice,
but I could eat you if I had to. I hope I never have to.

And the golden bat soared high, a bright flash against
the dark.

A tiny mimicry of a crocodile, with a blunt nose, a skink
scrabbled along beside the crocodile and the dragon/lizard.
—I am small, and swift, and my flesh is not edible and
causes damage to the brain- I am the way that I am. That
is how I am made.

On the skink's back, a flea tried to dig through the
armored flesh. —I, too, am the way that I am.

A shrill whine cut across the clear air. A mosquito
droned. —I, too. I, too. I will feast on your blood.

A small, slimy worm wriggled across the sand, leaving
a thin trail. A slug's viscous path followed. —I am not like
the snail, needing a house. I am sufficient unto myself.

A red ant crawled along the dragon/lizard's wing, and
held tight as it tried to shake the biting insect off. A rat,
sleek and well filled, wriggled its nose and whiskers and
looked at the vulture's naked neck. —I, too, eat the filth
off the streets. I eat flesh. I prefer living flesh, but I will
take what I can get. I, too, help keep the world clean.

No sound was heard. Like negative light, the words
cracked the desert night.

The twelve oddly assorted creatures began to position
themselves into a circle.

The nephilim.

Oholibamah lay in Japheth's arms on a large, flat stone
a short walk into the desert. So intent were they in each
other that they did not notice the lion pacing past them,

120 -^* MANY WATERS

the pelican flying high in the sky, the scarab beetle coming
out of the sand.

"My beloved," Japheth whispered into the pearly shell
of Oholibamah's ear. "My mother spoke to me about it
long ago. If you have nephil blood, it explains some of
your healing power."

"But I don't know—it isn't certain—"

Japheth covered her mouth with his. Then pulled back
just enough to say, "You are my wife, and we are one, and
that is all that matters."

And they were one. And it was good.

Yalith left the tent and went outside to wait for dawn.
She had spent over an hour working at Dennys's scabs,
carefully pulling off those which were loose enough. Most
of the oozing sores had healed. More and more of Dennys's
care was given over to her, as Oholibamah could trust her
to do what the boy needed. Oholibamah, after all, had
duties in her own tent.

Matred prepared meals for the boy, soups, and mashed
fruits which were soft enough for him to swallow.

"But what do we do with him when he is well?" Noah
asked his wife.

"He is our guest," Matred said. "We ask him what we
can do to help him."

"He wants to go home," Yalith said.
"Yes, but where is home?" her mother asked.
Now Yalith crossed one of her father's vineyards, went
to the small grove that the women used. and relieved her-
self, then walked on until she came to where the desert

121 -••^ The nephilim

lapped whitely against the oasis. She picked up a handful
of the fine sand and rubbed it against her palms, between
her fingers, Eo clean them.

The moon had set, and the dawn stars were low on the
horizon. She would take a long nap the next day during
the heat of the sun. Often, the best sleeping was done [hen.

In the coolness just before morning she liked to go sit
on one of the great exposed rocks and rest, and listen to
the slow song of the setting stars. Lamech, her grandfather,
had taught her how to listen to the stars. Only Yalith and
Japheth, of Noah and Matred's children, could understand
the celestial language.

Matred tended to think it a waste of time. "I have too
much to do, keeping tent. How else would I keep the soup
pot full tor the poor who come to us for food? Who would
keep the manticore from eating Selah if I didn't have
boiling wine to throw in its ugly face? Who would see to
it that the great auk's eggs aren't stolen? Who else dares to
speak to the gorgons and griffins? And what with every-
body's appetite, I never have a chance to get away from
the hearth."

Yalith did her fair share of the work, and now she was
doing most of Mahlah's, too, but she needed time to her-
self, to listen to what the stars might have to say. Her
father heard a Voice in the vineyards, but it seemed to
Yalith that in the quiet dawn there were voices all around
her, waiting to speak, waiting for her to hear. When the
birds woke and started their orchestra, the other voices
would be quiet. She was filled with a vague sense of fore-
boding, but she had to come and listen.

122 -»^ MANY WATERS

When she was no£ listening for whatever it was that was
going to be spoken, she found her mind sliding to thoughts
of the twins. As she spent more time with Dennys, nursing
him through the chills and fever of his delirium, she saw
that the twins might look alike but they were definitely not
one boy in two skins.

The twins were often the topic of conversation in the
big tent in the evenings—how they were alike, and how
they were different. It was generally accepted that they
must be some strange breed of giant, from the other side
of the mountains. Although they were immensely tall, they
were also unbelievably young.

"Fifteen, he told me," Matred said one evening when it
was she who had taken the lamp to Grandfather Lamech,
and some of her special broth to Sandy. "Fifteen," she re-
peated to the others in the big tent. "At fifteen, our men
are still children. The Sand and the Den are not babies. I
simply do not understand."

"The Den is certainly not a baby," Yalith replied. "Now
that he is getting better, he is full of questions. He wants
to know what the herbs are that the pelican puts in the
water, and what the salves are made of."

"The Sand," Elisheba said, "wants to know where the
salves come from. They are certainly full of questions."
She laughed her hearty laugh and told them that Sandy
had wanted to know who ran the oasis- Was there a mayor?
Or a selectman?

The words had no meaning. Elisheba had told Sandy
that those who sought power were greedy, wanting gifts,
and bribes, and willing to steal from the poor. "Shem

123 ^^ The ncphilim

hunts for us all, and I help with the winemaking," she said
contentedly. "That is enough tor us. We have plenty to
eat, and to give to those in need. Matred is a good mother
to us all, with her fine sons and daughters."

"Mahlah and Yalith are not married yet," Matred
prodded.

"They are still young," Noah said.

"I thought the Voice told you—"

"Not about Mahlah and Yalith. They should have time
to grow up."

"I think," Matred said pointedly, "that Mahlah is grown
up."

Yalith sat on the cool, starlit stone, the echoes of the
evening's conversation still in her ears. She wondered if
Matred had noticed the swelling of Mahlah's belly—
Mahlah, whose betrothal to the nephil was not yet acknowl-
edged by her mother.

Yalith was so deep in thought that the stars had to hiss
at her to get her attention.

6 ^ Jidnarel and the quantum leap

Yalith looked up and saw a circle of strange animals. In
the center of the circle stood Mahlah, looking pale and
frightened. Her dark hair covered her breasts, her body.
Yalith started Eo cry out, to leap up and go to her sister,
but it seemed that a firm hand came across her mouth, held
her down on the rock.

The cobra uncoiled, hood spreading, swaying as though
to unheard music, then stretched up and up into the love-
liness of lavender wings, and amethyst eyes that reflected
the starlight. "I, Ugiel, call my brothers. Naamahl"

The vulture stretched its naked neck, until great black
wings and coal-black eyes in a white face were revealed.

"Rofocale!"

A shrill drone, a mosquito whine, and then there stood
on the desert a nephil with wings of Haming red and eyes
like garnets.

"Eisheth!"

The crocodile opened its mouth, showing its terrible
teeth. It appeared to swallow itself, and vomit forth a tall,
green-winged, emerald-eyed nephil.

125 "»^ Alinaret and the quantum leap

Yalith trembled as she saw the dragon/lizard.

"Eblis!"

He burst from his scales, beautiful; awe-inspiring.

"Estael!"

The cockroach scuttled a few inches and then burst
open and dust rose, and dissipated to reveal another of the
nephilim.

"Ezequen!" Theskink.

"Negarsanel!" The flea.

"Rugziel!" The worm.

"Rumael!" The slug.

"Rumjal!" The red ant.

"Ertrael!" The rat.

One by one, the creatures transformed themselves into
the nephilim with their white skin and brilliant, multi-
colored wings.

L'giel raised his arms- "I, Usiel, in the presence of my
brother nephilim, take to wife . Mahlah, penultimate
daughter of Noah and Matred."

Mahlah slowly moved toward him, was folded in the
great wings

Yalith fought for breath. Her chest felt constricted, and
she gasped for air.

Then she saw that there was another circle, outside the
circle of the nephiiim.

The pelican who daily brought water for her pitcher
stretched himself into the tall, bright personage with sil-
very hairand wings- "Alarid!"

Light seemed to flash against the bronze shell of the
scarab beetle, who rose up in a rush of golden wings and
burnished skin. "Adnarel!"

126 -s^ MANY WATERS

A tawny lion with a great ruff of fur about its neck rose
on its hind legs and stretched into its seraphic form.
"Aariel!" The golden tips of his wings glimmered in the
starlight.

A golden snake, as large as the cobra, but as bright as
the cobra was dark, called out as it was transformed,
"Abasdarhon!"

One by one, the seraphim called out their names as they
changed form. A golden bat shot up into the air. "Abdiel!"

A ruffled white owl widened its round silver eyes, and
the eyes were suddenly the silver eyes in a seraphim's face,
and moon-blue wings seemed to touch the sky. "Akatriel!"
A white leopard, swift as the wind, called, "Abuzohar!"
A soft, furred mouse rose, crying, "Achsah!."
By the mouse a tiger moved, stood, stretched. "Adabietl"
A white camel and a giraffe rose moments apart.
"Admael!"
"Adnachiel!"

Lastly, a white goose flew skyward, its wings changing to
snow-white. "Aalbielt"

There seemed a healing in the calling of their names.
Although the circle of seraphim was outside that of the

nephilim, when they spread their great wings to the fullest

span the wing tips touched.

Likewise, the nephilim raised their wings, turning so
that they faced the seraphim, and the glory of their wings
brushed.

"Brothers," Alarid said. "You are still our brothers."
Ugiel touched his lavender wings to Alarid's silver ones.
"No. We have renounced you and all that you stand for.

127 '^^ Adnarel and the quantum leap

This planet is ours. Its people are ours. We do not know
why you stay."

Aiarid replied firmly, "Because, no matter how loudly
you renounce us, we are still brothers, and that can never
be changed."

For a fragment of a second, Ugiel seemed more cobra
than nephil. Yalith choked back a scream. Mahlah, small
and frail, still stood in the center of the circle, protected
only by her dark hair.

Eblis, shimmering in and out of his dragon/lizard form,
touched wings with Aariel. "We have made our choice.
We have forsworn heaven."

"Then the earth will never be yours." Aariel was once
more a lion, and with a great roar he galloped away, van-
ishing into the far horizon.

The two circles broke up with a great flurry of brilliant

wings. Yalith blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she

i>
saw only a tall, lavender-winged nephil, with his arm ten-
derly about Mahlah—Mahlah, who was no smaller than
any other woman of the oasis, but who came barely to
Ugiel's waist.

Yalith sat on the rock, as though frozen into motionless-
ness. Ugiel's wings spread, wrapped gracefully, protect-
ingly, about Mahlah. Yalith thought she caught a whiff of
stone. Then there was a flash, not bright like the unicorns',
but a flash of darkness even darker than the night, and
then the desert in front of her was empty. Mahlah and
Ugiel were gone.

She cried out in fear-

128 ^^ MANY WATERS

"Little one," a gentle voice spoke behind her. "Why are
you afraid?"

She turned to see Eblis, his purple wings lifted so that
they seemed to mingle with the night sky.

"Mahlah—" she said. "I am afraid for Mahlah."
"Why fear, my precious? Ugiei will take care of her. As
I will take care of you. There are rumors on the oasis of
fearful things to come, the volcano erupting, the mountain
falling, earthquakes such as have never been felt before,

terrible heavings unlike the silly little tremors you hardly
notice."

She nodded. "I think my father is afraid. But what can
we do? If the volcano is going to erupt, there is no way we
can stop it."

"No. Nor can you run from it. But I will protect you."
"How?"

"Nephilim have powers. If you will come with me, I
will keep you safe."

"Come with you? Where?"

"I will make a home for you full of lovely things. You
will no longer have to steep on rough skins, still smelling
of animals. I will give you food and wine such as you have
never tasted. Come, my lovely little jewel, come with me."

"When—" She faltered.

"Now. Tonight."

She thought of the two circles, the seraphim and the
nephilim. It was Eblis who was offering her protection,
not Aariel. Mahlah had gone with Ugiei, not with Alarid.

"What about my family?" she asked. "What about my
twins?"

129 '^ts Adnarel and the quantum leap

"Only you," Eblis said. "That is as far as my powers

I extend."

*i

•  She looked up at the stars- Shook her head. "Twin Den
S still needs me."

"Love is patient," Eblis said. "I will wait. But I think
, that in the end you will come to me." His hand soothed
,:-her soft, burnished hair, and there was pleasure in his
touch.

She blinked, looked at the brilliant pattern of stars, and
:_ it seemed that she could see Sandy bowing to her in her
r grandfather's tent, could see Dennys holding her hand as
; the pain of his burns made him cry out.

Eblis touched her hair again. "I will wait."

Japheth came to visit Dennys, examined him carefully,
touching the remaining scabs, gently pulling off a flaking
strip of paper-thin skin. "You are better."

"Much better." Dennys smiled at him, and the smile no
longer seemed to crack the burned skin of his face. "1 go
out at night with Yalith and Oholibamah, and we listen to
the stars."

"It is good that you can hear the stars." Japheth sat be-
side Dennys on a pile of skins, putting his hands, stained
purple from winemaking, on his brown knees.

Dennys looked troubled. "They keep telling me to make
peace. At least, I think that is what I hear the stars saying
to me."

Japheth nodded. "Oholi told me. Peace between my
father and grandfather. Have you talked to my father
about his quarrel with Grandfather Lamech?"

130 'a^ MANY WATERS

"Yes, once when he came to visit me. But I didn't really
understand what their quarrel is about."

"Water," Japheth said flatly. "That is what most quarrels
on the oasis are about Grandfather has the best and deep-
est wells on the oasis, and he's letting his own gardens and
groves go to seed in his old age."

"But he lets you take all the water you need from his
wells, doesn't he?"

Japheth sighed, then laughed. "Oh, Den, the quarrel is
so old and stupid I think that both my father and grand-
father have forgotten what it is about. They are both stiff-
necked and stubborn."

"Your grandfather—what is he like? I mean, if he's so
old, is he able to take proper care of Sandy?"

"Oh, I'm sure he is. Grandfather Lamech is as hospitable
as our mother, and kind, and gentle. It was he who taught.
Yalith and me to listen to the stars, and to understand the
wind, and to love El." He sighed again. "Oh, Den, I'm
sorry to involve you in our family quarrel."

Dennys sighed, too He did not reply. He looked up at
the brazen sky, behind which were the stars And they had
already involved him.

He shivered.

Grandfather Lamech and Higgaion began taking Sandy
out in the daylight, not into the direct and brutal sunlight,
but in the shade of a thick grove. Like Dennys, Sandy wore
only a loinskin. His underclothes were folded with the
rest of his things, in case they were ever needed again. The

131 "<><: Adnarel and the quantum leap

loinskin, unlike his own clothes, could be scrubbed clean
with sand. and eventually discarded and replaced. He liked
the freedom of the loinskin, liked the way his own skin
had healed and was slowly turning a rosy tan.

Adnarel came by Grandfather Lamech's tent almost
every day, and as Sandy grew stronger and more willing to
accept, that he was not going to wake up in his own bed at
home, he grew more aware of his surroundings and of the
tender care given him by the tiny ancient man.

"Hey, Grandfather Lamech," he said one morning after
breakfast, "now that I'm better, it's time I stopped free-
loading."

The old man looked at him questioningly. "What's
that?"

"What can I do to help?" Sandy asked. "I've never done
any cooking, but isn't there stuff outdoors I could do to be
useful? At home, Dennys and I chop wood and mow the
lawn and we have this huge vegetable-garden."

At the mention of the garden, Lamech's eyes bright-
ened. "I have a. vegetable garden, and lately I have much
neglected it. Higgaion helps with the watering, but I am
too old for the long hours of work, and now there are great
weeds choking the plants."

"Let me at it!" Sandy cried. "Dennys and I are terrific
gardeners."

Grandfather Lamech's face creased into a broad smile.
"Not so fast, my son. The time for work in the garden is
in the earliest morning, and just as the sun is setting in the
evening."

132 's^- MANY WATERS

-Oh."

The old man laughed. "Truly, you do not want to go
out in the garden during the day, or you will be felled by
the sun all over again. But as soon as the sun drops be-
hind the palms I will show you the garden. I thank you,
dear my Sand. You have been sent to me by El—this I
believe."

"Hey, it's the least I can do," Sandy protested.

In the late afternoon, when the sun's rays were slanted,
Lamech and Higgaion led him past a small grove to the
garden, which was indeed in need of helping hands. Great
weeds of varieties Sandy had never before seen grew higher
than many of the vegetables. This was going to be a full-
time job. The weeds had deep roots, he discovered as he
tried to pull one up. He found a sharp stone and would
have started digging had Lamech not stopped him.

"You are not quite ready for such hard work, and it is
still hot. Tomorrow morning you can try coming out for
an hour."

"All right. It'll make me feel at home, working in a
garden again." Sandy knew that he did not have to win
Grandfather Lamech's approval, but he had a deep sense
of happiness that he could do something for the old man
who had been so kind to him. Despite the profusion of
weeds, the garden was lush with more vegetables than he
had ever seen before. —Too bad there was no way to can
or freeze them.

"We sun-dry some of these." Lamech pointed to a long
row of red ovals on tall, leafy stalks, and another of some-
thing purple that looked like eggplant but was twice the

133 "^^ Aclnarel and the quantum leap

height of the plants at home. If these people of the desert
were smaller than anyone Sandy had ever seen. their plants
were larger. "That way," the old man continued, "we can
eat them in the winter in soups and stews. I have groves of
fruit trees, too, that need pruning and harvesting. Japheth
and Oholibamah come when they can, to help me out, but
they have more than enough to do in my son's vineyards.
It must have been ordered in the stars that you should
come just as I have to accept that I can no longer manage
on my own." His face was joyful.

Sandy felt bathed in the old man's joy. There was cer-
tainly going to be no time for boredom. And if there was
plenty to do, there would be less time in which to worry
about getting home.

One morning Adnaret said, "The Den is much im-
proved."

Sandy nodded. "Good. But wfty do you call us the Sand
and the Den, as though Sands and Dens were some kind of
rare species?"

Adnarel's bright laugh pealed. "We picked it up from
Japheth. And to Japheth the Sand and the Den are indeed
rare species, of a kind never before seen on the oasis, or
indeed on any oasis roundabout. It is good that your head
is covered." Adnarel nodded approvingly at the woven
straw hat Matred had brought over one night with the
night-light. "Lamech tells me you are doing valiant work
in the garden."

Sandy pulled the hat firmly down on his head. "The
weeds are something else. We have weeds at home, but not

134 -»^ MANY WATERS

like these. But I'm getting rid of them, little by little. Hey-
Does your name, Adnarel, mean anything?"

"That I am in the service of the Maker of the Universe."

"Why are you sometimes Adnarel, the way you are now,
and sometimes you seem to be a scarab beetle?" Sandy
started to scratch his shoulder where skin still flaked,
stopped himself.

"I am not sure you will understand," Adnarel said. "The
scarab beetle is my earthly host."

"What on earth do you need an earthly host for?"

Adnarel sighed. "I said you might not understand."

"Hey." Sandy was indignant. "Dennys and I may not be
the geniuses of the family, but we're nobody's idiots."

"True," Adnarel agreed. "And I suspect that you also
understand that energy and matter are interchangeable."

"Well, sure. Our parents are scientists."

"On the other hand, you live in a time and place where
those like myself are either forgotten or denied. It was not
easy to get you to believe in a unicorn until the need was
desperate."

Unthinkingly, Sandy scratched his forearm, and shreds
of skin blew across the ground. "When you're in the scarab
beetle, can you understand everything we say?"

"Certainly."

"Then why do you bother to come out?"

"When I am in the scarab beetle, I must accept its
limitations."

Sandy grunted. "I think better when I have Dennys
around to bounce ideas off. When am I going to be able    ^
to see him again?"

135 '"^^ A dnarel and the quantum leap

"As soon as he is able EO be moved. Grandfather Lamech
has offered his hospitality. It is less noisy and crowded here
than in the big tent."

Sandy sighed. "People have been very kind to us. You.
too."

Adnarel smiled a smile so grave that it was not far from
a frown. "We do not yet know why you are here. There
must be a purpose to your presence. But we do not know
what it is." His eyes seemed EO shoot golden sparks at
Sandy. "Do you?"

"I wish I did," Sandy said. "It all seems to have been
some kind of silly accident."

"I doubt that," Adnarel said.

Noah came again to visit Dennys. "I am told that you
are nearly well."

"Yes. Thank you."

"Oholibamah says that yo if will soon be ready to be
moved."

Dennys felt a surge of panic. "Moved? Where?"

"To my father Lamech's tent. To be reunited with your
brother."

The panic subsided. "I would like that. Is it far?"

"Half the oasis."

The tent flap had been pegged open, and through it and
through the roof hole Dennys could hear the stars. Could
hear their chiming at him. "Will you take me?"

Noah pulled at his beard. "I do not go to my father's
tent."

"I don't understand."

136 -^y MANY WATERS

"It is his place to come to me."                                 -L'
"Why? Aren't you the son?"                                  '-s,
"He is old. He cannot care for his land as ie should be
cared for."                                                    's.

"I'm sorry, Father Noah. but I still don't see why you
won't help him."                                              *-

"I told you." Noah's voice was gruff. "I work long hours        -^
in the vineyard. There is not time for coddling the old
man."                                                       |-

"Is speaking to your father coddling, or whatever you
call tt? Sandy and I get mad at our father. He pays more       ;"-
attention to our sister and our little brother than he does       ^

&Q

to us, because they're the geniuses and we're only—but       ^
even when we're mad at him, he's stil! our father."                ^

"So?"

"When we get home, we're going to have a lot of ex-
plaining to do to our father. He will probably be very
angry with us."

"Why?"

"Well, we sort of got in the middle of something he was
working on."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Noah said.

"Neither do I, exactly," Dennys admitted. "The thing
is. we're going to have to talk to our father when we get
home. It would be a stupid thing if we tried to avoid him."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"Well—1 really do think you should talk with your
father."

"Umph."

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but it sounds to

1S7 'v>s' Adnarel and the quantum leap

me as though all this argument about wells and stuff has
gone on for so long it doesn't make sense anymore. And
he's an old man, and you're much younger, and you should
be strong enough to back down."

"Backing down is being strong?"

"It takes a lot of courage to say 'I'm sorry.' That's what
Sandy and I are going to have to say to our father when we
get home."

"Then why say it?" Noah growled.

"Because things won't be right between us till we do."

"You're too young to be telling me what to do." Noah
was testy. "You would not even be alive now if we hadn't
taken you in."

"That's true, and I am more grateful than words can
say." The stars chimed at him again. "Father Noah, please
go see your father, and make peace with him before he
dies."

Noah grunted. Rose. Walkeoout of the tent.

Dennys looked at the patch of velvet sky he could see
through the open flap. The stars were brilliant. And silent.

Tiglah, the red-haired, rubbed the juice of some red
berries on her lips, over her cheekbones. Took a stick of
wood which she had shredded at one end to make a brush,
and used it on her abundant curls. She had taken the worst
of the tangles out with her fingers, and the brush was only
to add sheen.

—I am beautiful, truly beautiful, she thought. —My
hair is as red as my nephit's wings. We are beautiful to-
gether.

138 '^^ MANY WATERS

A mosquito shrilled near her ear, lit on her neck, and
bit.

"Ouch!" she protested. "Why did you do that?"
The mosquito was gone, and a nephil, with wings like

name, stood before her. "Because you are indeed truly

beautiful. You are so beautiful I could eat you up."
She burst into tears. "Rofocale, don't bite me!"
The nephil laughed. "It was just a tiny bite. Tell me,

little Tiglah, have you seen again the young giant your

father and brother threw out of your tent?"

"No. I think the women from Noah's tent are nursing

him."

"Your sister?"
Tiglah laughed. "I wouldn't want to depend on Anah

if I needed nursing. The younger ones. Oholibamah and

Yalith. Anah is helpful when they need ointments, and—"
"How did he get into your tent in the first place?"
She pouted. "How would I know? I called for a unicorn,

and suddenly this pate young giant was there, too. I was
sorry they threw him out. I'd like to have had a chance to
talk with him."

"Tiglah, my beauty, you'll do anything I ask, won't
you?"

"As long as you don't ask me to do anything I don't want
to do."

"I want you to get to know this young giant. Find out
where he comes from, why he is here. Wilt you do that for
me?"

"With pleasure."
"Not too much pleasure," Rofocale chided. "I want him

139 '^K Adnarel and the quantum leap

to be attracted to you. I do not want you to be attracted
to him. You are mine. Are you not?"

She raised her lips to his. His lips were as red as hers,
although no berry juice had been rubbed on them.

"Mine," Rotocale purred. "Mine, mine, mine."

In the cool of the evening. Sandy sat on the low bench
made by the root of the old fig tree. Higgaion was curled
up at his feet, making little bubbles as he slept and
dreamed.

A man with a full brown beard flecked with white, and
with springing brown hair, strode toward him, turning in
from the public path and toward Grandfather Lamech's
tent. He went up to boy and mammoth. Stared. "You are
the Sand."

"I am Sandy. Yes."

"They cold me that you look like one boy in two bodies.
Now I believe them."

"Who are you?" Sandy asked curiously.

"I am Noah. Your brother is in one of my tents, and my
wife and daughters are taking good care of him."

"Thank you," Sandy said. "We're very grateful."

Noah continued to stare at him. "If I did not know that
the Den is in one of my tents, I would think that you were
he. How can this be?"

"We're twins," Sandy explained wearily.

"Twins- We have known nothing of twins before." He
paused and looked at Sandy, then at the tent. "Is my father
in his tent?"

Sandy nodded. "He's resting." Then he added. "But I

140 -^ MANY WATERS

know he'd be happy to see you." He wished he felt as cer-
tain as he sounded. Grandfather Lamech struck him as
being a very stubborn person, with his natural stubborn-
ness augmented by age.

Without speaking further, Noah went into the tent.
Noahl

Suddenly the name registered. Sandy had not heard
Noah called by name. Lamech referred to him, when he
spoke of him, as 'my son.' The women who came with the
night-light called him Father.

Noah.

The galaxies seemed to swirl. Sandy had been convinced
that he and Dennys had blown themselves somewhere far
from home, at least out of their own solar system, and
probably out of their own galaxy. If this Noah was the
Noah of the story of Noah and the flood, they were still on
their own planet. They had blown themselves in time,
rather than in space. And to get home from time might be
far more difficult than getting home from space, no matter
how distant.

But it seemed to fit. Desert people. Nomads, with tents.
Cattle. Camels. People used to be smaller than end-of-
twentieth-century people. Way back in pro-flood days it
was logical that they would be a great deal smaller. Hig-
gaion was small for a mammoth.

He put his head in his hands, suddenly dizzy.

Dennys sat with Japheth and Oholibamah, and with
Yalith, on one of the desert rocks. The sky was still flushed
with light. The first stars were trembling into being,

141 •"^•^ Adnaret and the quantum leap

Japheth looked at Dennys in the last light. "You talked
with my father."

"Yes."

"Oh, I'm so glad!" Yalith cried.

"Father has gone off somewhere," Japheth said. "In the
direction of Grandfather Lamech's tent."

Oholibamah looked up at the sky. "He will be happier
now. All of us will be happier. Where there is an unrecon-
ciled quarrel, everybody suffers."

Dennys looked troubled. "I'm not sure he really listened
tome."

"But you heard the stars," Oholibamah said, "and you
were obedient to their command."

Japheth added, "That is all anybody can do. Now it is
in El's hands."

Briefly, Dennys closed his eyes. —I hope Sandy doesn't
think I'm crazy. I hope / don't think I'm crazy. Obeying
stars, yet.

"I feel like running," Oholibamah said, and jumped
down and ran fleetly across the desert, Japheth following
her.

"Come!" Yalith called, and leapt from the rock. Dennys,
with his long legs, caught up with them easily, and sud-
denly he was holding hands with Yalith and Oholibamah,
and the four of them twirled in a joyous dance. Moonlight
and starlight bathed them. Dennys, leaping in the night,
felt more alive than he had ever felt before.

Sandy and Higgaion sat up, startled, as they heard a roar
from the tent. At first it seemed to be a roar of anger. Then

142 -^^ MANY WATERS

laughter. Then there was absolute silence. Sandy could
feel his heart beating faster. Higgaion's ears were lifted in
alarm. He raised his trunk.

"They wouldn't hurt each other, would they—" Sandy
spoke aloud- Higgaion stared at him out of bright, beady
eyes.

Then the tent flap was shoved aside, and Lamech and
Noah pushed through with difficulty, because they had
their arms about each other, and tears were streaming
down their cheeks.

Lamech's voice was so choked with emotion that the
words were muffled. "This my son was dead and is alive
again, was lost and is found."

Noah hugged the old man roughly. "This is my father,
my stubborn old father. We are two peas in a pod for
stubbornness." He looked at Sandy. "As you and the Den
are two peas in a pod."

"Hey," Sandy said, "I'm glad you two have made up."

"It was the Den," Noah said. "He just kept at me and at
me."

Sandy looked surprised. At home, at school, Dennys
seldom talked first. He followed Sandy's lead, but seldom
initiated anything- "Well. That's good."

"He is nearly healed now, too. Soon he will be able to
come to you. My father—" He paused. "I would be happy
to have the Den stay, but my tent is crowded, and noisy.
And my father has invited you to stay with him."

"That's terrific," Sandy said. "Thanks, Grandfather,
thanks a lot. And Dennys can help me with the garden."

"So we should celebrate," Noah said, and handed his

143 -&<<: A dnarel and the quantum leap

father a small wineskin. "There is not much of this, but it
is my very best."

"A little will suffice." The old man held the wineskin to
his lips, then smacked them m appreciation. "Indeed, your
very best." He handed the skin to Sandy, who took a small
sip, barely managed to swallow it without making a face.

"El has talked with you, too?" Lamech asked his son.

"He has. When El spoke, I used to understand what was
being said. Now it is all confusion. What does El say to
you?"

- Grandfather Lamech put his arm about his son's shoul-
ders. "El tells me these are end days."

"End of what?" Noah asked.

"Of all that we know, I think," the old man said. "It is
not just a question of moving our tents to where there is
more water and better pasture for your beasts. Sometimes

I, too, feel that the words are all confusion. El talks of

>>

many waters, but there is no water anywhere around, ex-
cept in the wells."

Sandy, sitting next to the old man, with the mammoth
lying nearby, shuddered. Grandfather Lamech, if he did
not die first, and Noah and his family, and a good many
animals, would be the only ones to escape drowning in the
great flood.

—I already know the story, he thought, and was glad
that the night hid his deep flush of embarrassment. It did
not seem right that he should know something that Grand-
father Lamech and Noah did not know.

But what did he know? Vague memories of Sunday
school. God, angry at the wickedness of the world, and

144 -^-^ MANY WATERS

sending a flood, but telling Noah to build an ark and
bring the animals on. And then there were terrible rains,
and finally a dove brought Noah a sprig of green, and the
ark landed on Mount Ararat- Not much of a story unless
you were part of it.

Was Grandfather Lamech in the story? He did not re-
member. Grandfather patted Sandy gently, his usual way
of expressing affection, and went on talking. In his concern
about the flood. Sandy lost track of the conversation. He
heard Grandfather Lamech saying, "My grandfather,

Enoch, was three hundred and sixty-five years, and then he
was not."

Sandy's ears pricked up. "What do you mean, he was
not?"

Grandfather Lamech said, "He walked with El. He was
a man of warm heart. And E! took him."

It was a weird story. "El took him? How?"

"I was only a boy," Grandfather Lamech said. "He—my
Grandfather Enoch was walking through the lemon grove
—the same lemon grove I will show you tomorrow—he
was walking through the lemon grove with El,- and then
they were not there."

If this was part of the story of Noah and the flood. Sandy
did not remember it. "Is it customary." he asked, "for
someone just to be not?"

Grandfather Lamech laughed. "Oh, dear, not at ail cus-
tomary. But my Grandfather Enoch was not an ordinary
man. He went away from us to be with El at a very young
age. He was only three hundred and sixty-five years old."

"That's exactly a solar year," Sandy said.

"A what?"

145 '^^ Adnarel and the quantum leap

"A solar year. For starters, it takes our planet three hun-
dred and sixty-five days to go around the sun."

"Nonsense," Noah said. "We don't go around the sun.
It goes around us."

"Oh," Sandy said. "Well. Never mind."

Grandfather Lamech patted his knee. "It is all right.
Things may be different where you come from. Do you
know E!?"

"Well, yes, sort of, though we say God."

Grandfather Lamech appeared not to have heard. "My
Grandfather Enoch—how I do miss him. El talks with me,
and sometimes I am able to understand, but I have never
been able to walk with El in the cool of the evening, like
two friends."

"What do you think happened to him, then, to Grand-
father Enoch?"

Lamech nodded and nodded, as though answering.
Finally he said, "El took him, and that is all I need to
know."

"Father," Noah said. "you talk with El more than any-
one I know."

"Because my years are long, my son. It was not always
so. I am glad indeed that you have come to. me before I
die."

"You're not going to die for a long time yet!" Noah cried.
"You will live as long as our forefather Methuselah."

"No, my son." Grandfather Lamech's arm about Noah's
shoulders tightened again. "My time is near."

"Perhaps El will take you, as he took Grandfather
Enoch."

Grandfather Lamech laughed again. "Oh, my son, I am

146 -s^ MANY WATERS

full of years, and now that; you have come to me, I am
ready to die. El does not need to take me in the same way
he took Grandfather Enoch."

Sandy looked at the two small men, hugging and laugh-
ing and crying all at the same time. It seemed likely that
Grandfather Lamech would die before the flood. How
soon? And how soon was the flood? He had come to love
Grandfather Lamech, who, with Higgaion, had nursed
him so tenderly.

—And what about Yalith? he wondered suddenly. He
did not remember her name in the story.

—And what about us, Sandy and Dennys? What would
happen to us if there was a flood?

7 w The seraphim

Sandy slept that night as usual on Adnarel's cloak. He
wondered if Adnarel knew about the coming flood and the
destruction of almost all life on earth. His arms tightened
about Higgaion, with whom he slept much as, when he
was a small boy, he had slept with his arms around a small
brown plush triceratops- His fingers moved through Hig-
gaion's shaggy hair, stroked a great fan of an ear. Felt
something hard. The scarab beetle-
It gave him a feeling of comfort, although he found it
difficult to associate the bronze beetle with the great
seraph. Well. Thinking about this could wait till morning.
Dennys was the thinker. Sandy the doer. The gentle tip of
Higgaion's trunk stroked the back of Sandy's neck, and he
relaxed into sleep.

Adnarel came in the morning, in his seraphic form.
Sandy said, "I've been thinking." After all, not only
Dennys could think.

Adnarel smiled. "Sometimes that is a good idea. Some-
times not."

148 ^s MANY WATERS

"Dennys and I are in the middle of Ehe story of Noah
and the flood, aren't weP"

Adnarel's azure eyes regarded him. "So it would seem."

"How are we going to get home?"

Adnarel shrugged his golden wings. "The way you ar-
rived, perhaps?"

"Somehow, I don't chink, that's going to be possible. In
the meanwhile, Dennys is in one of Noah's tents, halfway
across the oasis."

"That is true. But he is nearly ready to come to you."

"It's a long way. Is he strong enough to walk it?"

"Possibly."

"I was thinking maybe you could call a unicorn for
him."

"Certainly. That is a possibility."

"But then I thought"—Sandy's forehead wrinkled anx-
iously—"when we were riding the unicorns to the oasis,
he went out with the unicorn."

"That is no problem," Adnarel reassured him. "If we
should call a unicorn to bring him from Noah's tents to
Lamech's, and if, for some reason, they were both to go
out, then we would recall the unicorn to Grandfather
Lamech's tent, and Dennys would be here, too."

Sandy asked curiously, "If Dennys fell off the unicorn
right away, and if the unicorn went out of being with him,
could you call them to Grandfather Lamech's tent faster
than it would take them in, sort of, the ordinary way."

"Oh, certainly. Fear not."

"Wow. Wait till I tell our father. That's what he's
working on, traveling without the restrictions of time.
Tessering."

149 "s^ The seraphim

Adnarel nodded. "That is indeed one way of thinking
about it. Your father is on the right Crack."

Sandy wrinkled his brow in concentration. "Okay, then.
If Dennys and the unicorn went out, and then you called
them back into being, and they appeared here, that would
be a quantum leap, wouldn't it?"

"Tell me what you mean." Adnarel's azure eyes probed
Sandy.

"Well, it's like, oh, in particle physics—well, you can
measure a quantum where it is, but not on its journey
from there to here. At least—you can't measure a quantum
in both its speed and its place in space, not at the same
time. A quantum can be measured where it is, and then it
can be measured where it's got to. So—" He paused for
breath.

"So?" Adnarel asked, smiling.

"Oh, I wish Dennys was here. He could explain it better
than I can. But . . . when you call a unicorn into being,
you can see it, maybe measure it. But you can't measure it
when it's gone out. Not until you call it back into being.
So maybe that's what space and time travel is going to have
to be like. A quantum leap. Or what my father would call
a tesseract."

"You are an intelligent young man," Adnarel said.
"This is not easy to understand."

Sandy realized that he had closed his eyes, almost stopped
breathing, in order better to concentrate. He opened his
eyes, took in a deep gulp of air. "Can you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Tesser. Take a quantum leap."

Adnarel smiled again. "When I am in the scarab beetle,

150 -«^ MANY WATERS

as I have told you, I am limited by what limits the beetle.
When I am in my seraphic form, I have fewer limits."

"Can you get off this planet if you want to?" Sandy
asked. "I mean, can you travel to other solar systems or
other galaxies?"

"Oh, certainly. We are here because there is need. Our
brothers, the nephilim, cannot leave this planet. They
have lost some of their freedoms."

"Why?" Sandy asked-

But Adnarel was examining Sandy's healed skin, "You
are beginning to get a nice protective tan. When your
twin comes, each of you must spend a little time, and then
a little more, in the sun, until your skin can bear the rays
without burning. You must always remember to stay in
the tent during the noon hours. Even in the shade, you
can burn from the sun's reflection."

"I've been sunburned before," Sandy said. "Once when
our Scout troop went to the beach for the day, and we all
got burned. But it was nothing like this."

"I think you come from a more northerly part of the
planet," Adnarel said, "and this sun is younger than it is
in your time."

"And not so much pollution now between earth and
sun. Does anybody here ever have allergies?"

Adnarel smiled. "Allergies do not come until later."

"Hey," Sandy said. "Grandfather Lamech's grand-
daughter Yalith, the one with hair the color of you when
you're in the scarab beetle—why has she never come back
with the night-light? Why is it always somebody else?"

"Yalith has been busy, taking care of your brother."

1 5 I "^^ The -.eraphim

For a moment Sandy was washed over with a sick wave
of jealousy. He shook himself. If he and Dennys were not
interested in mythical beasts, neither were they interested
in gins. They went to the regional school dances, but
usually stuck with the other members of the hockey and
basketball teams. There was going to be plenty of time for
girls later. Sometime after they had their driver's licenses
and weren't dependent on parents to drive them. Some-
time when they met girls who were not silly and giggly and
showing off.

But Yalith was not silly or giggly and she did not show
off and she was not at all like any of the girls at school.
Even though he had been dizzy with fever that first night
in Grandfather Lamech's tent, his memory of Yalith was as
vivid as though she had come with the stone lamp the night
before. Her bronze hair had held sunlight even in the dark
shadows of the tent. Her body was tiny and perfect. Her
eyes, like her hair, held sunlight. Trying to keep his voice
level and not succeeding, for it cracked immediately, he
said, "Well, I wish Yalith would bring the night-light
tonight."

Adnarel looked at him, and Sandy blushed. He under-
stood why he was feeling the way he was feeling, and at the
same time he did not at all understand the way he was feel-
ing, and this conflicting mixture of emotion confused him.
His cheeks were as hot as they had been from fever and
sunburn He wondered how much Adnaret saw. But the
seraph looked at him calmly. "Now I have business else-
where. You worked very hard in the garden this morning
during the dawn hours. Good work. You may stay out for

152 -^ MANY WATERS

fifteen more minutes. I will send my griffin friend to tell
you when it is time to go inside "

"What's a griffin?"

"Ah, yes, I forget again," Adnarel said. "A griffin is a
mythical beast."

"Not like the manticore. I hope." Sandy was not likely
to forget the manticore.

"Griffins have a larger vocabulary than the manticore.
Some of them can be fierce, but my friend is as gentle as
a lamb."

"What does he look like?"

"She is half lion, half eagle."

"Which half is which?" Sandy's mind for the moment
wasoffYalith.

"Her front half is that of an eagle, her rear half that of
a lion. She can fly like an eagle, and she has the strength
of a lion." Adnarel turned and strode through Grandfather
Lamech's grove of royal palms, date palms, coconut palms,
scrub palms, all of which blocked the hot wind and pro-
vided such a thick shade that Sandy felt comfortably cool.
He lay back and looked at the vast expanse of sky, then
quickly shut his eyes against the glare.

At home the summer sky was blue, and the blue was
made brighter by the white cumulus clouds. Except for an
occasional grey day, the sky was constantly in motion, pro-
tected by the encircling hills. Here the sky stretched naked
from horizon to horizon, licked by volcanic flames, burning
in the sun.

A shadow deeper than the shadow of the trees fell across
his face. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the griffin.

153 ^"^ The seraphim

Instead, a young woman was looking down at him. He
caught his breath. She was the most spectacularly beautiful
girl he had ever seen Tiny, like all the people of the oasis.
She wore a white goatskin which covered one shoulder.
Her hair was a sunburst ot red. Her eyes were almond
shaped and as green as the spring grass at home Her body
was perfect, her skin the color of a peach.

"Hello!" she said, looking at him with a radiant smile.
"I'm really glad to see you again."

Sandy looked at her in astonishment.

"You haven't forgotten me, have you? I'm really sorry
for what happened, when my father and brother . .."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sandy could
not keep his eyes off her.

"About when you suddenly appeared in our tent, and
my father and brother . . ." Again her words trailed off, as
though she didn't want to finish the sentence.

"I've never been in your tent." Sandy was confused. "I've
only been out of Grandfather Lamech's tent to work in the
garden. —Oh. Maybe you mean my brother."

She opened her eyes wide. Her lashes were long and
dark and beautiful. "Your brother?"

"My twin brother," Sandy said. "We do look very much
alike."

"You haven't been staying in one of Noah's tents?"

"No. That's my brother Dennys."

"Oh. Who are you, then?"

"I'm Sandy."

"Well, then. Sandy, I'm very happy to meet you, and
I'm glad you're being nicely cared for."

154 "*^ MANY WATERS

"What's your name?" Sandy asked.

"I'm Tiglah. I'm Anah's sister."

"Anah?"

"Ham's wife. Noah's daughter-in-law. And I'm Mahlah's
friend. Do you know Mahlah?"

"No."

"Mahlah is Noah's daughter, the next-to-the-youngest-
Yalith is the youngest. Mahlah is the beauty of that family.
We've been giving Yalith and Oholibamah salves to help
heal your brother. Oh, dear, this is confusing. I mean, I
was really startled to find you here, instead of at Noah's,
and then you aren't you at all, I mean you're not the one
who appeared in my father's tent that night and who . . -
Giants who look alike! And have no wings . . ."

Sandy sighed. "In our time and place we're not any-
where near as tall as giants. We're just tall, and we prob-
ably haven't even finished growing."

"You aren't as white of skin as the nephilim, and you
don't have wings, but you're as tall as they are. And as
handsome, in a different sort of way." She reached out and
stroked his face. Then she bent closer, and he was half-
fascinated, half-repelled by the strong odor of perspiration
mingled with heavy perfume. She had rubbed something
red onto her lips and over her cheekbones. It looked like
the juice of some kind of berry. She bent closer and
brushed her lips against his.

"Hey!" Sandy protested.

"You're sweet, you know," she said. "You're really sweet.
You're young, aren't you?"

Sandy said, stiffly, "We're adolescents."

155 '^^ The seraphim

"What's that?"

"Teenagers."

She shook her head. "The nephilim don't have any age
at all. They just are. But they've been around. There isn't
anything they don't know."

Sandy sighed. "Well, I'm not iike the nephilim."

Her lips touched his again, warm and fruit-smelling.

A bird's scream cut across the sky. Above them was the
shadow of two dark, flapping wings, then a thud, and a
nailing of a long, ropy tail, as the griffin landed. Out of the
beak came a negative squawk which was quite evidently
"No, no, no." And another squawk which sounded very
'like "Tigtah."

Tiglah leaned against the trunk of a tall palm, stretch-
ing her arm up to reveal her figure to perfection. "Go
away, griffin. I like this young giant, and I think he likes
me."

The griffin cried an eagle cry^ and pushed herself be-
tween Tigiah and Sandy. Her beak opened. "Go, go, go."

"No, no, no," Tiglah mimicked. "He's just fine right
here with me to tend him. The other one that looks like
him has Yalith and all those other women hovering over
him- It's only tair that he should have some female care,
too, isn't it. Sandy?"

Before he could answer, the griffin had gently but firmly
pushed Tiglah toward the path.

"You'd better not hurt me!" she shouted indignantly.
"Rofocale is my friend."

From the griffin's beak came a sound very much like a
mosquito shrilling. Tiglah kicked at it, hitting just where

156 -s^ MANY WATERS

eagle and lion joined. Her toenails were long and sharp.
The lion's tail flicked back and forth in irritation. Then
the griffin pushed at Sandy, urging him toward the tent.

"I don't want to go in yet." Sandy looked at Tiglah's
smiling green eyes.

Tiglah's voice was cajoling. "Wouldn't you like to come
with me to one of the bathhouses?"

"Bathhouses with water?" Sandy asked eagerly. Dirt
from the garden was deep in his nails, and he could not
clean it all off with sand.

"Water? Whatever for?" she asked.

"To bathe in."

"Goodness no!" She sounded shocked. "What an un-
healthy idea! We bathe by being rubbed with oil, and we
have lovely perfumes that cover all the bad smells." She
giggled. "Whoever heard of bathing with water?"

Sandy felt himself being propelled toward the tent by
the griffin. He was not sure how he felt about bathhouses
with no water, and where perfume covered the bad smells,
any more than he was sure about Tiglah. There was no-
body remotely like her in school or in the village. She gave
him a pleasurable prickly feeling. And, as she had pointed
out, Dennys was being tended by Yalith.

The griffin pushed him into the tent.

Grandfather Lamech was waiting for him with a bowl
of soup. He looked smaller than ever, and incredibly an-
cient. His hand, holding the bowl. shook slightly. Sandy
looked at him anxiously.

He said, "Sand dear, you're late."

"Sorry. Grandfather Lamech. I was talking to a girl."

157 -fc<c The seraphim

Grandfather Lamech asked, suspiciously, "What girl?"

"Her name is Tiglah, and she's the sister of one of
Noah's daughters-in-law."

"Anah's sister," the old man said. "Be careful, Sand."

"She's beautiful," Sandy said. "I mean, she is absolutely
gorgeous."

"That may be," Grandfather Lamech said. "But it is not
enough."

Sandy thought the subject had better be changed. "I'm
thirsty. The soup was great, Grandfather, but is there any-
thing cool to drink? Water?"

The old man shook his head. "I can give you some fruit
Juice. Water is too precious to waste it in drinking. You do
not have wells where you come from?"

"Sure we do," Sandy said. "There isn't any town water
where we live, and we have an artesian well."

"And your water just keeps on coming?"

"Well, in the autumn when it hasn't rained for a while,
we aren't allowed to take long showers, and our parents
warn us not to flush the toilet every time we use it—"

"The what?"

"Sorry," Sandy apologized. "I keep forgetting." Grand-
father Lamech was tidier about his body's needs than
many of the people on the pathways near his compound.
Sandy had been requested courteously to go to a small
grove which drained onto the desert, whenever he needed.
But many people used no special place at all. When Sandy
had wandered away from Grandfather Lamech's, and onto
the public path, he had seen that the streets were full of
human dung as well as camel dung, goat dung, cow dung.

158 ^^ MANY WATERS

Perhaps the fierceness of the sun burned away things that
would cause disease. He'd have to ask Dennys. Dennys
knew more about sanitation and viruses and germs than
Sandy did. Although, if he went into environmental law
when he grew up, he'd have to learn about such things.

Grandfather Lamech gave him a bowl of still-unfer-
menied grape juice, and Sandy drank it thirstily. He sniffed
at the pot sitting in the banked embers of the fire- Grand-
father Lamech cooked in the cool of the night, then set the
pot in the ashes, where it kept comfortably warm.

"Smells good. Grandfather Lamech. What is it?"

"Pottage," the old man said.

"What's that?"

"Lentils, onions, and rice, well seasoned."

"Hey, I'm going to have to tell my mother how to make
that when I get home." A brief wave of homesickness en-
veloped him as his mind's eye saw the lab, and a casserole
of pottage cooking over the Bunsen burner.

Higgaion, too, sniffed. He had his own bowl, and he ate
the same food as Sandy and the old man.

Grandfather Lamech seemed daily more tottery. If
Dennys came to the tent, would it be too much for him?

But now that Noah and Lamech were reconciled, Noah
not only came to Lamech's tent to talk, he brought great
kettles of food, skins of wine, bunches of grapes. And the
two men laughed and cried, and Noah hugged his father.
"Oh, my father, you must live forever!"

And Lamech did not answer.

In the end, Dennys was to cross the oasis on a camel, a
white camel with a long, supercilious nose, sneering rub-

159 -vs The seraphim

bery lips, and extraordinary gentian eyes, shaded by long
lashes.

Noah had cut his foot on a sharp stone, and Matred
forbade him to accompany Dennys. "Now that you and
your father are reconciled, do you want to spoil everything
with an infected foot? It is healing well, but the public
paths are full of filth. You are not to leave the tent until
it has healed."

"Women," Noah grunted. But he obeyed Matred.

"Our Den will be all right," she reassured him. "If he
is in the care of the seraphim, he will reach Grandfather
Lamech safely."

Alarid, the seraph whose host was the pelican, and who
brought water to the tent for Dennys; Alarid, who had
warned him not to change anything, came with another
seraph. This one had wings of pale blue, and eyes like
moonstones, a deeper, brighter blue.

"So," Alarid said to Dennys, not quite accusingly, "you
have already made changes."

"But I haven't!" Dennys expostulated.

"You persuaded Noah to go to his father, when he would
listen to no one else."

"I didn't really say ail that much," Dennys said. "I sort
of just listened to the stars. So I wasn't really the one—"

"I am not here to accuse you," Alarid said. "We are full
of joy that Lamech and Noah are speaking again, and it
may well be that it was necessary for your brother to pre-
pare the old man for reconciliation." He indicated the
other seraph, who had been standing quietly listening.
"This is Admael."

The seraph did not extend his hand. Seraphim evidently

160 MANY WATERS

did not shake hands. Admael bowed, and Dennys returned
the bow-

Together, the two seraphim carefully examined Dennys.
"Yalith and Oholibamah have taken excellent care of you,"
Aland said.

Admael nodded in quiet approval.

"They've been marvelous," Dennys agreed- "1 think I'd
be dead it they hadn't." The scabs were long gone trom his
skin. He could run across the desert without tiring. He
knew that it was time.

He looked at Alarid. "And you, too. Thank you." He
bowed to the seraph.

"Admael will carry you to Grandfather Lamech's tent,"
Alarid said.

Admaei's moonstone eyes beamed toward Dennys. "I
will wait outside." With a grave look, the seraph left.

"I should thank everybody." Dennys hesitated. He was
eager to be with Sandy again, yes, and yet he was not at
all eager to leave Yalith. And, of course, Oholibamah and
Japheth. If he went to Grandfather Lamech's tent, would
he ever see Yalith again? Would her delicate fingers slide
confidingly into his hand the way they did when she took
him out at night to listen to the stars, or when they danced
under the desert sky?

"Fear not," Alarid said. "I have thanked them for you,
all of them, Noah and Matred, Shem and Elisheba, Ham
and Anah, Japheth and Oholibamah, and oh, yes, Yalith,
too. In any event, you will be seeing them frequently. Now
that Grandfather Lamech and Noah are reconciled, there
will be much coming and going between the two tents. Are
you ready?"

1 6 I "s^ The seraphim

"Ready." He would see Yalith again. Surely she would
come to Grandfather Lamech's tent to visit him. Surely he
would teei the touch of her delicate fingers.

He followed Alarid out of the tent. Night had fallen,
and the sky was crusted with stars. He was getting used to
the pattern of early rising, the long afternoon nap, and
going late to sleep when the fiery sands had cooled down
and the very air had lost its burning quality.

He looked for Admael, but there was no seraph. Instead,
a white camel stood in the dim shadow of the tent.

Noah was waiting for him, standing by the camel, lean-
ing on a stick, his foot bound in a clean skin. "This is not
goodbye, my son. We are all eager to see you and the Sand
together. Then maybe we will believe that you really are
two. The seraphim has looked at my foot and says that I
will be able to walk on it safely in a couple of days." He
held out his hand, palm up. "Put your foot there, and I
will help you up onto the camel's back. Even for a young
giant like you, a camel's back is a long way up."

The camel had no real saddle, but heavy skins were
spread on its back. Dennys was not at all sure how easy it
was going to be for him to stay seated. There was nothing
for him to hold on to. no reins, no pommel. But Admael
in his camel form seemed to be a real flesh-and-blood
camel, not nebulous, like the virtual unicorns. He did not
think the camel would lose its tendency to life-

Matred came hurrying out of the tent, carrying a bun-
dle, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Here are your
clothes. Perhaps, sometime, you will need them. Goodbye,
our dear twin. We will miss you."

And suddenly he was surrounded by the entire family,

162 ^^ MANY WATERS

weeping, laughing, reaching up to the camel's flanks to
hug Dennys's feet, which was as close to him as they could
reach, even on tiptoe.

Japheth had his arm around Oholibamah, and Yalith
was standing with them. They blew him kisses, which he
blew back, and then, without warning, the camel took off,
and everybody called after them, "Goodbye, twin Den,
goodbye, and we'll see you soon!"

"Goodbyel" he called in return, trying to wave at them
without falling off.

The camel turned off the oasis onto the desert as the
calls faded into the distance. Dennys clutched the bundle
of clothes Matred had given him—what remained of his
clothes after he had thrown away the ones fouled in the
garbage pit. He could not imagine ever needing winter
clothes again. He could not imagine going farther than
Lamech's tent, where he and Sandy would be reunited.

He remembered reading somewhere that to ride a camel
was like being on a small ship rolling in rough seas, and
that seemed to him to be a very good description. He bent
over and clutched the white hair on the camel's neck, try-
ing to let his body swing with the camel's odd rhythm. A
soft night breeze only faintly gritty with sand touched his
cheeks. Above them, the desert stars gave out a cooling
light. In the distance the mountain smoked, and the hori-
zon burned red. Dennys was glad the oasis was as far away
as it was from the still active volcano.

The camel lurched swiftly across the desert. Dennys
found that the more he leaned into the animal's synco-
pated rhythm the less tendency he had to slither off. The
camel was going with such speed that it would be halfway

163 •^c The seraphim

across the desert before it realized that Dennys had fallen,
so he'd better hang on.

He tried to breathe in time with the arhythmic ride. He
would be incredibly sore in the morning- This was far
harder on the muscles than riding a horse. He noticed a
shift in pace, a quickening of rhythm. He clutched at the
camel's neck, barely managing to hold on. Barely. He be-
gan to slip to one side, with the skins under him sliding
with him.

The white camel was racing across the desert. Suddenly
Dennys realized that the sound of camel's hooves on sand,
on stone under sand, was echoed by another sound.

A voice from close behind them roared, "Hungry!" and
Dennys felt a breath so hot that it seared. He felt himself
slipping farther and farther off the camel, until he was
clinging to the side. and then he realized that the camel
had turned, so that it was between Dennys and whatever
it was that was roaring. He found himself sliding so that
he was head down, peering under the camel's belly.

Something was peering at him from the other side of the
camel. A face. Whiskers. A bulbous nose. Bleary eyes.
Horns which curved down, with sharp, wicked points.
Dennys looked for the body that belonged to the face and
saw, instead, a lion's body. Looked along the lion's body
to where the tail should be and saw, instead, a scorpion's
tail, its sting rattling. He had never seen anything like it
before. He did not want to see it now. Clutching the
camel's white hair, he tried to struggle up onto its back
again.

The camel whickered, and continued to race across the
desert.

164 -^E MANY WATERS

"Hungry!" the creature roared.

Dennys felt very small. Very young. Very afraid. "Is it
going to eat me?"

The camel glanced back at Dennys, the gentian eyes
enigmatic.

"Hey!" he protested. "Aren't you going to stopif?"

The huge face loomed over the camel's back. "Hungry!"
it roared again. The enormous lips opened, to reveal a
double set of ugly, stumpy teeth, which looked as though
they had been worn down from gnawing. The purplish lips
opened.

Dennys pulled at the camel's hair- "Hey. Help." The
ugly creature's breath came closer. The bloodshot eyes
were looking directly at Dennys's grey ones. He tried to
stare it down. The tongue, thick but long as a snake's,
flicked toward him. He drew back, shielding himself with
the camel, but the man/lion/scorpion bounded over the
camel's back, landing on the sand beside Dennys.

"Camel!" he shouted. "Please be Admael!" He side-
stepped away from the monster.

Again the camel agilely placed itself between Dennys
and the creature. Gave Dennys a glance. Dennys remem-
bered that seraphim did not like to interfere or change
things.

"Hey!" he shouted. "If he eats me, won't that change the
course of things?"

With a flash of lightning almost like the unicorn's, the
camel stretched its whiteness up to the sky, seeming to
brush against the stars, to catch blue fire, and then Admael
stood beside Dennys. "Go, manticore, go quick'ly. And

165 ^"^ The seraphim

don't go to any of the tents- And don't even think of eating
any of the mammoths. Do your hunting in the desert."

Tears began to trickle down the manticore's cheeks,
dampening its scraggiy beard.

"And don't try to make me feel sorry for you." Admael
paused. "Though I am sorry for you. You appear to be one
of nature's more peculiar efforts."

The manticore turned, head drooping, and with its
lion's body it padded across the desert, scorpion sting
clacking as it went.

"Wow!" Dennys said. "That was a close call."

"Not really. Manticore's courage is as skimpy as its
vocabulary." Admael picked up the skins which had served
as saddle. "Let's go." Dennys looked at him questioningly.
"It isn't far. I've been running parallel to the oasis. Can
you walk a little?"

"Sure." He'd just as soon walk as be bounced around
on the camel's back. But he asked, curiously, "You're not
going to be a camel?"

Admael had slung the skins over one shoulder. "Not
now. It takes considerable energy to transfer. We do not
like to waste power when it is not necessary. The manti-
core is basically a coward, but there may be other dangers
in the night desert. It's best that we keep moving."

Admael glanced upward, and when Dennys looked sky-
ward, he saw the dark wings of a vulture blotting out the
stars in swift circles.

The circie of the nephilim was dark against the desert,
a dark shot with flames brighter than those from the

i66 -^^ MANY WATERS

mountain as they flickered in and out of their animal hosts
in a show of power. They spoke from their nephil forms
in bursts of primal energy, reverting in negative lightning
to their animal hosts, and bursting with bright wings again
in order to speak.

The crocodile opened its enormous jaws, then lifted
green wings as it stretched skyward. "What are they doing
here?"

"What are they?" Pewter wings faded like smoke and a
rat's tail swished back and forth over the sand.

There was a sulfurous smell as the nephilim flickered in
and out, charging the air. "Not true giants." Red wings
and hair flamed in the hot wind and then a mosquito
whined shrilly.

"Not one of us." Purple wings misted and the dragon/
lizard stretched its useless wings.

"Though they speak the ancient tongue."

"They burn in the sun."

"They can't change form."

"Young. Infants."

"Almost men, though."

"They don't belong here."

"What to do with them?" Bronze wings dissolved and
shrank with a tearing sound as the cockroach lifted its
armored wings.

"Do we let them live?" Great garnet wings dimmed the
clouds, dropped with a sharp crack, and the red ant's small
body cast a dark shadow in the starlight.

Flicker. Flame. Shadow. In and out in prideful bursts
of energy.

167 ^s- The seraphim

"Ummm," moaned the nephil who was the cobra.
"Maybe we promise them that they will live."

"Ummm, kkk." The vulture appeared briefly and
clicked its beak. Then dark wings shadowed the stars.
"Power. Put them in our power."

Yellow wings puffed into sulfur and the flea leapt from
the dragon/lizard to the vulture, then raised wings high.
"Power. That's right."

?     "Temptation," the dragon/lizard nephil suggested.

y

f    "Temptation. Good." And the mosquito droned.

f    "Lust," suggested the cobra, and the nephil's face was

i whiter than the sand.

^    "Ummm. Lust," agreed the vulture. "Kkk. Lust."

f,     "We'll sleep tomorrow in the heat of the day." The re-
S,'- united Sandy and Dennys sat outside Grandfather La-
|| mech's cent as the stars wheeled across the sky. The old
t man had gone in, after having sat outside with them to eat
a fresh mess of pottage, and to prepare bowls of fig juice.

Higgaion was curled in the star shade of the tree, his
flanks heaving in and out as he slept, occasionally twitch-
ing in dreams.

"Noah and Matred have a mammoth called Selah,"
Dennys said. "Usually she sleeps by Yalith's sleeping skins,
but sometimes she came into my tent and slept with me.
It was weird being without you." Dennys wriggled his bare
toes in the sand.

"Yeah," Sandy agreed. "It was weird for me, too. Higgy
and Grandfather Lantech have been very good to me." He
wanted to ask about Yalith. But something stayed his

168 -s^ MANY WATERS

tongue. He said, instead, "I love Grandfather Lamech.
You will, too "

"He seems okay," Dennys agreed. "I'm glad Japheth
was the first person we saw. Otherwise, I'd suspect every-
body of being like those awful people who threw me out
of their tent into the town dump."

"It sounds rough."

"Well, everybody in Noah's tenthold was wonderful to
me."

"Dennys." Sandy was suddenly somber. "Do you remem-
ber the story? The story of Noah and the ark?"

Dennys shifted uncomfortably. "The story we got blown
into. At first I thought we were in some way-out solar
system."

"It might be easier if we were," Sandy said. "Grand-
father Lamech sent me into town today to trade fruit for
lentils. I passed a lot of people. They're all going to be
drowned."

Dennys looked at the glow of the volcano on the horizon.
"I know. Everybody except Noah and Matred, Shem and
Elisheba, Ham and Anah, Japheth and Oholibamah.'

Now Sandy's voice cracked. "What about Yalith?"

Dennys managed to keep his voice from soaring. "I don't
know. But I don't think Oholibamah, Elisheba, or Anah
are called by name in the story. Matred isn't, either." His
voice jumped an octave. "Nor Yalith. At least as far as I
can remember. I wish we had a Bible."

"It was a very patriarchal society," Sandy said. "I do
remember that."

"Meg would call it chauvinistic," Dennys said. "Who-
ever wrote the Bible was a man. Men."

169 '^e- The seraphim

"I thought it was supposed to be God. Wasn't that what
we were taught in Sunday school?"

"When we were little maybe. The thing is, the Bible
was set down by lots of people over lots of years. Centuries.
It's supposed to be the Word of God, not written by God."

"Okay," Sandy said, "but nobody ever mentioned that
there were twins named Sandy and Dennys Murry with
Noah and his family."

"Do you have any idea," Dennys ventured, "when the
rains are supposed to start?"

Sandy shook his head. "No, I don't. And I don't know
how we're going to get out of here and go home. Do you?"

"I thought you might have thought of something to do,"
Dennys said.

"I don't have a clue. You pay more attention than I do
when everybody goes on at the dinner table about tesser-
ing and red shifts and mitochondria and farandolae and
stuff."

"Mitochondria." Dennys looked at his twin. "Do you
remember when something was wrong with Charles Wal-
lace's mitochondria, and we thought he was going to die?"

"We went out to the vegetable garden," Sandy said.

"Because we had to do something."

"Even though we knew it didn't have anything to do
with helping Charles Wallace get well."

"But it was something to do."

They were silent for a dark space. Then Sandy said,
"Well, we can do it again, work in a garden. Grandfather
Lamech has this huge vegetable garden—I mean, you've
never seen such gigantic plants. And weeds. I've pulled up
a mountain of weeds, wait and see, and I've hardly made a

170 's^c MANY WATERS

dent. And then there are his groves to prune and water.
There's plenty to do. Whether it helps anything or not."

Under them the ground trembled slightly, but by now
they were both so used to the shifting and sliding of the
young planet that they hardly noticed. "Well. That's good.
The garden, I mean. As long as we don't get sunstroke
again."

"Oh, we work only in the early morning and the eve-
ning. Grandfather Lamech is very careful about that."

"Good, then."

"Yes, but none of that gets us home. What do we do
now?" Sandy was asking himself, rather than his twin.

"I think," Dennys spoke slowly, "that we don't do any-
thing. I mean, this is way outside our experience."

"Outside anybody's experience," Sandy added. "I think
you're right. We wait. With our eyes and ears open." He
looked over to where Higgaion was sleeping. The scarab
was not in its usual place on Higgaion's ear. Therefore, he
thought, Adnarel must be somewhere else. Doing what?

"We wait," Adnarel said. "To do anything is to make
changes, to cause a paradox."

"Does not their very being here in itself constitute a
paradox?" Alarid, who was sometimes a pelican, asked.

Admael, who had earned Dennys across the desert, said,
"They have already made changes. The boy, Dennys,
caused Noah to reconcile with his father, when it seemed
that nothing would ever make that come about."

Adnachiel, his wings as sunny as the hide of his giraffe
host, said, "Perhaps the boy Sandy played a part."

171 The seraphim

Aalbiel, with wings as white as those of a snow goose.
asked, "Could they have been sent for this?"

Aanel, tawny as a lion, said softly, "We do not know.
Perhaps they are part of the pattern."

Abdiel, sometimes a golden bat, spoke equally softly.
"There are many things that even the angels in heaven do
not know. And we have chosen—"

"Been chosen," Abasdarhon, whose host was the golden
snake, corrected.

"Accepted being chosen," Akatriel, whose eyes were as
round and wise and fierce as an owl's, corrected further.

"—to stay with the children of humankind," Abdiel con-
tinued. "Therefore, we have relinquished some of our
powers and there is much that we do not know."

Abuzohar, who was sometimes a white leopard, inclined
his head, his face luminous as the moon. "As long as the
One knows, there is no need for us to know."

Achsah, with wings and hair the soft grey velvet of his
mouse host, nodded. "They are innocent boys, for the
children of men. Likable. And they speak the Old Lan-
guage."

Adabiel, orange wings vivid as the tiger, agreed. "Good
in their hearts. And they brought out Noah's goodness-
Could that be pan of the plan?"

Admael said, "We still have no real idea why they are
here, or how they are to be returned to wherever it is they
come from."

Adnachiel, sometimes a giraffe, looked up at the stars-
"We willingly gave up some of our powers when we chose
to stay on this planet."

172 '&^ MANY WATERS

"We do not have to stay." Abdiel's seraphim wings were
as bright a gold as his bat ones. "We are free to leave at
any time and to resume our full powers."

Adnarel threw off light like the sun flashing against the
scarab beetle. "It was our free choice. And now—I would
not leave while they—the twins—are still here."

"We may not be able to save them," Aland warned.

"Then I will stay with them," Admael said, for a frac-
tion of a second looking more like a white camel than like
a seraphim.

Eleven luminous heads slowly nodded in agreement with
Admael.

8 ^ Oholibamah, Japheth's wife

Mahlah and Tiglah were waiting near Grandfather La-
mech's ancient fig tree. Mahfah's belly was softly rounded.
Tiglah was round by nature, all soft curves and delicate
plumpness that had not yet run to softness, as Anah's was
doing.

The twins came from the garden, where they had weeded
two long rows of plants which might have been torebears
of tomatoes, and pulled off the suckers. Higgaion was in
the tent with Grandfather Lamech- The twins did not see
Mahlah and Tiglah until the two girls came to meet them.
Tiglah walked slowly toward Sandy. She tossed her head
so that her red hair new about her face. She lowered the
heavy fringes of her lashes. "I'm sorry my father and
brother didn't treat you better when you appeared in our
tent that time." She paused, and added virtuously, "They
have to be very careful that strange men don't take advan-
tage of me." Then she stopped. "Am I speaking to the
right one?"

"No," Dennyssaid.

Mahlah fluttered her small hands like birds. Her dark

174 -s^ MANY WATERS

hair concealed her swollen belly. "But which one of you
was guest in my father's tent?"

Sandy stepped forward. "My brother Dennys. You're
Yalith's sister?"

"Yes. Mahlah. But I am LJgiel's bride and no longer live
in the home tent."

Sandy looked at her, thinking that although Mahlah was
beautiful, it was in an obvious way; she had none of the
subtle loveliness he associated with Yalith. Tiglah's flashy
beauty was almost an assault. He still didn't know what to
make other. "Tiglah?"

She giggled, so that dimples came and went on either
side of her reddened lips. "Don't you remember me?"

"You were talking to me the other day, before the griffin
came."

"Yes, and the silly griffin interrupted us. I think she was
jealous. But she's not here now. Would you like to come
with us?" She turned from Sandy, to include Dennys in the
invitation.

"Where?" Dennys asked suspiciously. His first encounter
with Tiglah's family had made him far more cautious
than Sandy had cause to be. He did not trust her, nor,
indeed, any of the small people who did not come from
Noah'stenthold.

Mahlah, unlike Tiglah, was not a giggler. She smiled.
"We'd like to get to know you better. My father thinks the
world of you. So let's go fora little walk."

Dennys looked at the sky, which was already beginning
to shimmer with heat. "It's too hot. Thank you, anyhow."

Tiglah pushed her fingers through her curls, so that they
glinted with gold in the sunlight. She, too, looked at the

175 -^ff Oholibamah,Japheth'swife

sky. "It's not going to be really hot until the sun is above
the palm trees." She turned her dimpled smile toward
Sandy. "We'd really love to show you around a little. You
haven't seen much of the oasis."

Sandy stepped forward. He had not enjoyed his brief
excursions onto the public path, but if Tiglah and Mahlah
were there to show them where to go, it might be fun. It
was time to go farther than Grandfather Lamech's com-
pound and the nearby shops. "Well—"

"You go, if you like." Dennys was firm. "I nearly died of
sunstroke, and I'm keeping out of the sun."

Sandy looked at his brother, noticing the still pinkly
mottled skin. "I'm sorry. My skin's all healed. I forgot—"

"You go, if you like," Dennys repeated.

Sandy shook his head. "No. Grandfather Lamech wanted
us to bring him some onions for his stew, and we were too
busy weeding. We'd better go pull them before the sun
gets too high."                --

A great whirring of wings shook tne sky above them, and
the griffin landed between the two boys and Mahlah and
Tiglah.

"Go away, spoilsport." Tiglah kicked at the griffin, and
her green eyes sparked with resentment.

Dennys backed away in fear. The griffin looked to him
as fierce as the manticore.

"It's all right," Sandy reassured him. "It's a griffin, and
she's a friend."

The griffin spread her eagle wings so that the two girls
were screened. Opened her bill and squawked something
like"0n-yons."

"Okay, okay," Sandy said. "We won't forget."

176 -^ MANY WATERS

The griffin folded her wings. Her lion's tail swished
back and forth. Tiglah walked cautiously around her, and
put her small hand on Sandy's arm- "Later, then? You
would like [o come for a walk, wouldn't you?"

Would he? Tiglah made Sandy feel very peculiar. She
was both alluring and unsettling. And she was very differ-
ent from Yalith, of the bronze hair and eyes and luminous
smile. He would go anywhere with Yalith. But Tiglah? "I
don't know," he said cautiously. "Dennys and I have a lot
to talk about."

Mahlah, too, skirted the griffin, asking, "Are you sure
you are two separate people? My husband, Ugiel, can take
different forms, yet it is always he."

"We are twins," Dennys stated. "Aren't there any twins
around here?"

Tiglah moved her fingers slowly up and down Sandy's
arm, and it prickled, so that the freckles he had acquired
in the sun seemed to stand up. "Two look-exactly-alikes?
No. Of course, we can tell you apart right now, because
your skin"—her fingers caressed Sandy's forearm—"is
strong, and you are getting quite tanned, and you both
have freckles across your nose. Whereas his"—she indi-
cated Dennys—"still looks raw and uncooked."

"But handsome," Mahlah purred. "We don't have any
men on the oasis who are as tall and like gods as you are."

The griffin cried again, "On-yons."

Sandy had already turned in the direction of the vege-
table garden when he noticed Dennys looking past the
clump of trees to the public path. Yalith and Oholibamah
were coming toward them, carrying -. large kettle between
them.

177 -s^s Oholibamah, japheth's wife

Mahiah drew her lips up in what was more a grimace
than a smile. "Well, sisters dear, are you pursuing the twin
giants?"

Oholibamah's low voice was pleasant. "Good morning.
Matred sent us with a meal- Grandfather Lamech is too
old to cook for so many."

Unheeding, Yalith looked at the twins, from Dennys to
Sandy, and back to Dennys. "It is not just the difference in
your skins that tells you apart." She looked troubled.

"Let's put the kettle on the fire," Oholibamah suggested.

"You don't have to go with them." Tiglah wrinkled her
nose in distaste as Yalith and Oholibamah started into the
tent.

"Stay and talk with us," Mahlah wheedled.

But the twins had turned their backs on the two girls
and were looking after Yalith as she disappeared into the
tent.

The griffin shrieked with pleasure and flew off, spiraling
higher and higher into the sky.

Dennys had picked half a basketful of onions before he
began to recount for Sandy, in detail this time, his experi-
ence in Tiglah's tent-

"But it was her father and brother who threw you out,
wasn't it?"

"She was there."

"But it wasn't really her fault."

"She didn't even try to stop them," Dennys said- "And
even if it wasn't her fault, I wouldn't trust anybody who
came from that tent."

"Well." Sandy picked up his basket of onions and hefted

178 -s^ MANY WATERS

it to one shoulder. "I can't say I 'blame you for feeling the
way you do." He did not add that, nevertheless, Tiglah
was stiil the most absolutely gorgeous girl he had ever
seen. Except Yalith. Who wasn't gorgeous at all. Whatever
Yalith had, it was better than gorgeousness.

And were Yalith and Mahlah and Tigiah going to be
drowned?

Dennys, picking up at least part of Sandy's thoughts,
said, "Still—I wouldn't want Tiglah to be drowned. And
I guess she's going to be."

Sandy felt a chill move over his skin, despite the sun,
which was rising higher and hotter. "And Yalith?"

Dennys picked up his basket. "Oholibamah is Japheth's
wife- Ham, Shem, and Japheth, with their wives, go on the
ark. That's the story. Oholibamah loves Yatith. I mean,
they're really friends. I don't think Oholibamah would let
Yalith drown."

"If she doesn't have any say about who goes on the ark,
can she prevent it?"

Dennys said, "Hey, we're talking as if that old ark story
is true. But Noah doesn't seem to have any inkling of it,
and he talks with this El of theirs."

"God." Sandy shifted his basket of onions from one
shoulder to the other. "Isn't there some kind of flood story
in all cultures?"

"I think so," Dennys replied. "I mean, even in our day
the planet is still shifting its plates and causing earth-
quakes. We've had an awful lot of weird weather, vol-
canoes erupting all over the planet, and tornadoes and
hurricanes."

179 -S^P Ohohbamah, Japheth's wife

"Well, about those flood stories," Sandy continued.
"There must have been some kind of major weather cata-
clysm."

"Yeah, but there've been wild weather patterns all
through history. Ice ages. Whatever it was that finished off
the dinosaurs, a comet, or that Nemesis star. Or the earth
shifting slightly on its axis and altering climate and sea-
sons. So a big flood isn't all that impossible."

Sandy said in a flat voice, "Maybe we'll get drowned,
too. Maybe it would be better than being nuked."

"More inevitable than nuking. Nothing that hasn't
happened yet has to happen." Dennys pushed into the tent
and wearily set his basket of onions down near Grand-
father Lamech's cooking stones. Sandy followed suit. They
looked over to where the old man lay napping on his pile
of skins, eyes closed, breathing shallowly. Higgaion was
cur!ed at his feet, and little bubbling sounds came rhyth-
mically from his trunk.

Sandy said, thoughtfully, "If we get nuked, it will be
because of people. Power and greed and corruption. It
wouldn't be a natural disaster. But a flood is a natural
disaster."

Dennys nodded. "Nuking would be something com-
pletely different. Not natural."

"Yeah, but remember, Dad says it doesn't have to hap-
pen. People can restrain themselves. We've had the power
for half a century, and we've refrained. But if the plates
of the earth slide, that can't be stopped. If a comet should
hit us, we couldn't stop it. And storms and blizzards. Those
are inevitable."

180 -*^ MANY WATERS

"When we had the hurricane, and the big oak was ripped
out by the roots, nobody could have stopped that. It is
different—things that can be stopped .md things that can't,
like tornadoes and earthquakes and—"

"And floods," Sandy said flatly.

Grandfather Lamech startled them with a loud snore.

"It doesn't do any good to talk about it," Dennys said.
"Any of it. If there's going to be a flood, we can't do any-
thing about it. But we can work in Grandfather Lamech's
garden."

The old man snored again.

"Right now, we'd better nap, too," Sandy suggested.

Dennys dropped onto the clean sleeping skins which
had been provided for him. "Hey, it's good to be back with
you again."

But he missed Yalith's gentle fingers against his burned
skin.

Every day, someone from Noah's tenthold came to
Grandfather Lamech's tent with the main meal. When
Yalith and Oholibamah came, they often stayed to eat
with the old man and the twins. Yalith was equally gra-
cious with each of them, but sometimes she sat looking at
them in bemusement, letting Oholibamah do the work.
The twins, in their turn, looked at Yalith and did not look
at each other.

Occasionally, one of the men brought the meal. Japheth,
like his wife and Yalith, would stay to eat, to talk.

Shem. who was the hunter, was cordial, but not chatty.
He would stand, leaning on his spear, until he was certain

181 -s^s Ohohbamah, fapheth'swife

that Grandfather Lamech had everything he needed. Then
he would leave.

Japheth had told the twins that when Shem went hunt-
ing, he would always stop to thank the animal he had
killed, thank it for giving them the food necessary for life.

"Do all the hunters give thanks?" Sandy asked.

"Not anymore. I think they used to. long ago. But now
most of the hunters just kili, and often more than they
need. Some kill just for the sake of killing."

Dennys said, "That is true in our time, too. At home,
our land is posted against hunters and trappers, but that
doesn't stop the jacklighters."

"The what?" Japheth asked.

Dennys tried to explain. "Hunters who shine a bright
light into the eyes of the deer. It blinds them and they
freeze and can't move. and then the hunters shoot. Jack-
lighting is illegal, but that doesn't stop a lot of people."
i^

"A lot?" Japheth asked.

Dennys stated, "A few can seem like a lot."
Sandy nodded. The twins Uked what Japheth had told
them about Shem.

One morning Anah and Etisheba came with the food for
the day. Anah, Ham's wife, was obviously Tiglah's sister,
but her hair did not have the brilliance of Tiglah's, and
her eyes were not as rich a green. She was becoming flabby,
with dimples all over, in her cheeks, her chin, her elbows,
her knees. She was softer than Tiglah.

Elisheba was like Shem, solid, muscled, kind. At home,
in the twins' part of the world, she would have looked

182 "a^ MANY WATERS

comfortable in a flowered housedress, and she would scrub
her kitchen floor every day, and shift all the furniture to
sweep under it. There was something more familiar about
Elisheba than about many of the other women, who had
an Oriental strangeness. Anah's and Tigtah's eyes were
almond-shaped, their cheekbones high.

After the pot had been set on the stones, Anah put her
hands on her rounded hips, looking in open admiration
at Sandy and Dennys. "Another hundred years and you'll
be the most handsome men on the desert."

Dennys looked at Grandfather Lamech's wrinkled face
and trembling hands, thinking that the old man, at any
rate, was not going to live for another hundred years. And
even if the flood held off, he and Sandy did not have the
life span of these tiny desert people. But he said nothing.
He did not like Anah; Anah was Tiglah's sister.

Elisheba picked up the empty pot from the day before,
which the twins had scoured clean with sand. "I wonder if
they'll grow wings?" She tended to speak of Sandy and
Dennys as though they could not hear.

"I think they're a new breed," Anah said. "not seraph
or nephil. but a completely different kind of giant." Her
gaze slid from one twin to the other, then back to Elisheba.
"What," she suggested, "would you think of having two
husbands?"

Elisheba laughed. "One is all I can manage."

"Thank you for the dinner." Sandy turned away from
Anah's gaze, which was uncomfortably reminiscent of
Tiglah's. "It smells good."

"And please thank Matred for us."

183 "&<r- Oholibamah, japheth's wife

Anah put her fingers lightly against Sandy's wrist.
"You're welcome to come eat in Noah's tent at .my time,
you know that."

Sandy was glad when she was gone.

The big tent was dark and quiet. Matred poked her
elbow against Noah's ribs. "What about Mahlah?"

"Humph?" Noah mumbled sleepily -

"Husband. It cannot have escaped your notice that
Mahlah is with child."

Noah rolled over. "I have been very busy."

"Noah."

"It is time Mahlah brought her young man to our tent,"
Noah said. "We will prepare a feast."

"It is not a young man," Matred said. "At least, it is not
one of our young men, and I don't think they're young, I
think they are old, far older than any of us, even Grand-
father Methuselah."

"Woman, what—or who—are you talking about?"

"Mahlah," Matred said impatiently, "and her nephil."

Noah sat up- "What are you trying to tell me?"

"I am telling you"—Matred kept her voice low—"that
Mahlah is with child by a nephil, and that she has had
some kind of nephil wedding." Quickly she put her hand
over Noah's mouth to stifle his roar of outrage.

"This is not how things are done." He pushed her hand
away, but kept his voice under control. "There has been
no wedding feast. No nephil has come to our tent."

"The nephilim do not do things the way we do. Their
customs are not our customs."

184 ^^ MANY WATERS

"This is Mahlah's will? She loves this nephilP"

"So it would seem. She sends messages by Yalith. She
does not want to tell us these things herself."

Noah growled- "It is the way of things to lose a daughter
to another man's tent, but not without the proper formal-
ities."

"When Mahlah does speak to me"—Matred's voice was
heavy—"she keeps reminding me that times have
changed."

Noah sighed. "It is not what we would have chosen for
our daughter, but after all, Oholibamah—"

Macred leaned against her husband, and he put his arm
around her. "I would rather have it one of our young
giants. At least they are truly young, and I think they are
good."

"They fit in with us," Noah agreed, "and the nephilim
do not It seems now as though our twins have been with
us always."

"The moons have slipped by," Matred said. "Seven or
eight of them, at least."

"They have worked wonders in my father's gardens and
groves. It is hard work, and yet they never complain."

"Perhaps Yalith—" Matred started, then said, "It is
time we asked them to take another evening off and come
to our tent. I wish Mahlah had not been lured by the
nephilim. They glitter, but I do not think they are loving."

"I will speak to Mahlah." Noah puiled Matred down
onto the sleeping skins.

"If she will speak with you," Matred said.

185 Oholibamah, japheth's wife

The twins enjoyed their visits to the big tent, the noise
and singing and laughter. Once, at the time of the full
moon, Noah's married daughters were there with their
husbands and children, and there was dancing and music
and loud quarrel ing and reconciling.

"I wish Mahlah were here," Matred said.

Less than a moon later, Anah and Elisheba, bringing a
big pot of vegetable stew to Grandfather Lamech's tent,
again invited the twins to the big tent. "But you should
feel free to come more often," Anah said. "You don't have
to wait for an invitation."

Sandy felt her eyes inviting him. He turned away. "We
don't like to leave Grandfather Lamech too often."

Higgaion, lying stretched out by the embers, swished
his stringy littie tail, raised his head, and put it back down
with a thump.

Again Anah lavished her smne on Sandy. "You're get-
ting nearly as brown as one of us, and you have freckles
all across your nose."

"The Den, too." Elisheba's smile was friendly. "I never
believed he'd make it. Matred thought he was going to die.
But Oholibamah is a healer. And Yalith was marvelous
with him."

Sandy felt a sharp twinge of jealousy. When Yaiith came
with the night-light or with the evening meal, she was
careful, overcareful, he thought, to smile no more at one
twin than at the other. "All that was a long time ago." He
was surprised at how cross his voice sounded. "We've both
been well for months now."

186 -s^- MANY WATERS

"For what?"

"Oh. Many moons." Moon and month did come from
the same root, after all. but the people of the oasis thought
of time in moons and crops and the movement of the
stars.

"Yalith will be looking for a husband one of these
years." Anah's voice was suggestive.

Elisheba was brusque. "Yatith will make a good wife.
But not yet."

Anah's eyes strayed from twin to twin. "Hmm." She
pursed her lips.

Elisheba jiggled Anah's arm. "We'd better be getting
back, or Matred will be after us."

"She doesn't scare me," Anah said.

"Who said anything about being scared? There's a lot
of work to do, and she's getting too old to do it all herself."

"Too fat," Anah muttered.

"Who's talking?"

Still bickering, the two women left, taking the empty
pot with them.

The twins went out to the vegetable garden, putting on
Matred's straw-woven hats. The sun was not yet high, the
shadows still long. "We'll stay just a little while," Sandy
said.

They worked hard. The weeds, it seemed, grew up as
fast as they could clear them. Weeding was a never-ending
Job. They did not mention Yalith. They had more than
enough to do to keep them busy.

Grandfather Lamech no longer came out to the garden
with them, but spent most of the day in the tent, drowsing.
After the long afternoon sleep he would sometimes accom-

187 '*-^ Ohottbamah,Japhelh'':wife

pany them to the well, where they drew water, filling large
clay jars, one for use in the tent. The others were for the
garden, which Higgaion helped them water, spraying with
his trunk, which was almost as good as a hose.

"It's good to be working in a garden," Sandy said, "even
if it's not the garden at home."

"Who do you suppose is tending to the garden at home?"
Dennys asked. "It's got to be at least harvest time by now.
That is, if time there is passing like time here."

"Everything is different here," Sandy said. "People living
longer, for instance."

"So maybe time is different, too. At home we had alarm
clocks and those electronic bells at school, and here time
just slides by and I hardly even notice it."

"I don't want to think about it, about time," Sandy said.
He looked at his twin. "We're browner than we ever got at
home. Anah's right about that."

"And our hair is bleached. At'least, if mine is like yours,
it is."

Sandy looked at his twin. "Well, your hair is lots lighter
than it used to be."

"I wonder what it would feel like to wear clothes again?"
They were used to wearing loincloths. They were even
used to no showers, no water for bathing. The smells of
the tent were hardly noticeable.

With a strong green vine, Sandy was tying up tall, green-
leafed bushes, giant versions of the basil they planted be-
tween the tomatoes in the garden at home. Grandfather
Lamech often chopped up the leaves to season his stews.
"I'm not homesick anymore. Ac least, I'm not homesick."

"I try not to think about it too often," Dennys said,

188 -s^ MANY WATERS

"except to remind myself that since I didn't die of sun-
stroke, then somehow or other we ought to be able to get
home."

"We won't be the same," Sandy said.

Sandy made a face. "Hey, I don't like the way Tiglah
keeps coming around. I don't think I'm ready for Tiglah."

"Tiglah," Dennys said, "is what the kids at school would
call an easy lay."

"Except," Sandy said, "there isn't anybody remotely like
Tiglah at school."

"She's older." Still, neither of them mentioned Yalith.

"Yeah," Sandy said.

"The thing is—" Dennys paused. "Something's hap-
pened. We're not just kids anymore."

"I know." Sandy bent over one of the plants.

Dennys pulled up a resisting weed with such force that
he sat down. "We haven't seen Adnarel lately. Or any of
the other seraphim."

Sandy finished tying the plant to a bamboo stalk. Images
of scarab beetle and pelican, camel and lion, flashed before
him. He always felt better if Adnarel was with them.
When the seraph was in his scarab-beetle form, he was
usually near Grandfather Lamech's sleeping skins, or on
Higgaion's ear. He gave Sandy a sense of security. "I think
the seraphim like us."

"But the others don't," Dennys said. "I mean, the other
ones, the nephilim. I've seen them looking at us when they
thought we weren't noticing. And a mosquito kept buzzing
around me the other day after Tiglah had been around. I
don't think it was just a mosquito."

189 ^^ Ohohbamah, Japheth'v wife

"Rofocale," Sandy said. "I heard her call one of the
nephilim Rofocale."

"They don't like us," Dennys said.

When supplies were needed, the twins left Grandfather
Lamech's and went to the nearby shops, carrying figs, dates,
and the produce ot their garden to barter for rice or lentils.
On the dusty paths they passed many of the people of the
oasis, who always paused to look up at Sandy and Dennys,
surreptitiously if not openly.

When they passed nephilim, with whom they could look
eye-to-eye, brilliant wings quivered, but the nephilim did
not acknowledge their presence, except in sudden rever-
sion to the animal host, so that a tall, bright-winged man
would vanish, and there would be a skink scuttling across
the path, or a red ant, or a slug leaving its slimy trail.

The women, at least the young ones, let Sandy and
Dennys know that they were admired. Small hands reached
up to touch them. They were bathed in lavish smiles.
Tiglah seemed to know when they needed rice or beans or
lentils, and would be waiting at whichever stall they were
headed for.

The men and the older women were different. Some-
times the twins were cursed at, spat at. They did not tell
Grand rat her Lamech, who would have been distressed.
They learned to go to the few venders who treated them
kindly and did not try to cheat.

Dennys said, one day, "Hey, Sand. If you want to go for
a walk with Tiglah, don't let me stop you."

"I don't want to." Sandy turned his gaze from the side

190 -o^ MANY WATERS

of the path, where a vulture was picking -the flesh from a
small carcass.

"I mean, just because ie was her father and brother who
threw me into the garbage pit—I mean, I'm not stopping
you, or anything-"

"No problem," Sandy agreed.

They were careful with each other as they had never
been careful before.

And still they did not mention Yalith.

Yalith and Oholibamah were helping Matred to clean
the big tent when they were disturbed by the flap being
pushed open, and a lavender-winged nephil came in. He
spoke without greeting. "It is nearly Mahlah's time. She
will need you to help with the birthing of the baby."

Matred held the broken palm branch which she was
using as a broom. "Do you not have one of your own kind
to help?"

Ugiei looked at Oholibamah with hooded eyes. Flicked
a long finger in her direction. "She wilt be of use. And
Mahlah will need her mother and sister."

Oholibamah took a step away from the nephil. "How
will we know when to come?"

"Tonight. At the time of the moonrise. I, Ugiei of the
nephilim, tell you so."

"We will come," Matred pronounced. "I will not have
my daughter labor alone."

"Good. I will expect you."

"We will come," Matred repeated, "but you will wait
outside."

191 -^? Oholibamah, Japheth's wife

Ugiei shrugged. "Have it your own way. It is a woman's
job to see to all the blood and mess of a birth." He started
out, then turned his burning gaze on Yalith.

She did not drop her eyes. Biting her lower lip, she met
his stare-

"You cannot have them both, you know," Ugiei said.

Then he was gone.

Yalith and Oholibamah spread skins over some low
scrub palms. Some skins they would discard, if they were
too soiled. Others they would scrape and beat clean.

"What did he mean?" Oholibamah asked.

"Who?"

"Ugiei."

"About what?"

"About not having them both."

Yalith picked up a skin foul with spills and put it in the
dump pile. "Who ever knows what a nephil means?"

"You do, and I do," Oholibamah said. "He meant our
young twins."

Yalith picked up another skin, appearing to examine it
closely. "The Sand was the first one I met. The Den is the
one we saved from the sun death."

"And they are two people, not one," Ohoiibamah re-
minded her.

"I know. Oh, yes, Oholi. I know that. They are very
different when you get to know them."

"And you do not love one more than the other?"

Yalith shook her head. "Anyhow, they are too young."

"Are they that young in their own time?"

192 -*^ MANY WATERS

"We don't know anything about their own time."

Oholibamah sat on a stump, a pile of cleaned skins
across her knees. "I love my Japheth. I am very happy with
him- I wane you to be happy, too."

Yalith shivered. "Mahlah seems to be happy, married to
a nephil."

"Our twins are not nephilim."

"But they are different. They are not like us."

"And you love them."

"Yes."

"You love them both."

Yalith picked up a pile of skins to be discarded. "I'm
going to throw these away. Then we'd better stop. The
sun's getting high and it's too hot for this kind of work."

Matred said to Elisheba, "You have not been to the
women's tent for two moons."

Elisheba nodded, put her hands to flushed cheeks in an
unwontedly girlish gesture.

Matred embraced her. "Is it true?"

"Yes. You will have yet another grandchild." Hugging
each other, they danced with joy.

Eblis the dragon/lizard was waiting tor Yalith when
she went to the well for water. He was not in his animal
host, but was leaning against the trunk of a royal palm,
purple wings wrapped around him. so that he was almost
lost in shadows-
When he stepped forward, Yalith was so startled that
she almost dropped the clay pitcher which she carried on
one shoulder.

193 -®^ Oholtbamah, japheth's wife

Eblis rescued the pitcher and put it down. "Every day
you grow lovelier." He touched her gently on one cheek.

Yalith blushed and reached for the pitcher.

"Let me help you," Eblis said- When the pitcher was
full, he touched her again, tracing her brows with one pale
finger. "Ugiel is right, you know."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, yes, you do, my sweet one, yes, you do. And I am
the only answer to your problem."

She looked at him queslioningly.

"1 want you, lovely little one. You know that I want you.
I can give you all that Ugiel gives your sister Mahlah, and
you know how happy she is."

"I know ..."

"Those stupid young giants who dazzle you with their
youth can give you nothing except grief. You cannot
choose between them, and if you should choose one, what
would happen to the other?"

"They have not asked me—" She (altered.

"But I have. I do. I want you."

He bent toward her, and suddenly she felt nothing but
fear. It was as he said: he wanted her- He did not love her.
She picked up the water pitcher and fled, heedless of the
water splashing on the ground.

9 w Tvtahlah's lime, Lantech's time

The afternoon was the hottest the twins had ever experi-
enced. Sandy woke from unpleasant dreams of erupting
volcanoes, to see Dennys sitting up on his sleeping skins,
shiny with sweat.

Higgaion spent the midday sleeping hours with Lamech.
At night he dutifully took turns with the twins, but Sandy
suspected that the past few nights had been spent at Grand-
father Lamech's feet. The old man's extremities tended to
get cold from lack of circulation.

"Is anything wrong?" Sandy asked.

"It's terribly hot."

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"That might mean rain," Sandy said. For the moment
he had forgotten that rain might mean flood.

So had Dennys. "Oh, good, for the orchards and the
garden. Even with all our watering—"

The thunder came again, with a crackling, electrical
sound.

Higgaion padded over to them, whimpering, looking
across the tent to Grandfather Lamech.

195 'S>A: Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

The two boys hurried to the old man. The flap had been
pegged open to let in as much breeze as possible, and the
air outside was sulfurous, the sky a greenish-yellow.

Sandy squatted at one side of Grandfather Lamech,
Dennys at the other. The old man was propped high on
folded skins. Dennys took one of his hands and was shocked
at how cold it was. He began to massage it, trying to get
some circulation into the withered fingers.

Lamech opened his eyes and smiled, first at one twin,
then the other. When he spoke, his voice was so faint that
they had to strain to hear. "In your time and place—over
the mountain—is it better?"

Sandy and Dennys looked at each other.

Sandy said, "It's very different."

"How?" the voice whispered.

"Well. People are taller. And we don't live as long "

"How long?"

Dennys answered in words which seemed to him an echo
of something long lost. "Threescore years and ten."

"Sometimes fourscore," Dennys amended.

Dennys looked at Sandy, at his tan, healthy skin, mus-
cled arms and legs, clear eyes. "We have big hospitals—
places to take care of sick people. But I'm not sure I'd have
had any better care for my sunstroke there than I got from
Valith and Oholibamah."

Sandy said, "We have showers and washing machines.
And radios and rockets and television. And jet planes."

Dennys smiled. "But I came to your tent on a white
camel. Almost all the way."

Lamech whispered, and both boys bent down to hear.
"People's hearts—are they kinder?"

196 -»^- MANY WATERS

Sandy thought of the first vender who had tried to give
him half the amount of lentils Grandfather Lamech had
requested, and who had snarled and cursed when Sandy
protested.

Dennys wondered how much real difference there was
between terrorists who hijacked a plane and Tiglah's
father and brother, who had thrown him into the garbage
pit.

"People are people—" Sandy started.

Simultaneously, Dennys said. "I guess human nature is
human nature."

Lamech reached out a trembling hand to each boy. "But
you have been to me as my own."

Dennys gently squeezed the cold hand.

Sandy mumbled, "We love you, Grandfather Lamech."

"And I you, my sons."

"El's words are strange words. I don't understand," La-
mech said. "I don't understand the thoughts of El."

Neither did the twins-
Lightning and thunder came simultaneously. Light
splashed through the roof hole and the open tent flap. The
walls of the tent shook from the violence of the thunder
and a long earth tremor.

But no rain fell.

The twins sat on the root bench to watch the stars come
out. Higgaion stayed in the tent with Grandfather La-
mech. The sky still had a yellow tinge, though there was
no further lightning or thunder. Tongues of flame licked

1 97 "^^ Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

up from the volcano. High in the trees, the baboons chit-
tered nervously.

Sandy curled his toes on the soft moss under the tree
root. "We've never been to a deathbed."

"No."

"I thought that was going to be one, this afternoon with
Grandfather Lamech."

Dennys shook his head. "I think he wanted to ask us
those questions."

"Does he know there's going to be a great flood?"

"I think his El that he talks to has told him."

Sandy picked up a fallen frond of palm and looked at it
in the last light. "But the flood was a natural phenom-
enon."

Dennys shook his head slightly. "Primitive peoples have
always tended to believe that what we call natural disasters
are sent by an angry god. Or gods."

"What do you Ehink?" Sandy aske'd.

Again Dennys shook his head. "I don't know. 1 know a
lot less than I did before we came to the oasis."

"Anyhow"—Sandy's voice was flat—"it didn't work."

"What didn't work?"

"The flood. Wiping out all those people, and then start-
ing alt over again. People are taller, and we do even worse
things to one another because we know more."

Dennys took the palm frond out of Sandy's hand. "I
wouldn't choose Ham and Anah to repopulate the world,
if I were doing the choosing."

"Oh, they're not that bad," Sandy said. "And Shem and

198 w, MA^Y WATERS

Elisheba are all right. Not terribly exciting. But solid. And
Japheth and Oholibamah are terrific."

"Well. What you said. It didn't work."

"Maybe nobody should've been saved." Sandy's voice
was hoarse.

Yet again, Dennis shook his head. "Human beings—
people have done terrible things, but we're not all that
bad, not all of us."

"Like who?"

"There've been people like—oh, Euclid and Pasteur
and Tycho Brahe."

Sandy nodded. His voice came out more normally. "I
like the way Tycho Brahe was so in awe of the maker of
the heavens that he put on his court robes before going to
his telescope."

"Who told you that?"

"Meg."

"I like that, I really do. Hey, and I think Meg would
tike us to mention Maria Mitchell. Wasn't she the first
tamous woman astronomer?"

"I miss Meg. And Charles Wallace. And our parents."

But Dennys was sEill involved in his list. "And the wise
men who followed the star. They were astronomers. Hey!"

"What?"

"If the flood had drowned everybody, if the earth hadn't
been repopulated, then Jesus would never have been
born."

Sandy, his nostrils assailed by a now familiar but still
disturbing odor, hardly heard. "Shh."

1 99 '•^ Mahlafi's time, Lamech's time

••What?"

"Look."

A small, shadowy form left the public path and came
toward them. "Tiglah."

"She doesn't give up," Dennys mumbled.

Tiglah had learned that Dennys was not to be touched,
not by her fingers, at any rate. She approached the twins
demurely, eyes cast down, giving her eyelashes the full
benefit of their lustrous length. She reached out and put
her hand lightly against Sandy, as chough to steady herself.
"It's a fine evening, after all," she said.

Dennys pulled back from the mingled odor of" sweat and
perfume.

"It's okay." Sandy looked dubiously at the yellow light
pulsing on the hori/on.

Tiglnh said, "I thought you might like to know that
Mahlah is going to have her baby-tonight."

"How do you know?" Dennys demanded.

"Rofocale told me."

"How does he know?" Sandy asked.

"He and Ugiel are friends. Yalith and Oholibamah are
going to help."

The twins had seen kittens and puppies being born, and
once a calf, and they had played with baby lambs and pig-
lets on a neighboring farm. They looked at each other.
"I'll bet Oholibamah's a good midwife," Dennys said.

Tiglah continued, "They tell me that Oholihamah's
mother had a hard time birthing her. Nephil babies tend
to be large." She sounded anxious-

^00 •^s- MANY WATERS

Dennys looked at her sharply. "Does chat worry you?"

"It might, one day. I hope it won't be too hard on
Mahlah. She's such a little thing. Like me."

"Well," Dennys said. "Thanks for telling us." His cone
was dismissive.

"It's going to be a beautiful night." Tiglah's fingers
strayed toward Sandy's arm-

Dennys turned his face away and looked toward the tent.
The fiap was still pegged open. Higgaion was sitting in the
opening, waving his trunk slightly, as though to catch the
breeze.

Sandy looked at Tiglah, hesitated.

Swiftly. Tiglah coaxed. "It's such a nice night for a
walk- After Mahlah's baby is born, Yalith and Ohoiibamah
will'be walking home and we might meet them . . ."

Sandy rose to the bait. "Well . . . but not far ... or for
long . . ."

"Of course not," Tiglah reassured. "Just a little walk."

Sandy became aware ot Dennys carefully not looking at
him. "Are you coming?"

"No."

"Do you mind if I go?"

"Of course not."

"I won't be long."

"Feel free."

They were not communicating. Sandy did not like the
feeling. But he stood. Tiglah reached up and put her small
hand in his much larger one. When they reached the public
path, he looked back. Higgaion had iefc the tent and was
standing by Dennys.

20 1 •^s- Mahlnfi'i time, Lantech's time

The night was heavier than usual. The stars looked
blurred, and almost close enough to touch. The rainless
storm had increased rather than decreased the heat. The
mountain smoked.

"Let's go by the desert," Tiglah suggested, "and watch
the moonrise."

To step off the oasis onto the desert was like stepping
off a ship onto the sea. The desert sand felt cool to Sandy's
feet, which were now accustomed to the hot sands by day,
to walking on stones, on sharp, dry grasses.

Tiglah led the way to a ledge of rock. "Let's sit."

Moonrise over this early desert was very different from
moonrise at home. At home, as the moon lifted above the
hori/on, it was a deep yellow, sometimes almost red. Here,
in a time when the sea of air above the planet was still
clear and clean, the moon rose with a great blaze of
diamonds.

L

Sandy's eyes were focused on the.brilliant light of the
rising moon, and he was not prepared to have the light
suddenly darkened by Tiglah's face as she pressed her lips
against his. She was up on her knees in order to reach him,
and her lips smelled of berries. Then he was surrounded
by her particular odor of scented oils and her own un-
washed body.

He knew what she wanted, and he wanted it, too; he
was ready, but not, despite her gorgeousness, with Tiglah.
Tiglah was not worth losing his ability to touch a unicorn.

But Yalith—

He knew that he and Dennys should do nothing to
change the story, to alter history. Even with Yalith . . .

202 f^ MANY WATERS

He was getting ahead of himself. Yalith was not Tiglah.
Yalith smiled on both of them with equal loveliness.

Tiglah's red hair, turned silver-gold in the moonlight,
tumbled about his face, drowning him in its scent. She
massaged the back of his head, his neck. Her breathing
mingled with his. He knew that if he did not break this
off, he would not be able to. With a deep inward sigh, he
pulled away. Stood.

Tiglah scrambled to her feet, stared up at him reproach-
fully. "Don't you like it? Don't you like what I was doing?"

"Yes, I like it." His voice was hoarse. "I like it too
much."

"Too much? How can anything be too much? What is
there in life except pleasure, and the more the better! How
can you talk of too much?"

"You're too much." He tried to laugh. "I think I'd better
go now. Grandfather Lamech isn't well."

"He's dying," Tiglah said bluntly "Rofocale told me."

"Rofocale doesn't know everything."

"He knows more than we do, more than any mortal."

Sandy stood still. He thought he heard the shrill whine
of a mosquito Then silence. He turned and started walk-
ing back to the oasis. Tiglah slid down from the rock, ran
to catch up with him, and reached for his hand.

"You, too," she said. "You must be of the same breed as
Rofocale, so tali, so strong. You could pick me up, and
throw me over your shoulder. Where do you come from?"

He was tired of answering the old questions. "Another
part of the planet. Another time."

"Why have you come?"

203 "o^ Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

"It was a mistake," he said shortly.

"But why was it a mistake to come? It's wonderful that
you're here! How long are you going to stay?"

"I don't know."

"But you do have plans? What are you going to doP"

"Take care of Grandfather Lamech's garden and groves."

"Is that all? You didn't come all this way just for that!
You must have come for some reason."

"No," he said. He removed his arm from her hand.

"No." Tiglah said. "I didn't find out anything. I asked
him all the questions you told me to, but he didn't tell me
anything "

Rofocale towered over her, his wings flaming like the sun
even in the moonlight. "He must have said something."

"He said he came from far away, and that it was a mistake
to come."

"Mistake?" Rofocale queried. The garnet pool of his eyes
looked opaque. "Could El have made another mistake?"

"You think your El sent them?"

"Who else? They are certainly not native. They may be
as much of a threat to us as the seraphim. At least the
seraphim are careful not to manipulate or change things."

"You think the young giants will?"

"Who knows? And you couldn't gee anything out of
him?"

The dimple in Tiglah's chin deepened- "At least he came
with me this time."

"So he did. And did you kiss him?"

She nodded. "He tasted so young. Young as the morning."

204 -^-^ MANY WATERS

"Did he like it?"

"He liked it. But just as I thought he was ready to go
further, he pulled back. But give me time, Rofocale- This
is, after all, the first time he's been willing to go with me."

Rofocale in a movement of swift grace knelt so that their
eyes were level. "You must work fast, my little Tiglah."

"Why? What's the hurry?"

Rofocate rubbed the back of his hand against his fore-
head. "Some of our powers have been weakened. We can
no longer tell—but Noah knows something. His sons mar-
ried abnormally young, and hurriedly. Noah still speaks
with the One on whom I have turned my back. There may
not be another hundred years."

"But why do you want me to—to seduce him?"

"Wouldn't that put him in your—and my—power?" He
drew her to him. "What you do with the naked giant will
not make you any less mine, little lovely one. I like my
women to be experienced in the ways of lust."

"Will I make a baby for you?"

He spread his wings so that she was wrapped in a cloud
of flame. "Soon."

"Soon," Oholibamah said. "Soon. Press down, Mahlah,
press down. Hard.".

"Soon," Yalith echoed reassuringly. "It will come soon."

Matred said nothing.

Mahlah, lying on her back on a pile of skins, screamed.
Her hands groped frantically, and Matred took them in a
firm grasp, while Mahlah clutched.

205 "^-r Mohtali's lime, l.amech's lime

"It's gone on so long," Yalith whispered, "How much
moie can she take?"

"Get up," Matred ordered Mahlah.

Mahlah wailed, "I can't. I can't. Oh, let it come, let it
come soon—"

"Get up," Matred repeated. "Squat."

"1 did, I did, until I was so tired I couldn't—"

"You've rested enough " Matred's voice was rough. "Help
her up," she ordered Yalith and Oholibamah.

The two girls had to use all their strength to pull the
resisting Mahlah off the skins.

"Squat," Matred said. "Bear down. Now. Now. Push."

"The moon is setting," Yalith said.

Oholibamah looked at Matred. "My mother went
through this. She is still alive."

"Yes, my dear," Matred said. "Thank you." It was Oholi-
bamah's first open acknowledgment that she had been sired
by one of the nephilim, and Matred pressed her shoulder
in gratitude.

The moon set. The sun rose. It was stifling in the ^mall
while clay house. The four women streamed sweat. M;ih-
lah's hair was as wet as though it had been dipped in the
water jar. Her eyes were wide open in agony. She moaned.
screamed, shrieked. Occasionally, between contractions, her
mouth would tall open laxly and her lids would droop shut
as she dropped into an exhausted sleep, only to be wakened
as she was assailed by a fresh pain

The sun slid low in the sky.

"Squat," Matred ordered. "You must squat again."

206 -^c MANY WATERS

Three nights and three days. Squatting, lying, screaming.

—She will die, Yaiith thought. —This cannot go on.

"Soon." Oholibamah continued to reassure the tortured
Mahlah. "It will come soon. Press down. Harder."

Matred's voice was sharp with anxiety. "Work, Mahlah,
work. We cannot have this baby for you. Work. Push."

For the fourth night, the moon rose.

"Push," Matred commanded.

A long, grunting groan came from Mahlah. more terrible
than her screams.

"Now. Now"

The groan seemed as though it would tear Mahlah apart.

"Now." And at last Matred reached between Mahlah's
legs to help draw the baby out of her body- The baby's head
was so large that Yaiith could hear Mahlah's flesh rip as the
child came out. Matred shook it, patted its buttocks, and
the air rushed into its lungs and it howled.

While Sandy was with Tiglah, Dennys went in to Grand-
father Lamech, uneasy about him. He walked to where the
old man was lying.

"Son?"

"It's Dennys, Grandfather."

An old hand groped for his. Dennys held it, and it was
cold, deathly cold. "Can I do something for you, Grand-
father?"

A serene smile wreathed the old man's face. "El has
spoken."

Dennys wailed.

The old man seemed to be trying to suck in enough air

207 "^'•^ Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

to speak. Finally he said, "All will not be lost. Oh, my son,
Den, El has repented. While you were in the garden, El
spoke to me here in the tent. I have never heard him here
before. Oh, my son, Den, my son, my son, Noah will be
spared. Noah and his family. El has spoken."

"From what, Grandfather Lamech?"

"Eh?"

"From what will they be spared?"

The old fingers trembled in Dennys's hand. "El spoke of
many waters. This I do not understand. But no matter.
What is of concern is that my son will be spared." The
fingers pressed against Dennys's. "But you, my son? What
will happen to you? I do not know."

"I don't know either. Grandfather." Dennys massaged
the withered old hand until a tittle warmth returned.

LIgiel stood looking down at the baby lying between
Mahlah's breasts. The young mother looked pale and ex-
hausted, but radiant.

The three women who had shared her labor were nearly
as exhausted as Mahlah. Oholibamah had deep circles
under her eyes, and her cheeks were ashen. It was she who
had somehow or other stanched the blood that poured out,
nearly taking Mahlah's life with it; she who had brought
the afterbirth out safely. Her hands and arms were stained
red from holding Mahlah's torn flesh together until the
rush of blood slowed to a trickle and the danger of hem-
orrhaging was over.

Ugiel paid no attention to the others. He gazed at his
baby. It had a full head of hair, black, like Mahlah's. He

;

•

208 -<^ MANY WATERS

flipped it over and fingered the soft down outlining the
shoulder blades. "I am pleased," he said.

Matred was sharp. "And well you might be. It almost
killed her. Without Oholibamah, it would have." She
turned away from Ugiei and fed iVIahlah some of the
strengthening broth EJisheba had sent over.

"Go home," she said to Yalith and Oholibamah. "Go and
get something to eat, and rest. I will stay with Mahlah.
Elisheba will be by later."

Oholibamah, also ignoring Ugiel, looked at mother and
child. "She will need much care for the next several days.
Be sure to call me if the bleeding starts again."

"I will." Matred prom'sed-

Ugiel bent over Mahlah and with one long finger touched
the baby on its eyelids, its nose. "I am pleased," Ugiel said
again.

Oholibamah sat in the big tent, letting Elisheba feed
them lentil soup.

Oholibamah said, "He didn't care whether she lived or
not, as long as she had the baby."

Yalich paused in the act of raising her bowl to her lips.
"Do you really think that?"

"You heard him, didn't you? 'Why doesn't she get on
with it?' he said. 'Why is it taking so long?" And then he
would go away and not come back for hours and hours."

"Mother said she didn't want him around—" Then
Yalith stopped. Matred had been with her older daughters
when they gave birth, shooing their husbands away but
giving a running account of the delivery. Nor had the hus-

209 '^'^ Mahlah''s time, Lamech's time

bands gone far away. They had. in fact, been maddeningly
underfoot. They had not simply vanished, like Ugiel, leav-
ing everything to the women. She finished her soup in
silence.

Oholibamah, too, drank. Her dark brows drew together.
Her raven-black hair had come loose from its thong and
fallen about her shoulders.

"Oholibamah—" Yalith said softly.

"What is it?"

"The nephiliro marry our women, give them babies- But
the seraphim—"

"They do not marry. Or give babies."

"But in many ways they are like the nephilim."

Oholibamah pushed her dark hair back in a weary ges-
ture. "No. I think that once the nephilim were like the
seraphim."

"What happened to change them?"

"I don'tknow."

Yalith thought of Aariel, with the bright amber eyes and
leonine grace, and then of Eblis, and she was glad she had
run from the purple-winged nephil- She wanted nothing to
do with Eblis, if he was like Ugiel, who did not care
whether his wife lived or died. Could Ugiel once have been
like Aariel? Could Eblis?

Oholibamah said, "I think that the seraphim are free to
leave us for the stars at any time if they want to. I don't
think the nephilim can. Not anymore. They stay with us,
not because they have chosen to, but because they have to."

Noah and Japheth came into the tent, their arms and
hands as stained with grape juice as Oholibamah's had been

210 -S^ MANY WATERS

with blood. Japheth embraced his wife. Yalith ran to her
father. "Mahlah has had her baby! It is all right!"

Noah put his arms around his youngest child, but he
seemed strangely disinterested.

"Did you hear, FatherP" Yalith demanded. "Mahlah's
long travail is over at last!"

"That is good to hear," Noah said heavily. "We were
worried."

"What is it?" Oholibamah asked. "Is something wrong?"

Japheth's arm tightened about his wife.

Noah drew Yalith close. "El has spoken. Strange words."

"Good words?" Yalith asked.

Oholibamah looked at Japheth quesEioningly. but he
shook his head.

"Strange words." Noah repeated. "I do not know what to
make of them."

"Be happy for Mahlah, Father," Yalith said. "It was such
a hard birth, so long. If it had not been for Oholi—"

"Mahlah will be all right," Oholibamah said. "She is
young and strong and will heal quickly."

"It is a big baby. Father," Yalith continued. "It is the
biggest baby I have ever seen, with dark hair, like Mahlah's,
and a button of a nose."

"At least it is a baby." Noah's voice was bitter.

"You are upset," Oholibamah said.

"Yes, I suppose I am upset. El has asked me to do strange
things. I do not understand. Great changes are coming.
Terrible changes."

"Japheth—" Oholibaroah whispered.

"Hush. Later."

211 "s^ Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

Within the comfort of her father's arms, Yalith shivered.
"But now we can rejoice, Father, because Mahlah has had
a safe delivery."

Noah continued to hold his daughter, pressing his lips
against her bright hair. "We did not have a wedding feast
for Mahlah. That hurt Matred. I had hoped that we could
have a wedding feast for you."

"Oh, but I hope you will!" Yalith exclaimed. She thought
of Mahlah's strange wedding, and she did not want one like
that. isolated from her family and friends. Then she
thought of the twins. In their own way, they were as alien
as the nephilim and the seraphim, and yet they were
human, totally human. And she loved them. She pressed
her cheek against her father's chest, so that she did not see
the expression on his face.

Oholibamah did. but before she could speak, Japhech
had pulled her to him again in a loving embrace.

h-

A soft whimpering woke the twins- Higgaion had come
over to their sleeping skins to summon them.

Sandy opened his eyes. "Higgy, what's the matter?"
Dennys sat up, abruptly wide awake. "Is it Grandfather
Lamech?" He looked at Higgaion, asking, "Should we get
NoahP"

"Is Grandfather—" Sandy could not finish the sentence.
The two boys scrambled across the tent to the old man's
sleeping skins. Grandfather Lamech was breathing in
strange, shallow pants. Dennys reached to touch him, and
saw the scarab beetle. He felt a surge of relief. Spoke
urgently. "Adnarel, we need Admael. If he could be his

212 -V^K MANY WATERS

camel self. he could carry one of us to Noah's tent far more
quickly than either Sandy or I could run." Dennys gently
touched the bronze armor of the scarab beetle, which
thinned out and disappeared under his finger, so that he
was touching only a corner of the old man's sleeping skin.
Adnarel stood by them, a golden glimmer in the gloom of
the tent. "I will get Admael. Wait with Grandfather La-
mech." With one of his swift, graceful gestures, he bowed
and went out.

Sandy and Dennys each took one of Grandfather La-
mech's hands, which felt as cold and lifeless as marble.
Sandy said, "Adnarel is calling Admael for us. We'll get
Noah for you, as quickly as we can."

The old man breathed softly. "My good boys."

Dennys watched Grandfather Lamech's straining effort
to breathe. Gently he put his arm under the small, frail
body, easing it into a sitting position. The old man leaned
against the boy, and his breathing lightened. "I'll stay with
you. Grandfather." Dennys looked at Sandy and nodded.

Sandy nodded back.

"I can wait," the old roan whispered, "until the last star
goes out."

Adnarel returned. He knelt by Grandfather Lamech,
examining him gently. He turned to the twins. "Admael
is waiting outside. You don't need to rush. Sand. There
will be time."

Grandfather Lamech gasped. "Until the baboons—"

Adnarel smiled. "Until the baboons clap their hands and
shout for joy to welcome the dawn."

Dennys said, "I'll stay with Grandfather."

2 1 3 "S^ Mahlah's time, Lamech's time

Adnarel nodded, touching Dennys's shoulder lightly.
"Good. I will be here if you need me." His bright form
misted, swirled softly like fog, and the scarab beetle shone
against Higgaion's ear.

When Dennys had ridden the white camel across the
desert, coming from Noah's tent, he had still been weak
from his sunstroke. Sandy was well and strong, and had
little difficulty keeping his seat, his body quickly becoming
accustomed to the erratically rolling rhythm. They crossed
the desert without trouble. On a high outcropping of white
rock, a lion stood majestically to watch their progress.

There was no sound around Noah's tenthold beyond
contented snores. Sandy pulled back the flap to the big tent,
calling, "Noahl"

It was Matred's sleepy voice that answered, "Who is it?"

"It's Sandy- Grandfather Lamech sent me to get Noah."

"El." Noah's voice was deep. 'Til be right out."

Sandy stood outside, listening to the sound of night in-
sects mingling with snores from Ham and Elisheba's tent.
He looked up at the sky and the low, blurred stars seemed
to be calling him, but he could not understand what they
were trying to say.

Noah came out, wearing a fresh loincloth.

"Dennys is with Grandfather," Sandy said, "and Hig-
gaion."

Noah nodded.

"Adnarel said there would be time, but you'll get there
faster if you ride the camel alone. I'll walk back."

Again Noah nodded, accepting the offer. The camel's legs

214 -s^ MANY WATERS

were folded under it so that Noah could climb up easily.
He sat astride, his work-gnarled fingers gripping the hair
at the camel's neck. The white beast rose slowly, leaned
its head on the long, arched neck low enough so that it
could nuzzle Sandy softly, then took off, heading for the
desert.

Sandy followed slowly. He knew that as soon as Noah
reached the tent, Dennys would leave Grandfather Lamech,
to allow the old man his last minutes with his son. Dennys
would be waiting for him, probably sitting out on the root
bench, perhaps with Higgaion to wait with him. But Sandy
could not make his feet hurry. He jumped down onto the
desert, and sand lapped at his feet. He let it run like water
through his toes.

When Grandfather Lamech died, what then? Would it
be near time for the fiood? Would Sandy and Dennys be
allowed to stay in the old man's tent and take care of his
garden and groves?

Asking these questions of the silent stars did nothing to
ease the lump of sorrow in his throat. He moved slowly
over the sand, stubbed his toe on a hidden rock. Said
"Ouch" in a loud voice. Walked on.

On his rock, the lion now lay still, watchful, its ears
pricking as Sandy plodded by.

The horizon was touched with a faint rose color. The
stars were dimming. The birds were waking in the trees.
He thought he heard a sleepy jabbering from the baboons.
He turned in toward the oasis. He could not delay his re-
turn any longer.

His head was down; he was looking at his feet moving

215 -s^ M u hluh's time, Lamech's time

across the sand. He did not notice sounds behind him.
Suddenly something noxious was thrown over his head,
blinding him. He was picked up roughly, his feet jerked
out from under him. Two people were carrying him. The
toul-smelling skin over his head was pressed hard against
his mouth so that he could not scream. He tried to wriggle
out of the clutch of whoever was carrying him, and a fist
crashed into his belly, winding him, and something sharp
pricked his arm.

10 w The song of the stars

Yalith left the tent and slipped away, to the desert, to the
rock where the great lion lay. He jumped down from the
rock as she approached, and she ran to him, flinging her
arms around his great ruffed neck, and sobbing, so that
her words were barely coherent. "Grandfather Lamech is
dying." Her tears spotted his fur. When her weeping was
spent, the great cat's tongue gently licked her tears away.
and then they sat. Yalith between the front paws, in silent
communion.

The stars moved in their slow dance, dimmed. Neither
lion nor girl moved. But Yalith, leaning against Ehe great
tawny chest, hearing the thudding of the lion's heart in
time with the soft singing of the stars, moved into peace.

Outside Grandfather Lamech's tent, Dennys sat on the
old root of the fig tree, Higgaion at his feet. Neither moved.
Above them. the stars were quiet.

Within the tent, Noah held his father up so that the old
man could breathe.

2 1 7 '^'^ 7'/'e song of the stars

"My son," Lamech whispered. "You have been a blessing
to me and to the land ..."

Noah's tears rolled quietly down his cheeks, into his
beard. "I have been stubborn and -.tupid—"

A faint laugh came from his father. "I did not say that
you are not human. But you listen to El?"

"I try. Father. I try."

"El has told me that through you shall blessing - - -" The
old man's breath failed.

"Hush, Father. Don't try to talk "

"It is ... it is our last - ."

"I listen, Father. To you. To El."

"You will do what—"

"Yes. Father. I will do what El tells me."

"No matter . - "

"No matter how strange it seems."

"Yalith—"

Noah's tears flowed more freely- "Oh, Father, I don't
know."

"Never fear." For a moment Lamech's voice was strong,
and he sounded almost like one of the seraphim. Then the
strength faded, and he spoke in a thin whisper. "El will
take care of ..."

"Father. Father. Don't go."

"Don't hold me back, my son ... my son ..."

Noah's tears fell like rain.

"Our dear twins—"

"What, Father?"

The old man gasped, and then smiled a surprised smile

218 "^ MANY WATERS

of joy, so radiant that it seemed to light the darkened tent.
Had lightning flashed to make the smile visible?

"Father!" Noah cried. And then, "Father!" And then his
sobs broke like waves across the dry sands of the desert.

The stars did not sing. The sky was silent. Higgaion sat
up, ears alert. Dennys raised his head, and it seemed that
the stars were holding their light.

And suddenly the bright presence of a seraphim stood
before him, and the starlight again fell onto his upturned
face.

Japheth and Oholibamah held vigil for Grandfather La-
mech in their own way. They went to the desert, to their
particular resting rock, and sat quietly, holding hands-

At last Japheth spoke: "Thank El that my father and
grandfather are reconciled. It would be much harder to
bear this if—"

Oholibamah smiled. "Two stubborn old men. Yes. it is
better this way. We have the Den to thank for this."

"It was a happy day when I first found them in the
desert, our young giants. They have taken good care of
Grandfather."

Oholibamah sighed. "We are going to miss him. Yalith,
especially; she was the closest to him of us all."

"True." Japheth cradled her dark head with his hand.
"But Father says it is best that death has come to get him
now. He is too old and frail to stand the trip."

"What trip?" Oholibamah asked.

Japheth's eyes were darkly unhappy. "Oh, my dear one,

219 "s^ The song of the stars

it is what I promised to tell you. Father says that El has
told him strange things. And that he has been given very
specific instructions."

"What instructions?"

Japheth sounded uncomfortable- "Oh, my wife, it is very
strange indeed. El has told my father to build a boat, an
ark."

Oholibamah, who had been leaning against her husband,
sat up abruptly. "An ark? In the middle of the desert?"

"I said it was strange."

"Could he have made a mistake?"

"El?"

"Not El. Your father. Could he have misunderstood what
El was telling him?"

Japheth shook his head. "He sounded very certain. He
said that El had also told Grandfather Lamech the things
which are to come."

"An ark." Oholibamah's dark^rows drew together. "An
ark, in a desert land. It makes no sense. Has your father
told the others?"

"Not yet." Japheth pulled Oholibamah back against him.
"He says they will laugh."

"They will," Oholibamah agreed. But she did not laugh.

"I have never seen him more serious," Japheth said.

"What's the ark to be built of?" Oholibamah asked.

"Gopher wood. At least we have plenty of that. And then
he is to put pitch inside and outside to make it watertight."

"From what water?" Japheth was silent. She turned so
that she could look at him. "This does not sound like your
father."

220 -V^S MANY WATERS

Japheth spoke in a low voice. "Nor does it sound like
El."

Oholibamah stroked his face. "We do not know what El
does ur does not sound like. El is a great mystery."

Japheth laughed. "So is a big boat in the desert,"

"How big?" Oholibamah asked.

Japheth flung out his hands. "Three hundred cubits long,
fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high."

Oholibamah asked curiously, "El gave these precise
measurements?"

"According to Father."

"I don't understand," Oholibamah said. "I wish you'd
had a chance to talk to Grandfather."

Japheth shook his head, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"And our twins." Oholibamah said. "What will happen
to our twins now?"

"It is possible they might go on taking care of Grand-
father's garden and groves. But I'm not sure. Grandfather's
death is the beginning of a big change."

Oholibamah nodded. "There are dissonances in the song
of the stars."

"Have you heard it?" Japheth asked.

Oholibamah nodded. "The song has changed. Yes, I have
heard it. But why should Grandfather Lamech's death be
the beginning of change? He is a very old man."

Japheth agreed. "It is not at all strange that he should
die."

Oholibamah mused, "Perhaps it is strange that Grand-
father Lamech should die just as El gives extraordinary
commands to Lamech's son."

•Z2 The sung of the stars

"Oh, my beloved," Japheth said. "You are wise. Some-
times I wish you were not quite so wise."

They twined their arms about each other. Japheth put
his lips against hers, and they took comfort in their love.

When it became apparent that Sandy had not returned
to Lamech's tent, nor had he stayed in Noah's, there was
great consternation.

Noah's sons and their wives had come with Matred across
the desert, and stood sadly outside Grandfather Lamech's
tent.

"We haven't seen him," Japheth said anxiously to his
father. "We thought he was following you."

Yalith reached for her brother. "We were so busy with
our grief, we didn't even think . . -"

Noah pulled at his beard. "He said he would follow me."

Ham said, not unkindly, "Whatever's happened, we
can't look for him now, not with^the morning sun rising."

Shem explained to Dennys, "In our country, in this heat,
the dead must be buried quickly."

Dennys tried to hide his panic at Sandy's inexplicable
absence. Sandy was reliable. If there was a reason for his
not having followed Noah to Grandfather Lamech's tent,
he would somehow or other send word.

How? There were no telephones. But wouldn't he have
tried to find one of the seraphim? He wouldn't just have
gone off somewhere, without telling anybody.

Matred put a motherly arm about Dennys. "Now we
must anoint Grandfather Lamech's body and prepare it for
burial at sundown. Then we will leave our grief and look

222 "^s MANY WATERS

for the Sand. There is some reasonable explanation for his
absence, I'm sure."

Anah suggested, "Perhaps he's somewhere with my sister.
I think they're very taken with each other."

Dennys shook his head. He did not believe it. Sandy
would not go off with Tiglah, knowing that Grandfather
Lamech was dying.

Yalith slipped her hand into his and squeezed it comfort-
ingly. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, like a butterfly,
and then went with her mother and the other women into
the tent. The men stayed outside while Lamech's body was
rubbed with oil and spices and wrapped in clean white
skins.

The sun rose high in the sky, beat down on them with
the fierceness of a brass gong.

Japheth said, "Do not even think of going off to look for
him in this heat. Den. The sun would strike you down, and
that would not help your brother."

Had it not been for Japheth, Dennys would have put on
one of Matred's woven hats and gone to look for Sandy.
But Dennys knew that Japheth was right.

"Surely he's somewhere in the shade," Shem said. The
palm grove where they were sitting shielded them with its
dense shade. "Don't worry. Den. The Sand is a sensible
lad."

"Yes, but—" Dennys started. And stopped himself. The
people of Noah's tenthold were grieving for Lamech. Hig-
gaion was in the tent with the women and the old men,
and Dennys knew that it was irrational of him to fee! aban-
doned by the mammoth. He was, after ail, Lamech's mam-
moth.

223 ^* The song of the stars

The tent flap was pushed open slightly and Higgaion
trudged out, and toward Dennys, raising his trunk in sor-
rowful greeting and asking to be picked up, much as a
small child will raise its arms to be lifted.

Dennys gathered up the little creature and held it against
him, letting his tears drop onto the mammoth's shaggy
head.

At sunset, Noah and his sons carried Grandfather La-
mech's body to a shallow cave not far across the desert. The
women followed. Dennys stood between Yalith and Oholi-
bamah, as Noah and Shem, Ham and Japheth dug a grave
in the sand just inside the cave. Dennys had offered to help
with the difficult digging, not only out of love for the old
man, but also to take his mind off his near-terror over
Sandy.

Noah told him, gently, that it was the custom that only
the sons should do this final art of love, but that Dennys
should stay with the women and the sons-in-law, because
he had become a child of the family.

The sun slid below the horizon. The'sky was a deep
crimson. As the sun vanished, there was a faint glow on the
far horizon, and the young moon began to peer over the
edge of the planet. The moon's diamond crescent seemed
strangely subdued as it rose, and Dennys, standing to one
side, thought that'he could hear a soft and mournful dirge.
A star trembled into being, then another, and another.
They joined the singing of Ehe moon, singing for Lamech,
whose years had been long, whose life had been full, and
who, at the end, had been reconciled with his son-
Noah and Matred's older daughters, Seerah and Hoglah,

221 MANY WATERS

and their husbands and children, stood in a cluster, wailing
loudly. Mahlah stood to one side with her baby. Ugiel, she
apologized, was not able to come. She looked curiously at
Dennys.

Sandy, Noah told Mahlah in the same words she had used
of Ugiel, was notable to come

"Why?" Mahlah asked No one answered.

Oholibainah spoke in a low voke, for Japheth, Dennys,
and Yalith alone "Mahlah will ask Ugiel about Sandy when
she goes back."

Yalith whispered, "Will he know?"

Oholibainah shook her head. "If he does, he won't tell. I
suspect the nephilim have something to do with this."

Japheth frowned. "I hope you aren't right about that."

Dennys looked at them with fresh fear.

The grave was dug.

As the son and grandsons picked the old man up to place
him in the grave, Dennys sensed, rather than heard, pres-
ences behind them, and turned to see the golden bodies of
seraphim standing in a half circle. Once again, he could
hear clearly the singing of the moon and the stars.

Aanel called, "Yalith!"

Startled, she let out a small cry.

Aanel raised arms and wings skyward, and the song in-
creased in intensity. "Sing for Grandfather Lamech."

Obediently, Yalith raised her head and sang, a wordless
melody, achingly lovely Above her, the stars and the moon
sang with her, and behind her the seraphim joined in great
organ tones of harmony.

fapheth took Oholibamah's hands and drew her out onto

225 'esyK The song of the stars

the clear sands, and they began to dance in rhythm with
the song. They were joined by Ham and Anah, and the
four of them wove patterns under the stars, touching hands,
moving apart, twirling, touching, leaping. Shem and Eli-
sheba joined in, then Noah and Matred and the older
daughters and their husbands, and then Yalith took
Dennys's hands and drew him into the kaleidoscope of mov-
ing bodies, an alleluia of joy and grief and wonder, until
Dennys forgot Sandy, forgot that Grandfather Lamech
would never be in his tent again, forgot his longing to go
home. The crimson flush at the horizon turned a soft ash-
rose, then mauve, then blue, as more and more stars bright-
ened, and the harmony of the spheres and the dance of the
galaxies interwove in radiance. Slowly the dancers moved
apart, stopped. Dennys closed his eyes in a combination of
joy and fierce grief, opening them only when the requiem
was over. The sky was brilliant with the light of the moon
and the stars. The seraphim were gone. Yalith stood beside
him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Noah and his sons tamped down the earth over Grand-
father Lamech's grave.

Sandy opened his eyes and could see nothing. His limbs
felt numb. Whatever had pricked him had temporarily
paralyzed him. There was a strange tingling in his limbs as
feeling began to return. He knew about the tiny darts that
Japheth and Yalich and some of the others in Noah's tent-
hold used, and guessed that something similar had been
used on him.

Why?

226 ^s MANY WATERS

He smelled goat. urine, sweat. As his eyes adjusted to the
darkness, he could see that he was in a small tent. The
smoke hole was covered, so that very little light came
through. It was a much smaller tent than Noah's or
Grandfather Lamech's. He tried to move his arms and
found that his hands were tied, bound firmly with thong.
So were his feet.

As sensation returned to him, he wriggled around and
finally managed to sit up, his back against the rough skins
of the tent, his bound hands in front of him. He raised
them and tried to bite at the thongs. The taste made him
gag. The thongs had been wound about his wrists so many
times that it was futile to try to chew through them, nor
could he find a knot to try to bite-
He stopped his useless reflexive efforts and tried to think.
He had been kidnapped on his way from Noah's tent to
Lamech's. Why? When terrorists hijacked a plane, they
wanted something. What use would he be to anybody as a
hostage? This was a world still without money, without
political prisoners. As far as he knew, nobody held anything
against Lamech or Noah.
So, why?

His stomach growled. How long had the poisoned dart
kept him asleep? What time was it? He could not see even
a line of light to indicate where the tent flap was. The light
from the covered smoke hole was so faint that it might even
have come from stars.

There had to be a tent flap. He wriggled around so that
his feet touched the tent wall, and kept wriggling, feeling
with his toes. Wriggled until he was exhausted and had

227 ^s The wng of the stars

found no way out. Rested. Wriggled again. Again. At last
his feet felt a line of roughness. He pushed, and the flap
moved slightly, enough so that he could tell that it was in-
deed night outside. Stars. A single palm tree silhouetted
against them- He had no idea where he was, or even if he
was still on his own oasis.

Worn out from his efforts, he fell asleep, his head just
out of the tent. Sunlight blazing against his lids woke him,
and he managed to slither back into the tent and sat lean-
ing against the taut skins by the entrance. His stomach
made loud, hungry noises. What wouldn't he give for a
mess of Grandfather Lamech's pottage.

Grandfather.

When he got out of this tent and back where he be-
longed, there would no longer be the tiny. shriveled old
man tending the hearth fire.

Come on. Sandy. He's old. Seven hundred seventy-seven
years. And Noah was pushing six hundred years old. It
didn't make any sense. Except, he believed them. And after
the flood people weren't going to live that long. At least,
he thought that was how it was going to be.

"Twin!"

It was a girl's soft voice. His heart leaped. Yalith.

Then smell followed sound. Not Yalith. Tiglah-

"Twin?" she repeated.

"Hello, Tiglah." He did not sound welcoming. He re-
membered what Dennys had told him about the people in
Tiglah's tent. So it was they who were the terrorists. Ter-
rorism was not just a twentieth-century phenomenon. It
was evidently part of human nature, and it didn't get wiped

228 MANY WATERS

out by the flood. There seemed less and less point to the
flood.

"You recognized my voice!" she chortled.

—No, your smell, you slut, he wanted to say.

She pushed in through the flap and pegged it back to let
in the light. She had taken unusual pains with her hair, so
that it glistened brightly. Her loincloth was of white goat-
skin. "Dennys?" She was tentative.

"Sandy."

"Oh, I'm so glad it's you! Dennys doesn't seem to like
me, and I think you do, don't you?"

"Why would I like anybody who's kidnapped me and
tied me up and starved me?"

"But/didn't do that!"

"You obviously knew about it."

"But I didn't do it! My father and brother did. I
wouldn't hurt you for anything!"

"But you don't mind if your father or brother hurt me?"

"Oh, beloved Sand, I can't stop them! I've come to bring
you food and comfort "

He sniffed. There was a nourishing smell of stew beyond
the odor of the tent, as well of Tiglah's perfumed and un-
washed body. If they'd already used some kind of poisoned
dart on him, was it safe to eat the stew?

Tiglah said, "I made it myself, so I know it's alt right,
and it's good, too "

"1 can't eat with my hands tied up."

She paused. Appeared to be thinking. "I'll feed you!"
Her dimples came and went with her lavish smile.

"No. I'm not a baby. Untie my hands." He did not say
please. How could he ever have been attracted by this girl?

229 '^K The song of the stars

She paused again. "All right. I'll untie your hands and
stay with you while you eat."

"My feet, too," Sandy ordered "I need to go to the bath-
room."

••What?"

"I need to urinate."

"Oh, for auk's sakes Can't you just do it in the tent?"

"No. You can come with me if you want. I don't care, but
I need to go."

She knelt by him and began working at the thongs, first
on his wrists, then his ankles. When he was freed, he stood
up, feeling very wobbly. This tent was not nearly as high as
Grandfather Lamech's or Noah's, and he bumped his head
on the roof skins.

She took his hands and rubbed his wrists where the
thongs had chafed them.

"Let's go," he said-

"Where?"                 '  .

"I told you. I need to relieve myself."

"Come along, then." She pulled him out of the tent and
to a small, grassy hummock a few feet away. There was no
grove to provide privacy or a modicum of sanitation. "Go
ahead."

"Turn around."

"You'll run away."

He looked about. He did not recognize the part of the
oasis where this solitary tent was. A few yards away were
some palms, and a rocky field dotted with black-and-white
goats grazing under the high brassy sky. He had no idea in
which direction to go. "I won't run. Turn around."

"Promise?"

230 -^" MANY WATERS

"I promise." He suspected that his promise meant more

than would Tiglah's. When he was through, he said, "All
right."

She whirled around and caught his hand again. "Now
come and have some of my good goat-meat stew."

They ducked back into the tent, and she brought him a
wooden bowl full of meat and vegetables. He had learned
to eat with his fingers, if not as delicately as Yalith, at least
tidity enough so that he did not slop food on himself.
Tiglah's concoction was not bad. The goat meat was a little
strong, but she had cooked it until it was tender. When he
finished, cleaning the bowl with his fingers, he felt better.

"I'H have to tie you up again." Tiglah apologized. "They
won't like it that I let you loose at all."

"Who're they?"

"Oh, the men of my father's tent."

"What's it all about?"

"What?"

"Kidnapping me. Keeping me tied in this stinking tent."
She shrugged and giggled. "How would I know? They're
always up to things."
"And you're not?"

"I'm only a girl." She was full of righteous indignation.
"I like you! Why would I want to tie you up?"
"Then don't."

She had the thongs in her hands- "But I have to."
"Why?"

"They'd be furious. They'd hit me. They might kill me."
Would they? He wasn't sure. But he understood Dennys's
refusal to have anything to do with Tiglah. Never again.

song of the stars

"How long are they going to keep me here? What do they
think they're going to get out of it?"

"Noah's vineyards," she said.

"What!"

"Noah's vineyards- They're the best on any oasis."

"That's idiotic. Noah wouldn't give up his vineyards.
They're his livelihood."

"He'd better give them up," Tiglah said, "or they'll kill
you."

Sandy stood up, outraged, hitting his head against the
roof skins. "Do they know Grandfather Lamech is dying-
is dead?"

"Of course."

"They're monstrous."

"They're clever. They knew everybody would be paying
attention to silly old Lamech and wouldn't miss you'.
They're very clever."

"Oh, no, they're not," Sandy saidi "No one gives in to
terrorists. Noah won't give anybody his vineyards."

"Then they'll kill you."

"And what good will that do? They still won't have the
vineyards, and they'll have murder on their hands."

"Oh, Sand. Sit down. This tent wasn't made for giants.
I hate to tie you up again, but I have to. Unless—"

"Unless what?"

"Come with me."

"What would your family think of that?"

"They'd hate it. But I care more about you than I do
about them."

Sandy did not believe her. There was a trap here. This

232 -•^ MANY WATERS

had something to do with the nephilim, with that mosquito
Rofocale. What, he did not know. Tiglah did not love him
enough to anger her family. She did not !ove him at all.
But she would obey Rofocale.

He felt a sharp sting and slapped, but missed the mos-
quito, who buzzed out of the tent Furious, he scratched at
the bite. "Tie me up and go away."

She pressed her face close to his. "You won't come with
me?"

"No."

"You'll risk being killed?"

His mouth twisted into a half grin. "There are fates
worse than death," and he laughed, because Tiglah did not
have the faintest idea what he was talking about-

"I haven't bound you yet.. " she whispered.
' "No."

"You're a giant. You could grab me and run off with me,
and you could tell them you'll kill me if they try to capture
you again."

It was tempting. He shook his head, and a great wave of
sadness washed over him. Tiglah had never heard o£ the
great heroes of lance and spear, of longbow and sword. But
this was what she was tempting him to be. What he could
be if he wanted to be.

What in him was urging him to reject this attractive
role? What was telling him to say no? It was more than his
suspicion that all this was some kind of nephil trap.

The sadness washed over him again. Violence was no
longer an option. The splitting of the atom had put an end
to that, though the world was slow to realize it.

233 '*^' The sung of the stars

Yes, he could overcome Tiglah with ease. She was invit-
ing him. But even if there was no trick in it, he would not
do it. Violence met with violence produced only more vio-
lence. His stomach knotted.

"Are you sure?" Tiglah's voice had a little whine in it-

"Ofwhat?"

"That you won't come with me."

He smiled without mirth. There was poison in Tiglah's
offer, of that he was certain. "No, Tiglah, I won't come
with you. Yes, to you I'm a giant. I'm young and strong.
But then what? I couldn't survive in the desert. I've seen
bones there, and not all of them are animal."

She pouted. "I thought you liked me."

"You're a delicious dish, Tiglah. Now please bind me
again, but perhaps you don't need to do it as tightly as
before."

She was offended. She tied the thongs as tightly as she

L

could, with vicious little jerks, but Sandy used enough
strength so that she did not succeed. Then she flounced out,
slapping the tent flap closed behind her.

He didn't mind the darkness. Enough light came in
through the edges of the closed roof hole. He needed to
think. He was extremely confused at his own reactions. He
and Dennys had had their fair share of fistfights when they
were younger, chough perhaps not as many as their sister,
Meg. They played mostly team games and did not go in for
boxing or wrestling. Was he being a coward? He knew that
Tiglah's father and brother would not hesitate to use bow
and arrow, stone knives, or spears- He knew they were quite
capable of killing him, just as much if he ran away as if he

234 -^- MANY WATERS

stayed. In fact, he thought he had more chance of surviving
if he stayed and figured out some way and route of escape
than if he rushed out to the desert, unthinking. He was not
so much afraid as outraged. He did not think he was a
coward.

So. What to do? Violence was not going to work. Violence
was what these little men turned to, and he did not want
to be like them.

He wondered if they had gone to Noah with their wild
demand for his vineyards. He did not know Noah as well as
Dennys did, but he did not think Noah would give in.
Sandy's rejection of violence had nothing to do with giving
in- Anything but.

After Grandfather Lamech was buried in the grave in
the small cave. and the singing had died out, and the
seraphim were gone, Noah and his family walked slowly
toward the big tent. Wherever there was an outcropping or
rock or a cave, Japheth, holding his tiny bow and darts,
would hurry to look, Dennys on his heels.
"I do not like this," Noah said.

Dennys and Japheth returned from peering into the
deep shadows of a little cave. The starlight was so bright
that the shadows seemed to increase in darkness. "Is Sandy
lost in the desert?" Dennys's voice cracked more than usual
in his anxiety.

In the distance they heard a howl; "Hungry!"
Yalith reached for Dennys's hand and squeezed it.
Shem said, "If the manticore is hungry, then he hasn't
found anything to eat."

235 •^vs The wng of the stars

Oholibamah said, "Don't worry about the manticore.
Sandy scared it away from Grandfather Lamech's tent."

Gould Sandy scare the numticore again, if they met out
on the desert? Dennys was not certain, not after his own
encounter with the ugly creature.

Elisheba said, "Sandy would never have just wandered
off on his own."

Yalith nodded. "He was following you to Grandfather
Lamech's tent."

Noah rubbed his beard. "Yes, yes. that's what we thought.
But when he didn't come, then we thought he must have
stayed in the big tent."

Anah said, "Well, he didn't, and that's that. I chink he's
off with my sister, Tiglah, that's what I think."

Nobody replied. The stars moved slowly across the sky.
Dennys tried to listen for their singing, but he could hear
nothing. After the glorious requiem for Grandfather La-
mech, they were silent.

The moon was dipping behind the horizon when they
reached Noah's tents, tired, sorrowful, anxious.

"Now, before anything else, all of us must eat," Matred
said.

Noah said, "She is right. Come, Den."

Dennys accepted the bowl of broth Matred gave him. He
knew that he needed all his strength for whatever lay ahead.

With his strong teeth, Shem pulled the meat off a mutton
bone. Elisheba handed him a bowl of broth. "Will you go
look for the Sand?" Shem, the hunter, was the one who
knew the oasis and the desert best. Japheth and Ham
worked in the vineyards, close to home. Shem was the one

236 ^^ MANY WATERS

who should go, and Dennys flashed Elisheba a glance of
gratitude. Absently, he patted Selah, who was leaning
against him, putting her trunk on his knee.

Shem saw that Dennys had finished his broth, and
nodded. He reached for one of the tall spears leaning
against the inner wall of the tent. Hefted it. Offered it to
Dennys. Dennys took it, though he had never used a spear.
Shem checked his small quiver of blow darts, then reached
for a second spear, and nodded at Dennys, not speaking.
The boy followed the short, stocky man out of the tent.
feeling a 1 ittle hope. There was something about Shem that
gave him confidence.

Noah said. "Japheth and I will search the paths of the
oasis."

Ham said, "Anah and I will go to the marketplaces."

Matred spoke too cheerfully- "If the Sand returns to the
tent, which seems likely, we wil.1 let everybody know."

Shem and Dennys pushed out of the tent flap. The stars
were dimming- Light tinged the eastern horizon. Heat was
already beginning to shimmer in watery mirages on the
desert. Dennys had on one of Matred's woven hats and
hoped it would be adequate once day broke.

Shem looked at him. "Once the sun is high. you must go
back to the tent."

Dennys nodded. Shem, like Japheth. was right about
that. Already his skin was prickling from heat as well as
anxiety- He tried to keep himself from imagining what
might have happened to his twin. He followed Shem. Fol-
lowed. The heat bore down. The fuliie searching seemed
interminable. After what must have been several hours he
asked, "Where's Higgaion?"

237 -"s^ The sung of the stars

Shem said, "He will spend the day mourning at Grand-
father Lamech's grave. Then he will come to us. Setah will
help lighten his grief."

"Higgaion scents for water." Dennys said with sudden
hope. "Do you think he could scent for Sandy?"

Shem leaned on his spear, thinking. "Mammoths are
strange creatures. They can do strange things. Let us try."

Shem strode off. He walked at a rapid pace, but Dennys,
with his much longer legs, could easily have outstripped
him and had to hold himself back. Grandfather Lamech's
burial cave was about halfway between his tent and Noah's,
and the sun was rising by the time they reached it. Hig-
gaion was stretched out on the sand. His fan-like ears
lifted at the approaching footsteps.

Dennys hurried to him. "Higgy, do you think you could
scent for Sandy, the way you scent for water?"

The mammoth's little eyes had been shadowed with grief.
Now they brightened- Shem dropped to his knees by Hig-
gaion, bending down toward him in intimate communica-
tion, speaking softly-

The mammoth raised his trunk in a small, hopeful
trumpet.

Dennys's eyes, too. were hopeful. "Oh, Shem, what could
have happened to him?"

Shem's voice was heavy. "Some people are wicked, and
the imagination of their hearts is only to do evil."

"What about Grandfather?" Dennys asked.

Shem stroked his beard in a gesture much like Noah's.
"Grandfather knew. There is much wickedness. It, too,
smells. You do not smell wicked. Den, nor does the Sand.
Grandfather said that there is a great warmth in your

238 -s^ MANY WATERS

hearts, and that is a pleasing smell." It was the longest
speech Shem had ever made.

"Thank you," Dennys said. Then: "Let'sgo."

Shem shook his head, glancing up at the sun. "I thought
we would have found him by now."

"Come on," Dennys urged.

"Den, I have hunting to do if we are to eat tonight."

"But—"

"My sisters and their families ate hugely, did you
notice?"

—Funeral baked meats, Dennys thought angrily.

"Den, we must eat if we are to have strength for what-
ever—"

Dennys turned to Higgaion. "Come on, Higgy."

"Den. I hunt best alone. But I will continue to search
for the Sand. Find Japheth."

"But he's—"

"He and Father will be searching near the tent. Do not
go off with Higgaion alone. It is not safe."

Dennys looked at Shem's anxious face. Not safe. Not
safe, because whatever had happened to Sandy might hap-
pen to Dennys...

"We will not stop until we find him," Shem said. "Go
find Japheth. You and Higgaion."

Noah sat in the big tent, cross-Jegged, his elbows on his
knees, his head bent down to his hands. Matred came and
sat beside him.

"I don't know where he is," Noah said. "Where he could
be."

239 ^^ The song of the stars

"Rest, husband," Matred urged. "He will be found."

Noah nodded. "My heart is heavy. I grieve for my
father."

"He was an old man, full of years," Matred consoled him.

"The Sand is not."

"You think something has happened to him?"

"Why else would he not have joined me at my father's
tentP He is not like the young men of the oasis, thinking of
nobody but themselves."

"He and the Den are not like anybody else," Matred
said. "We do not know that something terrible has hap-
pened."

Noah did not reply, nor did he look at her. "And I must
begin to build the ark."

Matred said, "El has never before asked you to do any-
thing wild."

"Is it so wild? If the rains cover the earth, as he says they
will, it will not be a wild thingto have an ark."

"The rains had better not cover the earth for a while,"
Matred said. "You have to build the ark, find all the
animals."

"I will begin right away."

"And you will be laughed at. You will be the big Joke of
the oasis."

"I do not find it amusing," Noah said. "My father is
dead. The Sand is El knows where."

"Why don't you ask El?"

"I have. El says only that 1 must begin to build the ark.
E! says nothing about the Sand."

"Or the Den?"

240 -^ MANY WATERS

Noah grunted in agreement.
"Will you bring them onto the ark?"

"Of people, only you, and our sons, and their wives. No
more."

"Yalith—" Matred started, but stopped as two men came,
unannounced, through the open tent flap.
Tiglah's father and brother.

| 11 ^ ^Vtany waters cannot quench love

Yalith went out into the desert. She was anxious, and any-
thing but sleepy She wanted to fling herself into Hatred's
lap and sob, as though she were still a little girl. She wanted
to cry herself to sleep.

But she was no longer a little girl, and her eyes felt dry
and burning. She was not used to being out at this time of
day. She was not sure what drew her to the desert, because
there was no hope that she might see Aariel. He would be
in his cave, sleeping.

Nevertheless, she walked in that direction, and as she
approached she was amazed to see him lying in the shadows
at the mouth of the cave. Although she was certain it was
Aariel, she was cautious. She had been certain that it was
Aariel when the lion turned into the dragon/lizard Ebtis

She whispered, "Aariel—"

The lion rose, stretched, yawned, then paced toward her.

"Oh, Aariel!" She flung her arms about the tawny neck,
though her tears were spent. "We don't know where the
Sand is! Grandfather Lamech sent him to get my father.
The Sand knew that Grandfather was dying, so he gave the

242 -S^ MANY WATERS

camel to my father so that he could get back to Grand-
father Lamech in time, and the Sand said that he would
walk back. And Grandfather died, and everybody was
thinking about him, and we didn't even notice, at first, that
the Sand was not with any of us, and then we had to bury
Grandfather, and—oh, oh, Aariel, we don't know what has
happened—"

Aariel let her talk- When her voice faded and she
pressed her face once again into his fur, he transformed
slowly, gently, until she was enfolded in his wings. "Hig-
gaion has gone to scent for him."

"He left Grandfather's graveP"

"For the living, yes. The Den and Japheth will go with
him."

"Oh, that's good, I'm glad, I'm gtadi Higgaion will be
sure to find him, and Japheth will know what to do, and
the Den, too."

Aariel drew her into the shade of the entrance to his cave.
"Aariel—my father is going to build a boat, an enor-
mous boat."

"That is wise," Aariel said gravely-

"For my brothers and their wives. For animals of every
kind."

"Yes, to preserve the species."

"But not for my sisters, Seerah and Hoglah. and their
husbands and children. Not for Mahlah and her nephil
baby. Not for—not for me."

Aariel drew her close. "Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it." His voice was calm, gentle.

"What about the twins?" Again her eyes filled.

243 '^^ Many waters cannot quench love

The seraph's arm was strong as it held her- "I do not
know."

"But you know chat El told my father to build an ark?"

"Yes. That I know."

"But you don't know about the twins?"

"We do not have to know everything."

" But you could ask—"

"We have asked."

"Are the stars silent, too?"

"The stars are silent."

"Aariel, I'm afraid."

"Fear not. I will hold you," he promised.

"I am more afraid for the Sand and the Den than I am
for myself. I love them."

"And they love you."

"I don't want them to die. Will they die?"

Aariel folded his wings about her. He did not look at her.

i.
"I do not know."

Sandy slept. He still did not understand his reaction to
Tiglah and her proposals for escape, but after a while he
stopped questioning himself. When the time came for him
to do something, he would know what to do.

Daylight was not a good time for escape. Perhaps in the
cover of the night...

"Twin!"

It was Tiglah's voice, Tiglah's smell.

She pegged open the flap. "You have a visitor," she said.

He sat up, instantly alert. So her father and brother had
come to kill him.

2-1 i -^ MANY WATERS

But it was Rofocale who came into the tent, bowing low
to enter, so tfiat his flaming wings dragged in the dust. Like
Sandy, he was too tall to stand upright in this small tent.
With swift grace he sat, facing Sandy, staring at him with
garnet eyes. His bright hair was tied back, his cheeks white
as snow.

He thrust out one hand and touched Sandy on the knee.
The touch was that cold which is so cold that it burns.
Sandy flinched, but did not cry out. "Why are you still
here?" Rofocale demanded.

Sandy replied in his calmest voice. "I have been kid-
napped and am being held hostage. If I escape and leave
this tent, I will be easily seen. There is no way I can lose
myself in a crowd. I am as tall as you are. I'd make an easy
target."

"Why have you come?"

"Come? I didn't come. Tiglah's father and brother kid-
napped me, and I suspect you put them up to it."

Rofocale said, "I am not asking why you are here, in this
tent. I am asking why you and your brother chose to come
to this oasis."

"It was a mistake," Sandy said, as he had said to Tiglah.
Rofocale again stretched out his hand, again touched
Sandy on the knee. Sandy had had frostbite one winter, and
this was how it had felt. "If it was a mistake for you to
come, why do you not leave?"

Sandy said, slowly, deliberately, "We will leave when it
is time to leave."

"And how. then, do you plan to leave?"
How. indeed? "We will know that when the time comes."

245 '"^^ Many waters cannot quench love

"You do not belong here."

"No. I belong with Noah and his family."

Rofocale made a noise like a mosquito shrill- "You do
not belong here on this oasis- There are no giants like you
in this time and place. Why do you not have wings?"

"We fly in planes and spaceships."

"What?"

The nephihm did not know everything. Sandy said, "We
have machines that fly."

"Can you leave the planet?"

"We have gone to the moon. We fly among the stars."

"You?"

"I am too young," Sandy said. "My father has made
several space flights."

"Did El send you to torment us?"

"What do you think?" Sandy asked.

"You are not of us, the nephilim. Neither are you, I

*».
think, of the seraphim."

"No. We are human beings."
"Mortals?"
"Yes."

"Then why have you come?"
"It was a mistake," Sandy said again.
"Would you like me to take you out of this place, this
little tent?"
"No."

"They will come and kill you."
"Perhaps."

"Noah is unwilling to give up his vineyards."
"He is quite right. One does not give in to terrorists."

246 -*^- MANY WATERS

"You are foolish. I could give him a message, if you like.
If you ask him, I think he will give up the vineyards."

"I wouldn't ask him."

"Then you will die."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Sandy asked. "Perhaps
you'd like to kill me yourself?"

"I will leave you. You are insolent."

"Why don't you like us, my brother and me?"

"You do not belong to our world. You will cause trou-
ble- I think you have been sent to cause trouble to the
nephilim." Rofocale rose. Energy crackled in the air, so
that Sandy's skin prickled, and a mosquito flew away.

In a few minutes. Tiglah came in. "Did he tell you?"
She was giggling. In the light slanting from outside, the
dimple in her chin seemed a cleft.

"That your father and brother plan to kill me, yes, he
told me."

"Not that." She was consumed with laughter.

He saw nothing funny. "What, then?"

"About Noah."

"He said that Noah is unwilling to give up his vine-
yards."

"No, no, not that, either."

"What, then?" He was irritated at her giggles.

"Noah is building a boat. A boat!" Her laughter peeled
out.

Sandy sat up. Asked, carefully, "Why is he building a
boat?"

"An ark, he says." Her laughter was derisive. "The
nearest sea or river is moons away."

2 \~i -v^e Many waters cannot quench love

"Then why is he doing it?" Sandy asked.

"Who knows."

"Is he building it by himself?"

"Oh, no, it's a very big boat. I mean, hugely big. His
sons are helping him. He says it is going to rain!" Her
laughter jarred against Sandy's ears. "We have rain only in
the spring, and then not much. He is the laughingstock of
the oasis."

Sandy sat, alert, watching her.

"Rofocale thinks he may be building it to get rid of
you. A boat where there is no water is silly."

"I'm hungry," Sandy said.

"Oh, I've brought you more food."

"Then just leave it with me."

She pouted. "You don't want me to sit and talk with
you while you eat? I'll unbind your hands and feet."

"I'll manage." Sandy flexed ,his muscles so that the
thongs looked tight. "I need to think."

"About the silly ark?"

"About a lot of things."

"Well ... all right." She left the tent, returned with a
bowl of stew. "You're sure you don't want me to stay?"

Sandy was firm. "Quite sure. Give up, Tiglah. Go."

Pouting, she went-

He sniffed at the stew- Ugh. It was spoiling. He pushed
it aside, worked his hands out of the thongs, unbound his
feet. If Noah was already building the ark, there was no
time to wait. Dangerous or not, as soon as it got dark,
Sandy would leave the tent, head for the desert, try to find
out where on the oasis he was being held, and head for

2-iy -s^- MANY WATERS

whichever was nearer, Grandfather Lamech's tent or
Noah's.

Then he lay down to rest and wait for nightfall.

"They have gone too far," Noah said, "taking our Sand."

The family was gathered back in the tent, retreating
from the heat of the sun.

Ham said, "You're certainly not going to give them the
vineyards!"

Noah shook his head. "I told them that I would not.
But now—I have already turned one of the older vineyards
that needed replanting into a lumberyard. What difference
will the vineyards make if they are all covered with water?"

Ham said, "We are helping you with this idiocy, Father.
because you have asked us to But surely you don't believe
that there will be that much rainP"

"That is what I have been told."

Shem had returned from hunting, and was sitting on a
pile of skins with Selah next to him. "You're sure it was
the voice of El?"

"1 am sure."

Elisheba suggested, "It couldn't, maybe, have been the
voice of a nephilP"

"I know the voice of El from that of a nephil."

"They mimic very cleverly."

"El is El. If one of the nephilim tried to sound like El,
then El would tell me that."

Matred looked up from her stewpot. "When will the
rain start?"

"When the ark is ready."

249 Many waters cannot quench love

Shem said, "What about our misters and their husbands
and their children?"

Noah wiped Ins hands across his beard- "I am to make
a window in the ark, and set a door in the side, with lower,
second, and third stories. El told me that I am to bring in
animals of every kind, and my wife, my sons, and their
wives."

Oholibamah's voice was sharp. "What about YalithP"

Noah shook his head sorrowfully.

Shem protested, "But it's going to be a big boat, Father!
Surely there's room for more than just the eight of us."

"Animals," Noah repeated, "of every kind. so that, when
the flood waters abate, there will be both animal and
human,beings to repopulate the earth."

"I don't believe any of this," Ham said. "But if it should
come to pass, I will give my place on the ark to Yahth."

Oholibamah looked at him in grateful surprise.

"Nonsense," Anah said. "When ypu build this ark, and
nothing happens, how are you going to face everybody?"

Noah stroked his beard. "I obey El."

"And our twins?" Oholibamah asked. "What about
them?"

"And where is the Sand?" Elisheba asked.

"Japheth and the Den will surely find him," Noah said.
Selah raised her trunk and bugled. "And if they do not
return with the Sand by sunrise, I will change niy mind. I
will give them the vineyards. When the flood waters abate,
I will plant new vines."

Ham said, wonderingly, "You really believe that there
is going to be a flood! We don't have enough rain, even in

250 -»^' MANY WATERS

the spring, to be any use. If it weren't for our wells, there
would be no oasis "

Shem asked, "Has our father ever made a fool of himself
before?"

"No," Anah replied. "But there's always a first time."

Admael the white came! crossed the length of the oasis
to where Sandy was imprisoned. It was at the farthest end
of the oasis, as far from Noah's tent in one direction as
was Grandfather Lamech's in the other. Admael did not
go up to the tent, but folded himself down on the ground
a few yards away, to wait.

Adnachiel the giraffe grazed on some tender leaves.
stretching his long, golden neck. High up in the tree,
sleeping during the daylight hours, sat Akatrie! the owl,
his head hunched into his feathers.

Together they waited.

Japheth and Dennys followed Higgaion, who trotted,
zigzagging back and forth, from the outlying edges of the
oasis to the desert, scenting, shaking his head so that the
heightening sun glinted against his curved tusks, scenting.
Back and forth. Into the oasis. Onto the desert.

"The sun is high," Japheth said. "You must find shade,
Den."

Dennys shook his head, stubbornly. His body gleamed
with sweat.

Japheth looked at him with concern. "We're not far
from Grandfather Lamech's tent. Perhaps we'll find Ad-
narel there, and we could ask him for help."

25 | -s^ Many waters cannot quench love

Relieved, Dennys panted, "Fine." Higgaion was stag-
gering with exhaustion. There had been no sign of Sandy.

Higgaion led the way back to the oasis, his energy re-
newed now that they had a destination. Japheth was un-
tired, jogging along, breathing easily. Dennys was grateful
for his own long legs; without them, he would not have
been able to keep up.

As they approached Grandfather Lamech's groves and ^
could see the dark shadow of his tent, Higgaion trumpeted
and quickened his pace, so that Japheth was running.,
When they reached the tent, the heat seemed to intensify^
and their shadows were dark and squat. Higgaion paused,
pointing with his trunk to light Hashing off something hall
buried in the sand by the tent flap.

"Adnarel!" Dennys cried. "Oh, Adnarel!"

Japheth bent down and lifted the scarab beetle out of
the sand, stroked it gently with one finger, and it seemed
to burst from his hand, and Adnarel stood before them,
blazing gold.

"Oh, Adnarel." Dennys cried, "Sandy never came home
after he gave Noah the camel! We don't know what's hap-
pened to him!"

Adnarel bowed gravely, listening, saying nothing.

Japheth said, "I worry that he may not have gone wher-
ever it is of his own free will."

Adnarel turned to Japheth. "Explain what you are
thinking."

"Since he didn't follow my father to Grandfather's tent
as he said he would do, then I am afraid that perhaps
." His voice trailed off.

someone.

252 -^ MANY WATERS

Adnarel's wings glittered. "You are thinking of Tiglah?"

"It was Anah's suggestion ..."

"No," Dennys contradicted.

"We know she's a seductress," Japheth said-

"No," Dennys repeated. "Sandy would never have gone
off with Tiglah, with Grandfather dying. Never."

Adnarel nodded. "Of course. He would not have disap-
peared of his own volition."

"Then where is he?" Dennys demanded.

Adnarel raised his wings, slowly lowered them. "What
are you doing to try to find him?"

Japheth did not know of the visit of Tigiah's father and
brother to Noah's tenthoid. "We are ail searching, but we
have found no trace anywhere-"

Adnarel looked at the two young men, eye to eye with
Dennys, down for Japheth, small and lean and strong.

Japheth continued: "Sandy cares about Grandfather
Lamech. He cares about his brother. It is not in his char-
acter to go off at such. a time."

"Nephilim," Adnarel said softly.

A ripple of concern rolled across Higgaion's flanks.
Japheth said, "That's what we were afraid of. But even
they couldn't make him vanish completely, could they?"

"They are masters of illusion," Adnarel said. "They can
make any part of the oasis look like someplace else. They
can disguise odors. That is why Higgaion's scenting was to
noavaii."

"But where do you think he is?" Dennys's voice soared
with anxiety.

"I think the nephilim have used human greed. I suspect

^;-,3 -&<?• Many waters cannot quench love

that some of the less pleasant people of the oasis, perhaps
the men of Tigiah's tent, have taken him and put him in
some little-used tent and are asking some kind of ransom
for him. They are acquisitive, but they don't like to work
for what they get, and they would be easy to tempi into
doing whatever the nephilim want."

Dennys raised his head as he heard the strong beating of
wings, and a pelican plummeted out of the sky, and then
Alarid stood beside them. "The nephilim are afraid of the
twins." His wings shook silver.

"But why?" Japheth asked. "The twins are good."

Adnarel and Alarid touched wing tips. Adnarel said,
"The nephilim fear what they do not understand. Did
Higgaion go all the way across the oasis with his scenting?"

Japheth nodded.

"To the far end?" Alarid asked.

"Yes."

"Try once more. This time, go straight across the length
of the oasis and concentrate at the iarthest point. They will
have taken him as far away from Noah's tents as possible."

"And they're not likely to have gone in the direction of
Grandfather Lantech's tent," Alarid added.

Higgaion's stringy little tail Hicked.

Japheth said, "The sun is high. The Den cannot cross
the oasis at full noon without getting the sun sickness
again."

Both seraphim looked at Dennys, already red and sweat-
ing. "You are right. The Den will stay here, in Grand-
father Lamech's tent, for the afternoon rest. One of us will
stay with him, in case . . ." Adnarel did itot finish-

M/4.VV WATERS

Alarid said, "And we will see to it that he gets to Noah's
tenthold before sundown. Whether you find the Sand or
not, you must be home by then."

Higgaion raised his trunk in an impatient trumpet.

"We'll go," Japheth said. He looked up at the seraphim,
asking in a low voice, "Are you worried?"

Gravely they acknowledged the question.

In the dark heat of the prison tent, Sandy slept fitfully,
dreaming a confusion of meaningless dreams. Tiglah was
tying his thongs tightly and shoving a bowl of spoiled
meat at him. His nostrils twitched.

It was not Tiglah's smell. It was not even the smell of
rancid goat meat- He opened his eyes and saw only a small
dark shadow, felt something soft nudging him. He reached
out: his hand and touched something firm and curved.
Moved his hand along whatever it was, until his fingers
felt a roughness. It was a tusk, broken off at the point. His
eyes adjusted to the dim light and he saw that he was
touching a mammoth, not Higgaion or Selah, both of
whom were sleek and well fed, with polished tusks, but an
underfed mammoth with stringy hair, and one tusk broken
off just at the point, the other slightly farther up. It was
nudging him with the tip of its trunk.

What the mammoth wanted of him he was not sure.
But it was apparent that it meant him no harm, and that
its overtures were friendly. Sandy began to stroke the
shaggy head, then ran his fingers over the ivory tusks. This
little beast had obviously been abused, so it was likely that
it came from Tiglah's tent. He was grateful for the com-

255 "s^ Many waters cannot quench love

pany. Perhaps a mammoth, even a mangy mammoth
would be helpful when night came, not so much helpful
in the actual escape as in finding Noah's tenthold.

"Now," he said to the mammoth, fondling the fan-
shaped ears, "if 1 only had a unicorn, then I could get out
of here." He stopped. Then: "Hey. I didn't think of a
unicorn before, because basically I still don't believe in
unicorns."

Dennys, he remembered, had summoned a unicorn after
Tiglah's father and brother had nearly killed him, dump-
ing him into the garbage pit. It wasn't easy for Dennys to
believe in unicorns either, but when he had to, he did.

It Sandy could believe something as outrageous as that
he and Dennys had actually landed in the pre-flood desert,
and that they had become so close to Noah's tenthold,
especially Yatith. that they were like family, and if he could
believe that he was now petting a mammoth, why should
it be hard to believe in a uni'corn, even if it was what
Dennys called a virtual unicorn? His mother believed in
virtual particles, and his mother was a scientist who had
won the Nobel Prize for discovering particles so small they
were scarcely conceivable even with a wild leap of the
imagination.

"What'll I do?" he asked the mammoth, who responded
by cuddling closer to him.

It Sandy left the tent on his own, they would be lying in
wait for him—Rofocale, if not Tiglah's father and brother
—and they would not hesitate to kill him. Even night
would not provide enough cover, with the brilliance of the
stars illuminating the oasis.

25(i MANY WATERS

"The problem is," he said to the mammoth, "that 1 al-
ways have to see things to believe in them. But, after all, I
have seen unicorns, two of them. I have seen them, there-
fore I can believe in them."

The mammoth reached with its trunk to touch, softly,
the boy's cheek. In his mind's ear Sandy seemed to hear,
"Some things have to be believed to be seen."

"Unicorn!" he whispered, and the mammoth slipped its
trunk into the palm of his hand. "Unicorn, please tend to
life. Please tend to be."

Against the darkness of the tent came a starburst of light,
and a unicorn stood, trembling, beside him.

"Oh, you are\" Sandy cried. "Oh, thank you!" He held
out his hand. The unicorn came to him with silver steps,
folded its delicate legs, and lay down, putting its head in
Sandy's lap, so that the light of the horn flowed over the
scraggly little mammoth, who lifted its head gratefully.
Sandy fondled the silvery mane, soft as moonbeams. "Now
what?" he asked the two disparate creatures.

The light of the horn glittered, but neither unicorn nor
mammoth answered him.

"If I could fall asleep," Sandy mused, "or stop believing
in unicorns, then you would lose your tendency to life and
go out, and take me with you, the way you took Dennys.
The problem is that now I believe in you. And as long as
I believe in you, you'll continue to be, won't you?"

The unicorn nuzzled him, as affectionate as the mam-
moth.

"As long as I stay with you," Sandy whispered, "I think
I'm safe, because I'm absolutely certain that Tiglah

257 's>iff Many waters cannot quench love

couldn't come near you, or her father or brother. But if
they try to, and you go out of being, will you take the
mammoth and me out of being with you? If we don't take
the mammoth, they'll hurt him again. So will you take us?"

It was a rather intimidating thought. He had asked
Dennys how it had felt the two times he had gone out with
the unicorn, and Dennys had answered that it hadn't felt
at all. But perhaps, Sandy thought, that might have been
because Dennys had sunstroke and a high fever. Then he
remembered Grandfather Lamech—or was it Japheth?—
telling him that unicorns never lost anybody.

He put one arm about the unicorn, the other about the
mammoth, and waited. This was a far better plan than
going with Tiglah, or trying to cross the desert alone.

"You see," he said to the two creatures, who pressed con-
fidingly agamst him. "When the time came for me to do
something, I knew what to do, and I did it."

He held unicorn and mammoth close.

The nephilim gathered. Proud. Arrogant. Flickering in
and out of their hosts as they spoke.

Rofocale the mosquito said, "I have put an illusion
around the tent. It is on the edge of the desert at the
farthest end of the oasis, but the illusion makes it took as
though it is surrounded by flocks and groves."

Ehlis the dragon/lizard asked. "Are giant twins worth
this much trouble?"

Rofocale answered, "I think they know something we
do not know. When I questioned the one that Tiglah
caught for me, he gave evasive answers."

258 -a^y MANY WATERS

Ugiel the cobra said, "There is danger in the air. The
stars are drawing back. I am concerned for my baby."

Naamah the vulture went "Kkk. We chose to be silent
with El. We chose never to hear the Voice again, never to      *,
speak with the Presence."

Ertrael the rat said. "We could ask the seraphim."             ^

"Never," said Estael the cockroach.                           4
\
"But they still speak with El," Ertrael said. "The stars      k

still talk with them."                                            'J,

"1 do not care to listen to the stars," Eisheth the croco-      ^
dile pronounced.                                              H

"They might tell us," said Rumjal the red ant, "whether
or not we are in danger."

"How can we be in danger?" Eblis asked. "We are
immortal."

"And the one we caught," said Rofocale, "told me that
he is mortal. If he is to be believed."

Naamah the vulture clacked his beak. "I smell that there
will soon be much for us to eat."

"HowP" Rofocale demanded. "What is going to
happen?"

Eblis the dragon/lizard asked, "Will someone tell me
what Noah is building?"

"A good question," said Rumael the slug.

Rofocale gave his screeching laugh. "A boat! That is
what my Tiglah tells me. He is building a boat!"

"A boat?" Eisheth the crocodile demanded. "Why on
earth would he build a boat?"

Rugziel the worm asked, "Could the twin giants have
told him something that we do not know?"

259 '^s Many waters cannot quench love

Rofocale said, "We need to get rid of the twin giants.

Everything has been different since they came."

"Noah reconciled with his father. Kkk," said Naamah

the vulture.

"And Lamech has died," Estael the cockroach agreed.
"My lovely Yalith prefers the young giants to me,"

Eblis said "They must have some strange power, to

make her turn from me to such soft-skinned, wingless

creatures "

"And Noah is buildinga boat," Rofocale added.

"And Matred weeps," said Rumjal the red ant.

"We should find out," Ugiel suggested, "whether or not

they—the young giants—are truly mortal or not."

Rofocale screeched again. "Tiglah's father and brother

will find that out for us."

Higgaion finally found the tent where Sandy was im-
prisoned, because the unicorn was there. Rofocale's power
of illusion had indeed made the tent seem to be in the
middle of the oasis, had indeed altered Sandy's scent. But
the unicorn had come to the tent after the illusion was set.
Higgaion sniffed. He smelled silver, and he smelled light.
He nudged Japheth excitedly.

Tentatively, Japheth pushed open the tent flap Enough
of the late-afternoon light came through the tent hole so
that he could see Sandy and the unicorn, their heads to-
gether in affection. The abused mammoth was only a dark
shadow under Sandy's arm.

"Sandl"

Sandy opened his eyes. "Jay!"

2(i0 -^ MANY WATERS

The young man started to rush forward to embrace him,
then stopped short as though held by some invisible bar-
rier. The unicorn's tight brightened.

Higgaion followed Japheth into the tent. sitting back on
his haunches in surprise as he saw the mammoth who
pressed closely against Sandy, blinking fearfully.

Sandy's protective arm tightened. "It's all right. No-
body's going to hurt you." Then: "Jay, how did you find
me?"

"Are you all right?" Japheth asked anxiously.

"Oh, I'm fine, but Tiglah's father and brother want to
kill me ..."

"No." Japheth touched his fingers to his tiny bow. "No,
Sand."

"And look what they've done to their mammoth," Sandy
said indignantly. "They've nearly starved him, and they've
broken his tusks."

"All right," Japheth said hurriedly. "We'll take him
with us. But we'd better get out of here before they come
back."

"I think I'm safe as long as I'm with the unicorn," Sandy
said, "because they won't be able to come near."

Japheth smiled. "I can't, either." He stared at boy and
unicorn. "Sand. Do you remember when I first met you
and the Den in the desert, and we called unitorns. and the
Den went out?"

"Of course I remember."

"Can't you go out with the unicorn now?"

Sandy sighed. "The problem is. Jay, that I believe in the

unicorn.

26 1 's?e?: Many waien, cannot quench love

The mangy mammoth suddenly pricked up its ears and
started to whimper. Higgaion pushed himself up onto his
feet, and Japheth swung around to see the tent flap open
violently. Two small, chunky men came in, carrying spears.
Tiglah's father and brother.

"Auk! What have we here?" the older man demanded.

"A unicorn," the younger man exclaimed. "And one of
Noah's sons. Well, well." He moved toward Sandy and
the unicorn, then drew back with a sharp intake of breath-
"You, young giant!" he shouted. "Come along! We want
you."

"Sorry," Sandy said. "You can't have me." He looked
at Japheth and the two men from Tiglah's tent and won-
dered anew at how small they were. Tiglah's father was
made even shorter by his bowed legs. No wonder they had
used the poisoned dart on him. In a fair struggle, they
would never have captured him.

Japheth's pleasant features were distorted by anger.
"You've done enough harm. Get out of here."

The tent was so small that the three little men were
close together, with Sandy, his arms still about unicorn
and mammoth, near enough to draw back at the odor of
the men from Tiglah's tent.

"Auk's nuts to you," Tiglah's brother said.

Japheth glanced swiftly at Sandy, then in a reflex so
swift it hardly seemed motion, he drew one of the darts
from his quiver and jabbed it into Sandy's arm.

The two men from Tiglah's tent shouted in surprise
and anger. Tiglah's father roared, "What happened?"

2f,2 -^ MANY WATERS

Where Sandy and the unicorn and mammoth had been
there was only a pile of filthy skins.

Japheth replied calmly, "They went out with the uni-
corn."

Both men roared in frustration. "Call him back," the
bowlegged man said.

"Or we'll kill you," the younger man threatened-

"And what good will that do you?" Japheth demanded.
"You'll never get the Sand back without me."

Tiglah's brother snarled, deep in his throat, and lunged
at Japheth with his spear, but Higgaion jumped between
them, tripping the red-bearded man so that he sprawled
on the floor of the tent. He snarled up-aLhis father, "Why
didn't you stop him?"

"Me? What could I do?"

"You let him go out with the unicorn, and our mam-
moth, too."

Tiglah's brother scrambled clumsily to his feet, hefting
his spear. "Give us your father's vineyards, then."

"No," Japheth said, and reached for his darts.

But the older man swooped on him with the spear, and
despite Japheth's quick reflex, the spear cut across his ribs,
and a trickle of blood slid down his side.

Higgaion lunged at the man, trumpeting in outrage.

But the two men with their spears were too much for
Japheth and the mammoth. Japheth clutched his wounded
side as the mammoth lunged again and was viciously
kicked by Tiglah's brother.

Suddenly a roar burst over them- "Hmigry'" And the
manticore stuck his hideous face into the tent. "Hungry!"

"Go away," Tiglah's father yelled.

263 'fc'*' Many waters cannot quench love

In terror, Higgaion backed up, hitting the skins of the
tent, which gave slightly. Japheth, trying to reach for the
mammoth, saw that the skins were not pegged securely to
the ground. Not many people bothered to set up their tents
as well as Noah and Grandfather Lamech.

"Run, Hig, run!" Japhelh commanded, and Higgaion
backed out of the tent.

"Hungry!" The manticore's ugly face was followed by
his lion's body and scorpion's tail.

Japheth was the farthest of the three men from the tent
flap. He reached for a dart and his tiny bow, and let a dart
fly, to strike the manticore in the forehead.

"Hung—" the manticore started, and fell, unconscious.
on Tiglah's father and brother.

Swiftly, Japheth dropped to his knees and pushed out
the opening in the rear of the tent through which Hig-
gaion had left.

The mammoth was waiting outside, whimpering in
terror but not willing to leave Japheth completely.

"Run!" Japheth shouted as he .stood upright; and
they ran. Ran without looking behind them. Onto the
desert. And then the illusion that Rofocale had set was
broken and Japheth knew exactly where they were. They
were at the Ear end of the oasis, the opposite end from
Grandfather Lamech's tenthold. He hardly realized that
blood was streaming down his side as he hurried toward
home.

Admaei the camel, Adnachiel the giraffe, and Akatriel
the owl left their posts and followed Japheth and the
mammoth into the desert.

^b4 -^^ MANY WATERS

Japheth, running faster than he had ever run before,
suddenly felt dizzy Everything paled. He slumped slowly
onto the sand. Higgaion pushed his feet against rock to
slow himself down.

Akatnel flew down to the sand beside the young man,
and resumed his seraph form. "He has lost much blood.
He is still bleeding."

Adnachiel the giraffe bent his neck to look at Japheth's
wound, then lowered himself so that he could reach the
torn skin with his tongue Carefully, thoroughly, he licked
the wound.

Admael the camel galloped off.

Higgaion hunkered down beside Japheth and the giraffe
whimpering. Adnachiel continued to lick, cleaning the
jagged cut the spear had made.

When it was clean, Admael returned with a furry-look-
ing, cactus-type leaf, which he gently pressed against the
wound, holding it until the bleeding slowed and stopped.

Japheth, quivering, opened his eyes, to see the seraphim
reaching up out of their hosts and into their seraphic
forms.

Akatriel, with eyes as wise as those of the owl he had
just left, affirmed, "You are all right. You have lost much
blood, and that spearhead cannot have been too clean. But
Adnachiel has washed the wound and Admaet has stopped
the bleeding."

"And you ran much too quickly." Adnachiel nodded.

"Hig-"

Higgaion touched Japheth's hand gently with his trunk
tip.

265 "^y Many waters cannot quench love

"Sand?"

Adnachiel asked, "What happened?"

"I sent him out with the unicorn," Japheth said, strug-
gling to sit up.

Admael nodded approval. "That was good."

"Should we call the Sand back?" Japheth asked.

"Better," Adnachiel said.

Admael asked courteously of the mammoth, "Will you?
Or shall I?"

"Both." Adnachiel was peremptory.

With a light briefly bright as the sun. making them all
blink, the unicorn appeared. Sandy's ami slid from around
its neck and he slipped onto the sand. A mangy mammoth
tumbled beside him.

Japheth explained, "I used one of my darts on him, but
it's a very short-lasting—"

Sandy's eyes blinked open, and he sat up.

The three seraphim stood looking at Japheth, Sandy,
and the two mammoths.

"Thank you," Sandy gasped. "Oh, Jay, thank you."

Embarrassed, lapheth shrugged.

"What's happened to you?" Sandy demanded. "You're

hurt."

"I'll be all right," Japheth reassured him. "The ser-
aphim have cleaned my wound."

"Go home," Admael ordered. "Sandy, you can help
Japheth. He is weaker than he realizes."

"But what happened?" Sandy demanded.

JapheEh laughed. "I never thought I'd be grateful to a
manticore, but I am now. They'd have kilted me if a

260 -^^ MANY WATERS

manticore hadn't pushed his way into the tent and stopped
them."

The mangy little mammoth pressed against Sandy. "It's
all right," Sandy reassured. "We'll never send you back.
What happened to them?"

Japheth shrugged.

"Nothing, I suspect," Akatriel said. "I saw the manticore
running away, weeping, a dart falling from his forehead,
calling out that he was hungry."

Japheth laughed again. "I could almost feel sorry for the
manticore."                                       \

"Go, now," Admael urged. "Japheth needs food and
rest."

"Unicorn?" Sandy asked. "What about you?"

As he looked, the unicorn began to flicker, to fade.

Japheth said, "The unicorn knows we don't need it
anymore."

Where the unicorn had been, there was only a shimmer
in the air, and the scent of moonbeams and silver.

They were united m the big tent that evening. Japheth,
hovered over by Matred, lay on a pile of soft skins, pale
but smiling, and sipped at the strengthening broth Matred
kept offering him.

The starved mammoth had been fed and lay curled up
with Higgaion and Selah.

Sandy and Dennys kept grinning at each other in relief,
with Sandy repeating over and over his praise of Japheth
and Higgaion. "It was a wonderful idea to have Higgy
scent for me. I don't know what would have happened,
otherwise."

267 "^^ Many waters cannot quench love

Anah looked subdued. "I am so ashamed. That my father
and my brother—that my sister should have tried—I
thought she liked the Sand—I don't know what got into
any of them! Can you forgive me?"

"It was not your doing, daughter," Noah said gently.

"But to think they tried Eo force you to give up your
vineyards! To threaten to kill the Sand and Japheth—"

"Don't dwell on it," Matred said, rubbing ointment
Oholibamah had given her onto the healing wound on
Japheth's side.

"Is it over?" Elisheba asked. "Or will they try something
else? I don't mean your father and brother, Anah, The
nephilim."

Nobody answered-

Sandy held his bowl out for a refill. "It is so much better
than what Tiglah cooked for me—I wonder how I could
eat the other stuff, even when it was fresh." Then he said,
"Rofocale the nephil used Tiglah and her father and
brother. They are not nice people—sorry, Anah—but I
don't think they'd ever have thought of kidnapping me on
their own. If the nephilim are after Dennys and me, they'll
try something else."

"But why are they after you?" Japheth demanded.

Sandy finished licking his bowl clean. "They know we
don't belong here."

Noah's fingers moved against, his beard. "But you do.
Both of you. The Den made me see that being stubborn
was not brave."

Matred added, "And you both made Grandfather La-
mech's last moons happy ones."

Noah had tears in his eyes- "You were to him as his own

268 -•^- MANY WATERS

grandsons. He could not have stayed in his own tent with-
out your help. You have become our beloved twins."

Matred wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "And
yet, husband, you have said that there is no room for them
in the ark."

Dennys said quickly, "Don't worry. We know we don't
belong on the ark- The nephilim aren't entirely wrong
about us."

Sandy said, "But we'll be glad to help you build it. We
would like to do at least that much for you, because you've
been very kind to us."                             \

Yalith and Oholibamah sat close together, hands clasped.
Oholibamah said, "We still have time to be together.^It
will take at least two moons before the ark is finished and
ready to stock. And because we have known each other,
we can never be entirely separated."

japheth said, "As we can never be completely .separated
from Grandfather Lamech."

Yalith nodded. Pushed back tears. Sandy was safely back
with them. Japheth was wounded, but was going to be all
right. This was no time for tears.

Dennys looked at Japheth and nodded. "The night that
Grandfather Lamech died—how long ago it seems—Hig-
gaion and I sat out under the stars while Noah was in the
tent, waiting for Sandy." He hesitated, then plunged on.
"At the moment that Grandfather Lamech died, the stars
held their breaths. And so I knew. And then, because he
understood Higgaion and I needed him, Adnarel was with
us, saying Fear not, and then he was back in the scarab
beetle, on Higgaion's ear, instead of off with the other
seraphim, as he's been so often lately."

269 'S-*' Many waters cannot quench love

There was a moment of silence. Then Noah opened a
fresh skin of wine. "My love for all of you is too deep for
words. Dear twins, we are glad that you have come to us.
And now it is time for you to leave, isn't it?"

Sandy said, firmly, "Not until we've helped you build
the ark."

Sandy and Dennys stayed in the big tent, having been
given sleeping skins and a place to themselves across from
Noah and Matred. Higg'aion and Selah slept with the tittle
mammoth, whose ribs were beginning to fill out, and whose
coat was beginning to shine.

Dennys woke up and the darkness of the tent was heavy.
Around him he heard gentle snores, and the night sounds
of the desert. He nudged Sandy. "Are you awake?"

"Almost."

"Now what?"

Sandy wriggled into a more comfortable position. "We'll
keep on helping Noah with the ark."

"And then?"

Fully awake now. Sandy moved so that he could whisper
directly into Dennys's ear. "We'll take a quantum leap."

"And how will we manage that?"

"It came to me when the mammoth and I called the
unicorn to be in that nasty little tent where I was in prison.
The nephilim cannot leave this earth. But the seraphim
can."

"More to the point," Dennys asked, "can we? Or, rather,
can we leave this time and get back to our own? I wouldn't
want to miscalculate and land in the Middle Ages, or the
year3003."

270 MANY WATERS

"I'll have to speak to Adnarel about it again."

"You already have?"

"Some. When we first got here. What I think would
work for us would be to call unicorns, and ride them, and
for Adnarel, or any of the seraphim, to go forward to our
time, and then call for the unicorns to come back."

"Wild." Dennys whistled.

"Yes, but it worked when the three seraphim called me
back onto the desert sands after Japheth and Higgaion
came to rescue me."

"That was space, not time, and a small distanc&in space,
at that," Dennys pointed out.                   \

"True. But experiments with photons, for instance,
seem to show that they can communicate with each other
instantaneously, and that means faster than the speed of
light. And distance doesn't seem to be a problem for
them."

"But it's time we have to worry about," Dennys whis-
pered. Noah snored a very loud snore, and they could
hear him turn over on his skins. Dennys continued, "If I
understand Mother's experiments, an observer is essential
in the world of quantum mechanics. I mean. an observer
seems to be necessary to make quanta real."

Sandy moved impatiently- "I don't understand it. But
Mother seems to, and so do a lot of other particle physi-
cists. That's enough for me. I'll talk to Adnarel."

There was a heavy silence. Then Dennys said, "Any-
thing seems to be possible. I hope this is."

Another silence. Then Sandy asked, "Do you think we
could take Yalith with us?"

271 "'^ Many waters cannot quench love

Dennys did not answer for a while. Then: "No. I don't
think so. We're not supposed to change history."

"But she'll drown."

"I know. I love her, too." At last. It had been said.

"But if we love her—"

Dennys's voice was bleak. "I don't think we can take her
with us."

Sandy reached for his twin's hand and grasped it. "A lot
of people are going to drown. Would you mind changing
history if it would save Yalith?"

Dennys said, "I wouldn't mind. I'd be willing to try. To
try absolutely anything. But I have a feeling that we can't."

"I hate it!"

"Shh. I hate it, too."

Sandy whispered, "It's going to be dangerous, taking a
quantum leap."

"Dad obviously thinks such things are possible. After all,
wasn't he programming some kind of quantum leap, or
tesser, when we messed around with his experiment?"

"So, if he believes in it, it's not that wild."

"Sure it's that wild. It's got to be that wild in order to
work."

Sandy gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "Our father was
not programming unicorns into his experiment."

Higgaion jerked in a sleeping dream, whimpered. Selah
made little murmuring noises, and Tiglah's mammoth
moved closer to the others.

Sandy asked, "What about the mammoths?"

Dennys stretched his arm out so that he could touch,
gently, Higgaion's shaggy fur. "I wonder if they can swim?"

272 -»^ MANY WATERS

"It wouldn't do any good. Not for forty days and forty
nights."

Dennys closed his eyes. Listened. Heard the wind high
in the sky above the tent, but the words would not come
clear. He whispered, "Does—does Yalith know she's not
going on the ark?"

"I think so. I think Noah has told her."

"I understand that floods and other disasters happen.
But if this flood is really being sent by El—"

Sandy said, "If it's being sent by El, then I don't like El,
not if Yalith is going to drown."               \

The wind murmured. "We aren't sure yet, \re we?"
Dennys asked. "I mean, it hasn't happened yet. Yalu-h isn't
in the story, so we don't know what happened to her.
Grandfather Lamech truly loved his El. So we can't be
sure. Grandfather loved Yalith. She was his very favorite."

"Grandfather is dead," Sandy said flatly. "If we're going
to be any use building the ark, we'd better sleep now."

The wind wrapped itself about the tent. Sandy slipped
quickly into sleep. Dennys lay on his back, listening, lis-
tening. The wind's song was gentle, unalarming. Although
he could not make out the words, he felt the wind calming
him. Slept.

"Stupid. Stupid," Ugiel, husband of Mahlah, hissed-
Rofocale's contempt came out with a mosquito shrill.

"The idiots almost let the manticore get them."

"Tiglah would have done better by herself," said Eblis,

who wanted Yalith.

Ertrael, sometimes a rat, demanded, "What do we do
now?"

273 '^ss- Many waters cannot quench love

The nephilim were gathered in the darkness of the
desert, for once conserving their energies. Naamah, still
sounding like a vulture, went, "Kkk. Tiglah did not, in
fact, do better than her father or her brother. She got no
answers. The young giant did not listen to her."

Elisheth, of the crocodile-green wings, shimmered them
in the starlight. "She tried. I would have thought the Sand
would find her irresistible. Why did he reject her?"

"Yalith." Eblis's beautiful red lips lifted in a sneer-

Ugiel wove his neck in a rhythmic dance, as much cobra
as nephil. "You are right. Because of Yalith."

"But she has no experience," Rofocale shrilled. "She is
still a child. Whereas Tiglah—"

"No," Eblis contradicted, purple eyes glittering. "Yalith
is not; a child any longer." He wrapped purple wings about
himself.

"Could we have used her?" Estael, sometimes a cock-
roach, asked doubtfully.

"If Ugiel hadn't married her, we might have been able
to use Mahlah, Yalith's sister," said Ezequen, whose host
was theskink.

Ugiel hissed, "We all know she's Yalith's sister. And my
wife. And the mother of my child."

Eblis wrapped himself in wings the color of the sunset.
"It is time for us to act. Us. Ourselves."

Rugziel agreed. "It is time we stopped using deputies."

Rumjal grimaced. "What do you suggest?"

Naamah stretched his neck, naked as a vulture's, and
raised his wings to their full span, standing in whiteness
of skin, darkness of wing, his feathers the indigo of the
bird who was his host. "The circle of extinction. Whoever

274 -^ MANY WATERS

we completely surround we control. Kkk. Let us surround
the twin giants."

Ugiel hissed in agreement.

Rofocale shrilled in anticipation.

Eblis suggested, "And let us surround Yalith, since she
has foiled our plans."

"Kkk," Naamah reproved. "The giants first."

12 w Neither can the floods drown it

Yalith slept at the tar end oE the tent from the twins, but
she heard them whispering, and when they stopped, she
could hear the mammoths' triple snores. And she was wide

awake.

She slipped out of bed and went to the desert. She saw

neither lion nor dragon/lizard masquerading as lion, on
the great rock. She chose a smaller rock and sat, wrapping
her arms about her knees. She raised her face to the stars.
She heard them chiming, and there was no anxiety in

their song.

Nevertheless, she shivered. She believed her father, be-
lieved that the rains were going to come. She was willing
to die, if that was truly what El wanted.

But what about the twins?

What was going to happen?

The crystal chime of stars sang in her ears, "Fear not,

Yalith."

The stars never gave false comfort.

She was less afraid.

276 MANY WATERS

They worked on the ark all day, taking time out in the     |
heat to sleep. Then they worked again until it was too dark     ^
to see.                                                     H

Every evening Matred prepared a festive meal. There-     ||.
fore, Shem was often out hunting, rather than busy with     ^
the ark. Sandy and Dennys worked along with Noah, Ham,     |-
and Japheth. There were no hammers or nails or any of     1|
the modern tools to which they were-accustomed. The     .3|
boards had to be joined and pegged. At nighty they were     H
tired and hungry, ate well, slept well. They were building     ^
an ark, but they did not talk of the rain.                       ||

Dennys looked at Elisheba, Anah, and Oholibamah.
They were in the story, even if not by name. They would
go with Noah and Matred and all the animals onto the ark.
He looked at Yalith, her hair amber in the lamplight-
He slipped out of the tent, feeling a little strange. He
was the follower. Sandy the leader. And now he was off,
without even consulting his twin.

He walked swiftly toward Noah's well. His skin prickled
as he saw the vulture, huddled on the tall trunk of a long-
dead palm, then looking up as Dennys approached, peer-
ing this way and chat, stretching its naked neck, staring at
Dennys with hooded, suspicious eyes.

At first, Dennys saw only the dark bird. Then his eye
caught a glimpse of white, and on a young fig tree near the
well sat a pelican, its head tucked under its wing, so that it
seemed no more than a bundle of white. Dennys heaved
a sigh of relief. He had left the big tent to find one of the
seraphim, and it didn't really matter which one, but he

Neither can the {foods drown it

was more familiar with Alarid than with many of the
others. He went up to the sleeping bird. "Hsst."

The pelican did not move.

"Alarid!" Dennys shouted. "I need to talk to you!"

The feathers quivered as the bird shoved its head farther
under its wing.

"Alarid!"

The feathers ruffled, hunched, indicating, "Go away. I
have nothing to say."

"But I have to speak to you. About Yalith."

At last the head emerged from the fluff of feathers, and
the dark bead of eye blinked.

"Please." Dennys indicated the vulture. "Please,

Alarid."

The white bird hopped down from its perch, clumsy

and cumbersome.

The vulture was an ink blob of immobile darkness.

"Please." Dennys pleaded.

The pelican stretched its wings up, up, until the seraph
appeared- Without speaking, Alarid turned from the well
and walked toward the desert. Dennys followed. When
they had left the oasis far enough behind so that the vul-
ture was no longer visible, Alarid turned to the boy. "What
is it?"

"You can't let Yalith drown in the flood."

"Why not?"

"Yalith is good. I mean, she is really good."

Alarid bowed his head. "Goodness has never been a
guarantee of safety."

"But you can't let her drown."

278 -»^ MANY WATERS

"I have nothing to say in the matter."

"I should have spoken to Aariel," Dennys said in frus-
tration. "Aariel loves her."

"He has no more say than I." The seraph turned his
head away.                               /

Dennys realized that he had hurt Alarid, bun he plunged
ahead. "You're seraphim. You have powers."

"True. But, as I told you, it is dangerous to change
things. We do not meddle with the pattern."

"But Yalith isn't in the pattern." Dennys's voice rose
and cracked. "There's no Yalith in the story. Only Noah
and his wife and his sons and their wives."

Alarid's wings quivered slightly.

"So, since she isn't in the story, it won't change anything
if you prevent her from being drowned in the flood."

"What do you want me to do?" Alarid asked.

"You aren't going to be drowned, are you?" Dennys de-
manded. "You, and the other seraphim?"

"No."

"Then take her wherever it is you're going to escape the
flood."

"We cannot do that," Alarid said sadly.

"Why not?"

"We cannot." Again, the seraph turned his face away.

"Where are you going, then?"

Alarid turned back to Dennys and smiled, but not in
amusement. "We go to the sun."

No. Yalith could not go to the sun. Nor to the moon,
which Dennys had been about to suggest. Yalith could not
live where there was no atmosphere. But surely there was
something to be done! He made a strangled noise of out-

279 Neither can the fioods drown it

rage. "We're not in the story, either, Sandy and I. But
we're here. And Yalith is here."

"That is so."

"And if we drown, that is, if Sandy and I drown, that's
going to change the story, isn't it? I mean, we're not going
to be born in our own time if we get drowned now, and
even if that makes only a tiny difference, it will make a
difference to our family. If Sandy and I don't get born,
maybe Charles Wallace won't get born. Maybe Meg will
bean only child."

"Who?"

"Our older sister and our little brother. I mean, the
story would be changed."

Alarid said, "You must go back to your own time."

"That's easier said than done. Anyhow, what I wanted
to talk to you about is Yalith. Listen, it's a stupid story.
Only the males have names- It's a chauvinist story. I mean,
Matred has a name. She's a mother. And Elisheba and
Anah and Oholibamah. They're real people, with names."

"That is true," Alarid agreed.

"The nephilim," Dennys went on. "They're like who-
ever wrote the silly ark story, seeing things only from their
own point of view, using people. They don't give a hoot
for Tiglah or Mahlah, for instance. They're just women,
so they don't matter. They don't care if Yalith gets
drowned. But you ought to care!"

Alarid asked gently. "Do you think I don't care?"

Dennys sighed. "Okay. I know you care. But are you
just going to stand by and do nothing and then fly off to
the sun?"

Again Alarid's wings quivered. "Part of doing something

280 -v^ MANY WATERS

is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars- To
the wind."

Dennys felt chastened. He had not paused to listen, not
for days. "They don't tell you anything?"

"To continue to listen."

The breeze lifted, washed over Dennys in a wave of sad-
ness. "I don't like this story," he said. "I don't like it at all."

He left Alarid. Before he reached the oasis he paused,
sat on a small rock. Tried to quiet himself so that he could
listen. To the wind. How could he unscramble the words
of the wind which came to him in overlapping wavelets?

He closed his eyes. Visioned stars exploding into life.
Planets being birthed. Yalith had spoken of the violence
of Mahlah's baby's birth. The birth of planets was no
gentler. Violent swirtings of winds and waters. Land masses
as fluid as water. Volcanoes spouting flame so high that it
seemed to meet the outward flaming of the sun.

The earth was still in the process of being created. The
stability of rock was no more than an illusion. Earthquake,
hurricane, volcano, flood, all part of the continuing crea-
tion of the cosmos, groaning in travail.

The song of the wind softened, gentled. Behind the vio-
lence of the birthing of galaxies and stars and planets came
a quiet and tender melody, a gentle love song. All the
raging of creation, the continuing hydrogen explosions on
the countless suns, the heaving of planetary bodies, all was
enfolded in a patient, waiting love.

Dennys opened his eyes as the wind dropped, was silent.
He raised his face to the stars, and their light fell against
his cheeks like dew. They chimed at him softly. Do not

281 '^•^ Neither can the floods drown it

seek to comprehend. All shall be well. Wait. Patience.
Wait. You do not always have to do something. Wait.

Dennys put his head down on his knees, and a strange
qmet flowed through him.

Above his head, the white wings of a pelican beat gently
through the flowing streams of stars.

Work on the ark progressed slowly. In the heat of the
sun, his body glistening with sweat, Dennys found it hard
to remember his vision of understanding and hope. But it
was still there, waiting for him, surfacing during the after-
noon rest time, or at night when the sun set and the stars
blossomed.

Hammer. Peg Measure for stress.

Noah insisted on following exactly the directions which
were given him.

"This El," Sandy said to Dennys, "I don't understand."

"El knows about shipbuilding," Dennys said. "The in-
structions and measurements are pretty much the basic
proportions for modern ships. The ark's not designed for
speed, but then, that's not the purpose."

"All those animals—Noah's surely going to have to
shovel out a load of manure."

"I bet nobody around here has ever seen a boat this big.
Maybe they've never even seen a boat."

Sandy sought out Yalith. feeling a little disloyal to be
going to find her without Dennys, but going, nevertheless.
Dennys had vetoed it when Sandy had suggested taking
Yalith with them.

He waited for her, not far from the tentholds, in the

282 -^ MANY WATERS

quiet that precedes dawn. Saw her coming, pale and wraith-
like, from the direction of the desert.

"Yalith."

She stopped, startled, head up.

"Yalith, it's Sandy."

"Oh. Twin Sand." Relief was in her voice. "What is it?"

He took her hand. "Yalith, what are you going to do?"

"When?"

"When the floods come."

She spoke in a low voice. "We don't know for sure that
the floods are going to come. It is only what my father
says."

"Yes, but what do you think? Do you believe your
father?"

She was barely audible. "Yes."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Nothing. This has already given my father and mother
much grief. My mother doesn't understand why El has not
called me to be in the ark with the others."

"I don't understand it either," Dennys said flatly.

"But the stars have told me not to be afraid."

"And you believe the stars?"

"Yes."

"Well, somebody's wrong, either your father or the
stars."

"I trust my father. And I trust the stars."

"Well. Somebody has to do something. I mean, we can't
just sit back and let you get drowned. Would you consider
coming home with us?"

She looked at him, startled. "But where is your home?
Is it on the other side of the mountains?"

283 '^'^ Neither can the floods drown it

"On the other side of time," Sandy said.

Her fingers tightened in his. "You and the Den are
leaving?" She answered her own question. "Of course. You
have^to-As soon as the ark is built. As soon as the rains
start."

"Will you come with us?"

"With you both?"

"Well—yes." He would love to go off to the end of the
world, alone with Yalith. But he knew that he would not
try to leave her world without Dennys.

"Is it many days of travel?"

"We got here sort of instantaneously. I have an idea
how we might be able to get home, but first I want to know
if you'll come with us."

"Oh, twin Sand." She sighed, long and deeply. "Every-
thing is so strange. Ever since you came, nothing has been
the same. Grandfather Lamech is dead. The ark is being
built. I don't want to drown, but—is it very different,
where you come from?"

Sandy acknowledged, "Very different. It isn't nearly as
hot, and we have lots of water, so that we can take showers,
and drink as much as we want. What I wouldn't give for
a long glass of cold water when we're hammering away on
the ark! And we wear different kinds of clothes." He
looked at Yalith's small and perfect body, barely covered
by the loincloth, her breasts delicate and rosy, and had a
moment's absurd vision of her in one of the classrooms at
the regional high school. But wouldn't anything be better
than drowning? "You'll consider it, won't you? Coming
with us?"

She was solemn. "Of course. It is very hard for me to

284 -s^ MANY WATERS

imagine what it would be like without you and the Den.
You are part of me. Both of you."

Sandy slipped back into the tent- Dennys was awake,
waiting tor him.

"Where have you been?"

"I asked Yalith to come home with us."

There was a heavy silence. At last Dennys said. "No. No,
Sandy. We can't take her back wich us. I mean, even if we
could, we can't."

"Why not?"

"She doesn't have any immunities. Haven't you noticed,
there aren't any diseases here? Don't you remember that
all the natives at the bottom part of South America got
killed by German measles, because they didn't have any
immunities?"

"Couldn't we give her vaccinations?"

"Not for everything. Even if she caught a cold, an ordi-
nary head cold, it would probably kill her. She doesn't
have any protective antibodies. She couldn't adjust to our
climate. It's too cold, too damp- It would be murder to
try to take her back with us."

"Then what's going to happen?"

"I don't know."

"If she stays here, she'll drown. Wouldn't it be worth
the risk to try to take her home with us?"

Dennys shook his head. "How do you think she'd get on
with the kids at school?"

"She wouldn't have to go to school. She's nearly a hun-
dred years old."

g85 -s^ Neither can the floods drown it

"And she doesn't look any older than we do. How would
we prove her age to the school authorities? And i£ she is a
hundred years old, and we bring her back to our time,
what-Tvould happen? Would she shrivel all up and be an-
cient and die of old age?"

"Why are you thinking of all the bad things that could

happen?"

"We have to think of them. It we love Yalith."

"Maybe it would be all right."

"And maybe it wouldn't. Maybe what we should do is
stay here with Yalith and wait for the flood."

"I'm not willing to give up that easily."

"It's not easily."

"But we havetodosomethingi"

—Maybe, for once, we don't, Dennys thought. "There's
time yet," he said. "Maybe something wilt come to us, but
it will have to be something real."

"Hey," Sandy said. "I'm not sure anymore what's real
and what isn't. I mean, nephilim and seraphim!"

"I believe in a lot more than I used to," Dennys said.
"Even i£ we're not supposed to change the story, we're

changed, you and I."

"We are, oh, we are. And what about Yalith?"
"Wait," Dennys said. He did not tell Sandy about his talk
with Alarid. Or what the wind had shown him. Or that the
stars had told him to have patience, and wait. Wait.

The new moon was once again a crescent in the sky-
Ripened, filled out to a sphere. Dwindled and diminished.
Was bom again.

286 -^ MANY WATERS

Noah sent Japheth and Oholibamah to warn the people
of the oasis of the impending flood.

Ham asked, "What's the point? They ail know you're
building this big boat. They all know you're expecting rain
out of season."

Noah was stubborn. "They have a right to be warned. To
prepare. And who knows—if they repent, then perhaps El
will not send the flood."

"If there's no flood," Ham said, "people will laugh at us
even more than they're laughing now."

Anah looked troubled. "I do not think the people of
my tent will repent- They are very angry."

Noah said, "They must be given the chance,"

When Japheth and Oholibamah returned from their trip
about the oasis, they had been laughed at. spat at. Japheth
had an ugly bruise on his cheek where an angrily thrown
stone had hit him.

Even Noah and Matred's older daughters and their hus-
bands had met them with scorn. They laughed at Japheth's
earnest warning, and complained of being made to look
like fools because of Noah's folly- Seerah had thrown a bowl
of mash at them and screamed at Oholibamah to leave her
alone. "And don't you come near my babies, you nephil
woman."

Japheth had put his arm protectingly about his wife and
taken her away.

Hoglah's husband had threatened to strangle them if
they kept on spreading stories of flood and doom through-
out the oasis. "It reflects on us," he said- "Don't you see

287 -^s Neither can the floods drown U

how you're making us look with this idiocy? Can't you just
keep quiet about Noah's delusions?"

Japheth and/Oholibamah left the oasis, to go home by
the desert^Uholibamah began weeping, strangely, quietly.

Japheth stopped, putting his arms around her. "My wife.

What is it?"

Oholibamah struggled to stifle her silent tears. Said, "If
it is all true, what El has told your father, if there is to be
a great flood, then our baby will be born after—" She

choked on her tears.

Japheth's face lit with delight. "Our—"

Oholibamah leaned her head against his strong shoulder.
"Our baby. Japheth." Suddenly her tears turned to laugh-
ter. "Our baby!"

The result of the attempt to warn the people of the oasis
was that now they gathered about the perimeter of Noah's

land.

The desert wind rose hotly. Noah's eyes were fixed on

the ark. He tried to ignore the catcalls and hoots of the

mob.

Grimly, Matred heated wine to the boiling point. "I pre-
fer to use it on manticores, but if they try to hurt my hus-
band, I will make them sorry."

Ham slunk into the tent.

"What are you doing here?" his mother demanded.

"I'm tired of being laughed at."

Matred spoke fiercely. "You go right back out and help

your father."
"He's insane."

288 -s^ Af^/VF ly/tTf.R.S'

"Whatever he is, it's your place to be with him. And with
your wife. She's not too proud to work, and carrying your
child, too." Matred smiled. There would be three babies
coming. She brimmed with joy.

"Can't you stop him, Mother? He's a wild man, his eyes
blazing, his beard whipped by the wind, his— Can't you
speak to him."

"I have spoken," Matred said. "Go out to him. Now."
Reluctantly, Ham went out into the glaring sunlight, the
burning wind. The muttering, jeering crowd was larger,
as the people of the oasis gathered to stare.

Noah's hands were black with the pitch with which he
was coating the ark.

A stone was thrown- It missed its mark and glanced
harmlessly against the dark wood-
Sandy and Dennys left the ark and walked with deliber-
ate steps toward the mob of little people. Dennys did not
put down the.plank he was sanding. Sandy still held the
stone he used for a hammer. Neither boy threatened in any
way; nevertheless, the people drew back slightly-
Sandy spoke in a commanding voice. "No stone throw-
ing."

Dennys stood as tall as possible, looming over the small
men in the foreground of the crowd. "Go home. Back to
your tents. Now." His voice was a deep, man's voice.

There were advantages in being taken for giants. Slowly,
the crowd dispersed-

Yalith sat on her favorite starlit rock, huddled over as
though for warmth. She was not aware that Oholibamah

289 ^s- Neither can the fioods drown it /

had joined her until the other woman put her arm about
Yalith's shoulders.

Tears sprang to Yalith's eyes. "Twin Sand and twin
Den—" Her voice trailed off-

Oholibamah finished for her. "As soon as the ark is built,
they will have to leave. To go to wherever it is they came

from."

Yalith choked down a sob. "Twin Sand has asked me to

go with them."

Oholibamah drew back in surprise. Said, "It is a solution

I had not thought of."

"Then—what do you think?"
Oholibamah looked at the sky, intently, listening. Then

she shook her head.

Yalith. too, looked heavenward. "The stars have never
told me wrong."

Oholibamah spoke thoughtfully. "I do not know why it
is not the right solution for you to go with our twins. I
know only that I hear the stars, and I agree. There is some-
thing here that we do not understand. But do you hear the
stars? They are telling you not to be afraid."

A soft wind brushed past their cheeks, murmuring, "Fear
not. Fear not. The pattern will be perfected."

"1 wish—" Yalith whispered. "I wish Grandfather La-
mech was still alive. 1 wish that El had not told my father
to build an ark, or that the rains were going to come."

"And—our twins?"

Tears slid down Yalith's cheeks. "I cannot wish that they
had never come to us- Or that 1 had not become a woman."

Oholibamah held Yalith, rocking her like a child. "I,

290 -^ MANY WATERS

too, am afraid, tittle sister. I am carrying my Japheth's
child, and I am afraid for the future. I am afraid of the
terrible flood, and all the death and anguish it will bring.
Sometimes I am even afraid of Noah, he seems so wild. But
I trust Japheth. I trust the stars. I trust El. I crust that all
this will be for good."

As the stars slid slowly toward the horizon, the sky paled,
flushed with soft colors. A burst of joyous birdsong filled
the air around them, and the baboons began to clap their
hands.

The ark was nearly finished.

The twins talked at night in the tent, whispering in the
dark- During the day they were never alone, and not every-
body slept at the same time in the afternoon.

"We haven't seen any of the seraphim," Sandy said. "Not
for days."

"Nor the nephilim," Dennys added.

"I'd just as soon not see the nephilim. Particularly
Rofocale."

Dennys said, "Every once in a while I think I see one. Or
at any rate, when I see an ant, or a worm, I get flickers of
color behind my eyes, reds and oranges and blues and pur-
ples. But they don't materialize.".

"I need to see one of the seraphim," Sandy said. "I need
to see Adnarel. I thought maybe the scarab beetle would
come with Higgaion, but I haven't seen him."

Dennys said thoughtfully, "I don't think it means that
he's stayed at Grandfather Lamech's. The only time I've
seen a seraph when there were a lot of people around was

291 "»^ Neither can the floods drown it

when Grandfather was buried, and they all came Othpr
wise, it's been only when there are one or two people. And
what with building the ark, and staying in Noah's tent
we're always with a gang. Maybe somehow we should slip
away for a little while tomorrow and go out to the desert,

just the two of us."

"Good thinking," Sandy said. "But why wait for tomor-
row? We don't want to go in the heat of the day, and we'd
be missed any other time. Noah and Matred are always
checking on us. They're afraid one of us might be kid-
napped again. So why not go now?"

"Right now?"

"Why not? We're both awake."

"Let's go."

"Don't wake Higgaion."

"OrSelah."

"Or—"

"Shh."
' They slipped out quietly.

But not so quietly that Yalith did not hear them. She
felt a vague disquiet. Rose from her sleeping skins and
followed them.

"Kkk. They come."
"Hsss. This is what we've been waiting for."

"Szzz. At last."
The nephilim slid out of their animal hosts, raising

wings turned dark by night, so that the stars were hidden.

292 ••s^ MANY WATERS

The little mammoth woke with a jerk from a dream of     ^
being beaten by Tiglah's brother. Nudged Selah, who
nudged Higgaion, who reached toward the twins, and felt
only sleeping skins. Snorting in alarm, he padded across the
tent toward Yalith's sleeping skins. She, too, was gone. He
glanced toward Noah and Matred, both sleeping quietly.

Selah trumpeted, softly, so that only the mammoths
heard, and pointed her trunk toward Higgaion's ear. The
scarab beetle was there, a small, bright jewel against the
grey earflap.

"What should we do?" Higgaion's eyes queried. Cocked
his head as though listening. Then he gestured to the other
two mammoths with his trunk, and they followed him as
he hurried out of the tent and ran toward the desert.

The twins were nearly surrounded before they realized
what was happening. The circle of nephilim was closing
in on them, slowly, deliberately. The sharp odor of stone
and cold filled their nostrils.

Sandy felt as though a hand was pressing hard on his
chest. He shouted at Dennys, "Quick!" and flung himself
out of the not-quite-closed circle.

Dennys followed, pushing through purple-dark wings
that nearly stifled him. "Run!"

The twins' reflexes were swift, but the nephilim were
swifter.

Again the circle started to form around them, and it was
as though the breath was being squeezed out of them.
Sandy ran, head down, like a battering ram, between
Rofocale and LIgiel. Dennys rammed Eblis.

293 '^'•^ Neither can the floods drown it

But the twins were only two, and the nephilim were
many, and sure enough of their powers to proceed with
deliberation and without haste. In their rush to gel free of
the circle, the twins had run in the opposite direction from
the oasis. Now they were too far away to think of making a

dash back to Noah's tenthold.

The circle of nephilim drew closer.

Yalith saw.

"Aariel!" she screamed. "Aariel!"

The golden lion bounded across the sand, past Yalith,
until it was between two of the nephilim, keeping the circle

from closing completely.

Came a strange pounding, and then Admael the camel
galloped white as moonlight across the desert, inserting
himself into the circle. A flutter of wings overhead became
visible as a pelican, diving down, broke the circle again.

And three small grey bodies hurtled into the circle, blow-
ing sand and water into the faces of the nephilim, who
burst out of their formation in a rush of brilliant wings.
The lion, camel, pelican, with an upward leaping of

light, became the radiant beauty of seraphim.

Sandy and Dennys ran to them, ran faster than they had
ever run before. Alarid caught Sandy, and Admael held

Dennys.

The nephilim sprang angrily into the sky, saw Yalith.

"Her!" Eblis cried. "1 want her!"

But Aariel reached her before the nephil. Swift as
Eblis was, the seraph was swifter. He enfolded Yalith in

gilded wings.

294 -^s MANY WATERS

The three mammoths, trumpeting joyfully, bounded
around them.

Bronze flashed against Higgaion's ear, and then Adnarel
stood before them. "Go!" he commanded the nephilim in
a bugling voice.

"K.kk. You have no right to take them from us," Naamah
said.

"And you have no right to them whatsoever." Adnarel
was fierce. "Go."

From the four corners of the desert the other seraphim
came, to stand with Adnarel, Alarid, Admael, and Aariel.

Then Ertrael, whose host was the rat, whined, "Tell us
what is about to happen."

"Do you not know?" Alarid asked.

"I assume," Ugiel hissed, "that since Noah is building
a boat. he must be planning to find some water."

"Your assumption is correct." Admael had his arm
lightly across Dennys's shoulder.

"K.kk. And then what?" Naamah asked.

"Rain," Alarid said. "Much rain." The seraph raised his
hand skyward, seeming to touch a bright star. A flash of
lightning split the sky, bolted to earth with a great crash
of thunder.

"Now," Alarid ordered the nephilim.

As the nephilim slipped, one by one, into their animal
hosts, Sandy felt a drop of rain.

The seraphim gravely led the twins and Yalith deeper
into the desert, not explaining where they were going.
Sandy started to ask, "Where—" then closed his mouth.

295 •"B>^ Neither can the floods drown it

When they reached a single monolith of silvery rock, the
seraphim encircled it. Aariel drew Yalith into the center
of the circle.

Adnarel took Sandy by the hand, and Admael reached
for Dennys, so that they were part of the circle around the
monolith, Aariel, and Yalith, who looked at the seraph
questioningly but without fear.

Alarid said, "Yalith, child, you did not know your Great-
great-grandrather Enoch."

Mutely, she shook her head.

"But you know of him?" Aariel asked.

"I know that he did not die like ordinary men. He
walked with El, and then, according to Grandfather La-
mech, he was not. That is, he was not with the people of
the oasis. He was with El."

With a rush of hope, Sandy remembered his conversa-
tion with Noah and Grandfather Lamech and their re-
counting of this strange happening.

Aariel smiled down on Yalith. "El has told us to bring
you, and in the same way."

She shrank back. "I don't understand."

Dennys moved as though to go to her, but Higgaion
nudged him to stay still.

Aariel said, "There is no need to understand, little one.
I will take you, and it will be all right. Do not fear."

She looked very small, very young. She asked, timidly,

"Will it hurt?"

"No, little one. I think you will find it a rapturous

experience."

She looked up at him, trustingly.

296 MANY WATERS

"Enoch, your forebear, will explain everything you need
to know."

Adnarel's fingers held Sandy back. "You will tell Noah
and Matred?"

"I will tell them," Sandy said. "I think they will be very
happy."

Dennys, who had not heard the extraordinary story of
Enoch, looked confused but hopeful. If Aariel was taking
Yalith somewhere, she would not be drowned after all.
The seraphim were to be trusted. He was certain of that.
Aariel would not take Yalith to the sun, or to the moon,
or anywhere that was not possible for her with her human
limitations.

Aariel said, "It is time."

Yalith remembered the words Aariel had said to her
when she had gone out to the desert in the heat of the
day. "Many waters cannot quench love," she whispered-
"Neither can the floods drown it. Oh, twins, dear twins, I
love you."

Sandy and Dennys spoke together, their voices cracking.
"Yalith. Oh, Yalith. I love you."

"Will you go back now, to where you came from?"

The twins glanced at each other.

"We will try," Sandy said.

"We think the seraphim will help us," Dennys added.

"If we had been older—" Sandy started.

Dennys laughed. "If we had been older, it would have
been very complicated, wouldn't itP"

Yalith, too, laughed. "Oh, I love you both! I love you
both!"

297 "^^ Neither can the floods drown it

Aariel urged, gently, "Come, Yalith."

"I can't say goodbye to my parents? To japheth and
Oholibamah?"

"It is best this way," Aariel said, "without goodbyes, as
it was for your forebear Enoch."

Yalith nodded, then reached up to Sandy and kissed him
on the lips. Then Dennys- Full, long kisses.

Aariel wrapped her in his creamy wings, glittering with
gold at their tips. Then he held her only with his arms,
lifted and spread the wings, beat with them softly, and then
rose into the air, up, up.

They watched until all they saw was a speck of light in
the sky, as though from a new star.

Sandy spoke to Noah, "Do you remember the night
when you and Grandfather Lamech were talking and I was
there?"

"I remember," Noah said.

"And Grandfather Lamech talked about dying."

"I remember."

"And about his Grandfather Enoch, who walked with
El and then he was not, for El took him?"

"I remember that, too. Why?"

"Yalith is not."

"What are you saying?" Noah's eyes widened.

Matred put her hand to her mouth, focusing intently.

Sandy continued, "Aariel. the seraph who loves Yalith,
said that she was to be taken up, like her forebear Enoch.
And he held her and flew straight up into the sky. We
watched."

298 "o* Af^NV W/t TEHS

Dennys nodded.

A light of great joy came into Noah's eyes.

Matred burst into tears.

"I felt a drop of rain," Sandy said.

Noah turned away. "The ark will be finished tomorrow."

That night, the twins sat outside the big tent. The three
mammoths curled up together, near them. The rest of the
family was within, asleep. Except for Yalith. Yalith's sleep-
ing skins had been folded and put away.

"I didn't have a chance to talk with Adnarel about get-
ting home," Sandy said.

"But Yalith is ail right. At the moment, that's all that
matters." A drop of rain fell on Dennys's nose.

"The rain is beginning." Sandy reached down to pet
Higgaion, who was pressing against his feet. "What was it
that she said about many waters?"

"Many waters cannot quench love. I think that's what
she said."

Higgaion reached up with his trunk to touch Sandy's
arm. "It's time for us to be going home, Higg-y. I have to
speak to Adnarel."

Higgaion reached with his trunk to touch his ear. The
scarab beetle was not there.

Another drop of rain fell. It was a quiet, beginning rain,
with occasional droplets. No thunder or lightning.

Sandy asked the sky, "Is God really doing this? Causing
a flood to wipe everybody out?"

Dennys raised his face to the sky. The stars were not
visible, hidden by thick veils of clouds, but it seemed that

299 -fct*" ^'either can the floods drown it

he could still hear their chiming, dim but reassurine.
"Whenever there's an earthquake, or a terrible fire, or a
typhoon, or whatever, everybody gets it. Good people get

killed as well as bad."

Sandy was wriggling his toes against Higgaion's shaggy
grey flank. "Well. Everybody dies. Sooner or later."

"Even stars die," Dennys added.

"I don't like entropy," Sandy said. "The universe wind-
ing down."

"I don't think tt is winding down," Dennys contra-
dicted. "I think it's still being birthed. Even the flood is
part of the birthing."

"I don't understand." Sandy's voice was fiat. "Everybody

knows that entropy—"

"Everybody doesn't- And entropy is in question, any-
how. Remember, we had that in science last year. There's
no such thing as an unbreakable scientific rule. because,
sooner or later, they all seem to get broken. Or to change."

"Grandfather Lamech said that these are last days." The
occasional slow drops of rain made Sandy on edge, and

argumentative.

Another splash of rain touched Dennys's face, muting
the stars. "There have been many times of last days," he
said, "and they mark not only endings but beginnings."

"Is there a pattern to it all?" Sandy demanded. "Or is it
all chaos and chance?"

"What do you think?" Dennys asked.

Selah had come to lie beside Higgaion, and Sandy
reached to scratch her with the toes of his other foot. "Did
we come here, to Yalith, to Noah, by chance?"

300 -<^ MANY WATERS

Dennys wiped his face with the palm of his hand. "No.
I don't think so."

Sandy said, "The ark is finished. Yalith is with Grand-
father Enoch. And perhaps with Grandfather Lamech.
What was it Grandfather said? We know little about such
things .. ."

There was a radiance in the air, and Adnarel stood be-
fore them.

"Oh, Adnarei." Sandy leapt up. "I need to talk to you
about particle physics and quantum leaps."

Adnarel sat beside them, listening.

"So," Sandy concluded, "if you could go to our time
and place and call the unicorns to you there, you could
tesser us home."

"It does not sound impossible," Adnarel said. "It is con-
sistent with our knowledge of energy and matter. 1 will
talk with the other seraphim." As he turned to go, he said,
"Do not stray far from the tent."

"The nephilim," Dennys agreed. Then, in a louder
voice, "We will not stray. It is just that somehow we are
not sleepy."

Adnarel paused. "Your love for Yalith, and hers for you,
is, and therefore it always will be." And then he was gone.

They smelled Tiglah before they saw her. Quickly they
sprang to their feet and ran to the tent flap, which Was half
open.

"Oh, don't go, please don't gol" Tiglah cried. "I'm
alone, I promise you."

Tiglah's promises meant little. They stood warily by the

30 1 '•».-.<- ^either can (he fiooi/^ drown it

tent flap, watching her as she approached. But there was
nobody with her, neither father and brother, nor nephilim.

"It's starting to rain," she said. "We never have rain ex-
cept in the spring. Did Noah really build this big boat
because he thinks there's going to be more rain than we've
ever seen before?"

Sandy nodded.

"Anah is my sister. Would there be room for me on the
ark?"

"There is not room for Sandy and me," Dennys said.

"Then what are you going to do?"

"We're not sure." Sandy was cautious. "We hope to go
home."

"I don't like this rain." Tiglah sniffled. "It's cold and
wet."

"Rofocale will take care of you," Sandy said-

"Oh, he will, won't he! I'd better go find him. It's very
nice to have known yon."

"Thanks for nothing." Sandy said rudely.

"Ditto," Dennys echoed.

"You're not blaming me for my father and brother, are
you?"

"Perhaps not for your father and brother," Sandy said,
"but for doing whatever Rofocale tells you, yes."

"So go to him," Dennys urged, although he did not have
much faith that the nephilim cared enough about any
human being to be willing to help unless it was convenient.

"I still think it's nice to have known you," Tiglah said.
"I wish I could have known you better. I mean, really
known you."

302 -^- MANY WATERS

"Sorry, Tiglah," Sandy said. "You are a great deal older
and a great deal more experienced than we are."
"I could teach you—"
"No, Tiglah. The timing isn't right."
"Goodbye, then," she said.
"Goodbye," the twins echoed.

Japheth came to them. "I'm worried about you."

Sandy was still looking after Tiglah's retreating form.
"Don't worry, Jay. We'll be all right."

"How?" Japheth demanded. "You know we can't take
you on the ark."

"We know," Dennys agreed. He looked up at the clouds,
which occasionally let a drop of rain fall. Tried to listen
for the hidden stars.

"Can you get home?" Japheth asked. "To wherever you
came from?" He, too, looked at the sky, shook his head as
though baffled by silence.

"We're going to try," Sandy said. "Don't worry about
us. You have enough to do, collecting all the animals and
food and fodder and grain and everything."

Japheth nodded. "Perhaps—"

"Perhaps what?" Sandy asked.

Japheth rubbed his broad hand across his face, wiping
away tears. "Oh, twins—" He rushed at them, and they
flung their arms about him and the three of them rocked
back and forth, holding one another.

Oholibamah went, just before dawn, to Mahlah's low
white dwelling.

Mahlah was alone, nursing the baby. It was indeed a

303 "s^ Neither can the floods drown it

large baby, drinking greedily, and Mahlah looked pale and
fragile, but she crooned over the child while she fed it.

She looked up at Oholibamah and smiled in welcome.
"It's good to see you, Oholi. Come in."

Ohoiibamah stood, looking down at Mahlah and the
child. "Is Ugiel good to you?"

"He is very good." There was deep love in Mahlah's
shadowed eyes.

"You're happy with him? Truly happy, as I am with
Japheth?"

"Truly happy. Though Ugiel is Ugiel and Japheth is
Japheth."

"He doesn't ever hurt you?"

"Never."

"He takes care of you?"

"Very good care. And he loves our baby."

"Good," Oholibamah said. "That's all I wanted to
know." And she left Mahlah and went back to the tent she
shared with Japheth.

The seraphim were gathered together as dawn suffused
the desert with a soft pearly light. The clouds were thick-
ening, and in the trees the birds sang more softly than
usual, and the baboons' chatter was muted.

"It does look possible, I think," Adnarel said.

Alarid nodded. "We are not bound to this place and
time. Two of us should go to the twins' world and call
them back."

Admael asked, "Does it really need to be unicorns? I
would feel safer if I could carry them."

Adnarel's eyes widened for a moment, then nearly

304 -»^ MANY WATERS

closed in thought. "I do not think they could take the
transition from matter to energy and then back again to
matter. Even we find it tiring."

"But what about the unicorns?" Adnachiel, sometimes
a giraffe, asked. "What happens when they go out?"

Adnarel said, "They are only when they are here. Or
when they are there. But not in between. It is not quite
the same thing as a transfer of matter and energy."

Alarid nodded. "They have to be observed in order to
be."

"Believed in," Adnachiel agreed.

"It is a long distance," Admael said, "both in time and
space."

"It is a risk," Adnarel agreed, "but one I think we must
take."

"Why are they here at all?" asked Achsah, with wings
the same soft gray as his mouse fur.

"Do you think El sent them?" Admael suggested.

Adnarel spoke slowly. "I do not think El sent them. But
neither did El prevent their coming."

"Are they pan of the pattern?" Admael asked. "Is i£
right and proper for them to be here?"

Alarid looked up aE the veiled sky. "Perhaps Aariel will
have word when he returns from taking Yalith to the
Presence. But I think, yes, that they are part of the
pattern."

"The pattern is not set," Adnarel said. "It is fluid, and
constantly changing."

"But it will be worked out in beauty in [he end,"
Admael affirmed.

305 "*^ Neither can the ftoods drown it

"Then you agree?" Adnarel asked. "We will try to help
them to return to their own time and place in the way in
which they have suggested?"

"We agree," affirmed the seraphim.

The air lightened slightly as the hidden sun lifted above
the horizon. There was a faint spattering of applause from
the baboons, who were confused by the clouds and the
occasional drops of rain.

Despite the clouds which obscured the light of the last
dim stars, the seraphims' ears were attuned to the song, al-
though it was far away.

"Let us sing with them," Alarid suggested.

And the singing of the seraphim joined with the singing
of the hidden stars, and the call of the invisible sun.

Sandy and Dennys slept fitfully. The rain had not really
begun in earnest. But there was an occasional patter on
the roof skins as a drop fell here, there. The three mam-
moths were curled into a ball at the foot of the twins'
sleeping skins.

The morning songs of the oasis were softer than usual,
but both boys roused from sleep and looked at each other.
Nodded.

Quietly, they dressed in their clothes from home.
Dennys was without the garments he had discarded after
the garbage pit, but he pulled on his sweater and his lined
jeans, feeling strange and constrained in clothes. The twins
had become used to the freedom of being naked except for
loincloths. Their winter clothes were hampering as well
as hot.

306 -s-^ MANY WATERS

They were careful not to disturb the sleeping mam-
moths. They looked across the tent to where Noah and
Matred were still asleep. To the place which had been
Yalith's and which was now empty.

Then they tiptoed out.

Adnarel was waiting for them. "It's best without good-
byes."

Dennys asked, "But you will say goodbye for us? And to
Oholibamah andJapheth? And the others?"

"We will say goodbye," Adnarel said, and looked toward
a clump of palms and palmettos. Admael and Alarid came
out of the shadows and moved toward them, followed by
Aariel, who had returned from his journey with Yaiith.

"Now," Adnarel said, "we will call the unicorns."

"One more thing." Sandy held back. "You will take care
of the mammoths?"

"We will take care of them. Unicorns!"

With a glimmer of silver, two unicorns solidified before
them.

"Now," Adnarel said.

The two boys mounted the unicorns, sitting astride the
silver backs, bathed in light from the horns.

"We leave you now," Adnarel said, "Admael and I.
When we are in your time and place, we will call for the
unicorns, and for you."

"You'll recognize it when you get there?" Sandy asked
anxiously.

"You have given us very good parameters."

Alarid and Aariel each stood by one of the unicorns.
When a drop of rain touched the light of their brilliant
horns, it hissed slightly.

307

\'cither can the floods drown it

The unicorns crossed the oasis and moved onto the
desert, Alarid and Aariel running along with them.

When they reached Aanel's great rock, the two ser-
aphim stopped and looked at the unicorns, then at the
twins.

"Are you ready?" Alarid asked.

"Ready," Dennys said.

Aariel slapped the two silver rumps, and the unicorns
took off across white sand and rock. In his golden voice he
cried, "Unicorns! Go home!"

Dennys felt a wave of sleep wash over him, as the rain
and the unicorns quickened. Sandy, too, felt his mind
softly closing. The rain was a curtain of silver.

"Alar—" Sandy murmured.

"Aar—" Dennys started.

The unicorns and the twins flickered like candles and
went out.

Two unicorns in an old stone lab connected to a white
clapboard farmhouse were a strange sight. So were two
tall, bright-winged seraphim.

The twins looked around. Aside from the unicorns and
the seraphim, everything was as usual. Wood still burned
brightly in the stove. The smell of stew—of boeiif bour-
guignon—was fragrant over the Bunsen burner. The odd-
looking computer was where it had been when they
punched into it.

Adnarel was sitting in their mother's reading chair, his
golden wings drooping behind it. Admael was peering into
one of her complex microscopes, hunching his pale blue
wings.

308 -a-^ MANY WATERS

"Do you believe in unicorns?" Adnarel's azure eyes were
smiling.

"How was the ride?" Admael, too, smiled, though both
seraphim seemed very relieved.

The outside door banged.

Adnarel rose swiftly from the chair. Admael turned from
the micioscope. The twins stiffened.

Their mother's voice called, "Twins! Are you home?"

"Oh, oh," Sandy said. "We'd better get the unicorns out
of here."

"They'll go as soon as they aren't believed in," Adnarel
said.

Dennys exclaimed, "But Meg and Charles Wallace be-
lieve in unicorns!"

Admael asked, "And in seraphim?"

"And we're not supposed to be in the lab anyhow, with
an experiment in progress." Sandy looked anxiously at
Adnarel.

"Never fear," the seraph said. "You are all right?"

"Until Mother finds us in here."

Dennys added, "Looking the way we do, all sunburned."

"Compared with some of your other problems—" Ad-
mael started.

Their mother's voice called out again. "Twins! Where
are you?"

"No farewells," Adnarel said. He glanced at Admael,
then put both strong, long hands on Dennys's head. Ad-
mael followed suit with Sandy. Both boys felt, rather than
a sense of pressure, a sense of the tops of their heads lifting,
almost as the animal hosts lifted to become seraphim. And
then each twin was staring at a normal winter twin, skins

309 "»'•< A'either can the floods drown it

not darkened by the desert sun, hair not bleached almost
white-
Sandy glanced briefly at Dennys's still bare feet, started
to speak, then stopped as Adnarel held up his hand.

"Many waters-—" The seraph reached out and clasped a
unicorn horn. The light from the horn flooded back into
the seraph's hand, through his body, his wings, until he
was streaming with light. Admael, too, was filled with
flowing light.

"Cannot quench—" he seemed to be saying. Light blazed
fiercely, blinding the twins. Then the brilliance faded.

Unicorns and seraphim were gone.

Brown-haired, winter-skinned twins stared at each other.

Mrs. Murry opened the door to the lab- Behind her, Meg
and Charles Wallace peered in, curiously.

"Sandy. Dennys. What are yon doing here? Didn't you
see the sign on the door?" She sounded extremely dis-
pleased.

"We didn't actually see it," Sandy started.

"We just came to get the Dutch cocoa," Sandy explained.

"Look," Meg said, "it's out here on the floor, by the
kitchen door. Lucky it didn't spill."

"We were just going to make some," Sandy said. "Shall
we make enough for you three?"

"Please," their mother said. "It's turning bitter cold.
But, Sandy; Dennys, I beg you. don't go into the lab when
you're asked not to. I hope you didn't touch anything you
shouldn't have."

Sandy said, slowly, "It all depends. But I don't think we
touched anything we shouldn't have, do you, Dennys?" /

"Under the circumstances, no," Dennys said.

310 -s^ MANY WATERS

"Why are your feet bare, Den?" Charles Wallace asked.

"Good heavens!" Mrs. Murry exclaimed. "Put some-
thing on your feet this second, Dennys Murry, before you
catch cold."

Meg opened the kitchen door, and there was the familiar
odor of fresh bread, apples baking in the oven, and warmth,
and brightness, and all the reassurance of home.

As they followed the others in. Sandy whispered to
Dennys, "I'm very glad the kitchen is all here. But you
know what—I'm homesick."

"We probably always will be, a little," Dennys agreed.

"Well." Sandy straightened up. "As soon as we have our
birthdays, we can get our driver's licenses."

"And about time," Dennys said. "Now let's make that
cocoa."