‘Come now, Elder-mine.’ Chawker paused, as though attempting to choose words, then shrugged. Who can tell the filth that found its way into it.’ ‘I suppose,’ said Elder Chawker with distaste, ‘the Prime was inedible there. ‘Of course, there were your packages, Lady-mine - lifesavers, sometimes.’ ‘I had to eat something,’ said Chawker Minor. He said, ‘Did you eat their Prime, Minor?’ I visited the fungus vats at times, though.’Ĭhawker Major, older than Minor by three years, wider of face, heavier of body, but otherwise of close resemblance, was torn between envy of his younger brother’s having seen different worlds of the Orbit and revulsion at the thought of it. ‘Of the Sun,’ grumbled Elder, ‘and it would be next that he would be grubbing in the filth they have there.’ She said warmly, ‘It isn’t dirtied at all, Elder. Lady Chawker would have none of Elder’s criticism either. ‘I stayed out of the sun as much as I could, Elder-mine, but the Other-Worlders would not always have it so.’ He said, ‘Your complexion is dirtied and spoiled, Chawker Minor.’ (The use of the full name showed his displeasure.)Ĭhawker laughed and the clear skin of his rather thin face crinkled. He had no interest - no interest whatever - in the Other-Worlds with their strange ways and their primitive browsing (no better than the ways on Earth, of which Gammerpeople never spoke). ![]() Now he was back, one year to the day (he was always one to keep his word, and, besides, Elder’s support would have ceased the day after, never fear), and the family made holiday.Įlder wore a new, black glossy shirt but would not permit the prim lines of his face to relax, nor would he stoop to ask for details. She had wept and worried and gone into a tragic decline and then, finally, had dried her eyes and spoken stiffly to Elder Chawker - and Chawker Minor had gone. Her younger son had wanted to see the Other-Worlds of the Orbit and had promised to stay away no longer than a year. ![]() Chawker was her second child (both of them sons, as it happened) and she would have no more, of course, so it was not surprising that she doted on him. Elder Chawker had been against it from the start, to do him justice, but then Lady Chawker took the side of her minor, and mothers are, at times, not to be withstood. It wasn’t exactly illegal to make the Grand Tour but, on Gammer at least, it was not really socially acceptable. It was quite clear that it would not have happened - the family would not have been disgraced and the world of Gammer would not have been stunned and horrified - if Chawker Minor had not made the Grand Tour.
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