On the other side, behind the rail, Lorq suddenly recognized the silver-haired woman. She was leaning on the shoulder of the Senegalese student, Lusuna. Her hair stuck to her forehead like confused and twisted knives. The student had opened his shirt. His vest was gone.

The pitman shook the bell rope again. A piece of down had fallen on his gleaming arm and adhered, even as he waved and shouted at the crowd; now he rapped his brown fist on the tin wall for silence.

Money was wedged between the boards of the rail. The wagers were jammed between the planks. As Lorq looked along the rail, he saw the young couple further down. He was leaning over, trying to point out something to her.

The pitman stamped across the mash of scales and feather. His boots were black to the knees. When the people were nearly quiet, he went to the near side of the pit where Lorq couldn’t see, bent down- A cage door slammed back. With a yell, the pitman vaulted onto the fence and grabbed the center post. The spectators shouted and surged up. Those squatting began to stand. Lorq tried to push forward.

Across the pit, he saw his father rise, streaming face twisted below blond hair; Von Ray shook his fist toward the arena. Mother, hand at her neck, pressed against him. Ambassador Selvin was trying to push between two miners shouting at the rail.

“There’s Aaron!” Ruby exclaimed.

“No!” from Prince.

But now there were so many people standing, Lorq could no longer see anything. Tavo stood up and began to shout for people to sit, till someone passed him a bottle.

Lorq moved left to see; then right when the left was blocked. Unfocused excitement pounded in his chest.

The pitman stood on the railing above the crowd. Jumping, he had struck the lantern with his shoulder so that shadows staggered on the canvas. Leaning against the pole, he frowned at the swaying light, rubbed his bulging arms. Then he noticed the fluff. Carefully he pulled it off, then began to search his matted chest, his shoulders.

The noise exploded at the pit’s edge, halted, then roared. Somebody was waving a vest in the air.

The pitman, finding nothing, leaned against the pole again.

Excited, fascinated, at the same time Lorq was slightly ill with rum and stench. “Come on,” he shouted to Prince, “let’s go up where we can see!”

“I don’t think we ought to,” Ruby said.

“Why not!” Prince took a step forward. But he looked scared.

Lorq barged ahead of him.

Then someone caught him by the arm and he whirled around. “What are you doing out here?” Von Ray, angry and confused, was breathing hard. “Who told you you could bring those children up here!”

Lorq looked around for Tavo. Tavo was not there.

Aaron Red came up behind his father. “I told you we should have left somebody with them. Your baby sitters are so old-fashioned out here. Any clever child could fix it!”

Von Ray turned briskly. “Oh, the children are perfectly all right. But Lorq knows he’s not supposed to go out in the evening by himself!”

“I’ll take them home,” Mother said, coming up. “Don’t be upset, Aaron. They’re all right. I’m terribly sorry, really I am.” She turned to the children. “Whatever possessed you to come out here?”

The miners had gathered to watch.

Ruby began to cry.

“Dear me, now what’s the matter?” Mother looked concerned.

“There’s nothing wrong with her,” Aaron Red said. “She knows what’s going to happen when I get her home. They know when they do wrong.”

Ruby, who hadn’t thought about what was going to happen at all, began to cry in earnest.

“Why don’t we talk about this tomorrow morning.” Mother cast Von Ray a despairing glance. But Father was too upset by Ruby’s tears and chagrined by Lorq’s presence to respond.

“Yes, you take them home, Dana.” He looked up to see the miners watching. “Take them home now. Come, Aaron, you needn’t worry yourself.”

“Here,” Mother said. “Ruby, Prince, give me your hands. Come, Lorq, we’re going right—”

Mother had extended her hands to the children.

Then Prince reached with his prosthetic arm, and yanked - Mother screamed, staggered forward, beating at his wrist with her free hand. Metal and plastic fingers locked her own.

“Prince!” Aaron reached for him, but the boy ducked away, twisted, then dodged across the floor.

Mother went to her knees on the dirt floor, gasping, letting out tiny sobs. Father caught her by the shoulders. “Dana! What did he do? What happened?” Mother shook her head.

Prince ran straight against Tavo.

“Catch him!” Father shouted in Portuguese.

And Aaron bellowed, “Prince!”

At the word, resistance left the boy; he sagged in Tavo’s arms, face white.

Mother was on her feet now, grimacing on Father’s shoulder. “…and one of my white birds…” Lorq heard her say.

“Prince, come here!” Aaron commanded.

Prince walked back, his movements jerky and electric.

“Now,” Aaron said. “You go back to the house with Dana. She’s sorry she mentioned your hand. She didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Mother and Father looked at Aaron, astounded. Aaron Red turned to them. He was a small man. The only thing red about him Lorq could see were the corners of his eyes. “You see—Aaron looked tired—”I never mention his deformity. Never.” He looked upset. “I don’t want him to feel inferior. I don’t let anyone point him out as different at all. You must never talk about it in front of him, you see. Not at all.”

Father started to say something. But the initial embarrassment of the evening had been his.

Mother looked back and forth between the two men, then at her hand. It was cradled in her other palm, and she made stroking motions. “Children,” she said. “Come with me.”

“Dana, are you sure that you’re—”

Mother cut him off with a look. “Come with me, children,” she repeated. They left the tent.

Tavo was outside. “I go with you, Senhora. I will go back to the house with you, if you wish.”

“Yes, Tavo,” Mother said. “Thank you.” She held her hand against the stomach of her dress.

“That boy with the iron hand.” Tavo shook his head. “And the girl, and your son. I brought them here, Senhora. But they asked me to, you see. They told me to bring them here.”

“I understand,” Mother said.

They didn’t go down through the jungle this time, but took the wider road that led past the launch from where the aquaturbs took the miners to the undersea mines. The high forms swayed in the water, casting double shadows on the waves.

As they reached the gate of the park, Lorq was suddenly sick to his stomach. “Hold his head, Tavo,” Mother instructed. “See, this excitement isn’t good for you, Lorq. And you were drinking that milk again. Do you feel any better?”

He hadn’t mentioned the rum. The smell in the tent, as well as the odor that lingered around Tavo kept his secret. Prince and Ruby watched him quietly, glancing at one another.

Upstairs Mother got the sitter back in order, and secured Prince and Ruby in their room. Finally she came into the nursery.

“Does your hand still hurt, Mommy?” he asked from the pillow.

“It does. Nothing’s broken, though I don’t know why not. I’m going to get the medico-unit soon as I leave you.”

“They wanted to go!” Lorq blurted. “They said they wanted to see where you all had gone.”

Mother sat down on the bed and began to rub his back with her good hand. “And didn’t you want to see too, just a little bit?”

“Yes,” he said, after a moment.

“That’s what I thought. How does your stomach feel? I don’t care what they say, I still don’t see how that sour milk could be any good for you.”

He still hadn’t mentioned the rum.

“You go to sleep now.” She went to the nursery door.

He remembered her touching the switch.

He remembered a moon darkening through the rotating roof.