TUNNEL IN THE SKY by ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

“Maybe. But you can’t go; I need you.”

“In a week I’ll have this guard duty lined up so that it will run itself. Bob Baxter can relieve me; they respect him. . . .. .” He thought for a moment. Jackie? Jimmy? “I’ll team with Carol.”

“Rod, I told you I want you here. But are you and Caroline planning to marry?”

“Huh? What gave you that notion?”

“Then you can’t team with her in any case. We are trying to reintroduce amenities around here.”

“Now see here, Cowper!”

“Forget it.”

“Unh . . . all right. But the first thing the very first is to finish that wall. I want to put everybody to work nght away.”

“Mmm . . .” Cowper said. “I’m sorry. You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because we are going to build a house today. Bill Kennedy and Sue Briggs are getting married tonight.”

“Huh? I hadn’t heard.”

“I guess you are the first to hear. They told me about it privately, at breakfast.”

Rod was not surprised, as Bill and Sue preferred each other’s company. “Look, do they have to get married tonight? That wall is urgent, Grant; I’m telling you.”

“Don’t be so intense, Rod. You can get along a night or two with bigger fires. Remember, there are human values more important than material values.”

11 The Beach of Bones

“July 29 Bill and Sue got married tonight. Hizzoner never looked lovelier. He made a mighty pretty service out of it I cried and so did the other girls. If that boy could do the way he can talk! I played Mendelssohn’s Wedding March on my harmonica with tears running down my nose and gumming up the reeds that’s a touch I wanted to put into darling Carmen’s wedding but I couldn’t resist being bridesmaid. The groom got stuck carrying his lady fair over the threshold of their ‘house’ if I may call it that and had to put her down and shove her in ahead of him. The ceiling is lower than it ought to be which is why he got stuck, because we ran out of rock and Roddie raised Cain when we started to use part of the wall. Hizzoner was leading the assault on the wall and both of them got red in the face and shouted at each other. But Hizzoner backed down after Roddie got him aside and said something Bill was pretty sore at Roddie but Bob sweet-talked him and offered to swap houses and Roddie promised Bill that we would take the roof off and bring the walls up higher as soon as the wall is finished. That might not be as soon as he thinks, though usable rock is getting hard to find. I’ve broken all my nails trying to pry out pieces we could use. But I agree with Roddie that we ought to finish that wall and I sleep a lot sounder now that he is running the watch and I’ll sleep sounder yet when that wall is tight and the pincushion back of it finished. Of course we girls sleep down at the safe end but who wants to wake up and find a couple of our boys missing? It is not as if we had them to spare, bless their silly little hearts. Nothing like a man around the house, Mother always said, to give a home that lived-in look.

“July 30 I’m not going to write in this unless something happens. Hizzoner talks about making papyrus like the Egyptians but I’ll believe it when I see it.

“Aug 5 I was sergeant of the guard last night and Roddie was awake practically all night. I turned in after breakfast and slept until late afternoon when I woke up there was Roddie, redeyed and cross, yelling for more rocks and more firewood. Sometimes Roddie is a little hard to take.

“Aug 9 the salt lick Alice found is closer than the one Shorty found last week, but not as good.

“Aug 14 Jackie finally made up her mind to marry Jim and I think Roddie is flabbergasted but I could have told him a month ago. Roddie is stupid about such things. I see another house & wall crisis coming and Roddie will get a split personality because he will want Jimmy and Jacqueline to have a house right away and the only decent stone within reach is built into the wall.

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