that you are over twenty one. You could do that and I would make no effort to stop
you.
‘But I would not help you. Not a thin dime. I’m not going to try to give you a
course in genetics this morning, but I will later. Just let it stand for the moment
that close incest isn’t just against the Bible, and against the laws of Missouri and
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all the other fifty-five states, it’s against natural laws because it makes
unhealthy babies:
‘I know that. But I could get a vasectomy.’
‘So you could. What are you going to use for money? I certainly won’t pay for it!
Donald, I bate to hear you talk that way. I would rather pay to have your eyes
removed than see you submit to sterilisation. You are here not only to live your
life but to pass that life along. Your genes are very special; that is why the
Foundation will subsidise any offspring of yours that you share with a female
Howard. The same applies to you, Priscilla; you both have the genes for long life.
Barring accidents, each of you will live to be more than a hundred. How much more we
can’t tell but it has been stretching longer each generation.
`Now here is how the Howard Fouudation system works. If you ask for it, the
Foundation will supply each of you with a list of Howard eligibles near your age,
while your name and address will be supplied to each person on your list. When I was
young, it used to be eligibles close by, say fifty or a hundred miles or inside one
state. Today, with glide rockets spanning North America in thirty minutes and
everybody moving around like disturbed ants, you can elect to have your name
supplied to every bachelor or spinster Howard in North America if you like and get
back a list like a phone book. Not quite true; I understand that they dole them out
a couple of dozen at a time, grouped geographically… but you can go on shopping
until you find the man – or woman – with whom you want to spend the rest of your
life.’
I continued, ‘just one thing. When you date another Howard, while it can be fun, it
is dead serious, too. You’ll be looking him over as a prospective husband,
Priscilla. If he is utterly impossible, for any reason or none, you must tell him so
and tell him not to come back… or tell me and I’ll tell him so. But if he appeals
to you and better acquaintance causes you to think of him as a possible husband,
then it’s time to take him to bed. Right here at home and I’ll arrange things so
that you can do so comfortably and without embarrassment’
`Wait a minute! Make love to somebody else? With Donnie right upstairs and knowing
what I’m doing?’
`No. One – Donnie is not likely to be upstairs. He is likely to be at the home of a
girl on his list. Two – nobody is urging you to have intercourse with anyone. That
is strictly, totally, and utterly up to you. I am saying only that if he is a young
man whose name has been sent to you by Uncle Justin, and you decide you want to try
him, you can do so safely at home… and if, after sober consideration, you and he
decide to marry, then you can get pregnant right at home. Howard brides are almost
always pregnant – always, so far as I know – because it would be sad indeed to marry
a man and discover, too late, that you and he are not fertile together. Oh, divorce
is easy today… but it is better to have a seven-month, seven-pound baby than to
have a divorce before you are twenty.’
I added, `You’re going to have plenty of time to think about it. I want to check on
some basics today. Priscilla, will you stand up and take off your wrap? We can ask
Donald to leave the room if you wish. I want to guess how old you are,