Anne McCaffrey - Decision at Doona

Hrral's wide mouth dropped in the Hrruban grin.

“But no, he has found that the tails of our cubs also do not come off. He was at the bridge and himself made a personal inspection. Or so I am informed.”

Reeve felt suddenly sick.

"How can I – " he began apologetically.

Hrrestan grinned and Hrral held up his hand politely to interrupt Reeve.

“He does not trouble, and our own young are curious that he has no tail. I believe the young of both races will be friendly together in the way of the young.”

“Young Master Todd in trouble again?” boomed the captain, his eyes sparkling with amusement, for he couldn't have understood the interchange.

Heartily embarrassed, Ken related Todd's breach of etiquette and his own remedy.

“What I don't understand is how he could get out of that locked room,” Ken finished, puzzled.

“Perhaps Pat let him out,” Dautrish suggested.

The captain's chuckle started deep in his belly. The super regarded his captain with disgust. “That young man won't be kept within any bounds. It's a jolly good thing, mister,” and the pipe was waggled at Reeve, “that he has a whole planet in which to range. He'll need it, and you will too, if you get what I mean.”

“Todd'll get what I mean,” replied Ken grimly, determined not to allow a six-year-old's precocity to stride roughshod over an entire colony.

The supercargo's snort of derision spoke volumes for Ken's good intentions.

“Is it permitted to ask whether they speak of your young one?” asked Hrrestan politely.

“To my embarrassment, yes,” Reeve replied.

“Speak of the devil,” the supercargo growled and two small figures stalked out of the shadows. One was an Hrruban cub, a full head taller than his Terran companion Reeve recognized him instantly as the taller of the two ball players he had met in the woods. The cub's tail was wrapped around the waist of young Todd Reeve.

Ken sat down weakly as the two marched directly up to Hrrestan.

"This one is sad, father, the Hrruban cub said, "because he has no tail and wishes mine. I have told him I cannot give him mine. He asked where I got it and I told him. So he asked me to take him to my father so you could give him a tail, too."

The humor of the request evidently did not escape the cub but he made his recital solemnly.

“Hrriss, my son, you have great kindness,” Hrrestan replied with equal solemnity. He put his arm around Hrriss. “But tell me, since you do not speak his language nor he yours, how did you understand his desire?”

The cub looked surprised. “He is understandable,” he said finally with a shrug of his narrow shoulders.

“I want a tail,” said Todd, suddenly vocal and, after a longing look at Hrrestan's appendage, he leaned trustingly against the elder's thigh.

“Little one, we cannot always have what we want,” Hrrestan said, circling Todd's shoulders with his other arm.

"Hrrestan said – " Ken started to translate.

“I heard him,” Todd interrupted bluntly.

“How can you? You don't know his language,” Ken demanded, his words tinged with anger.

Todd turned his head to look at his father, his lips pursing with disgusted exasperation for adult obtuseness. “All you have to do is listen to him,” he explained reasonably.

The captain guffawed so hard he choked on the smoke he had just inhaled. The supercargo pounded him on the shoulder blades until the captain was reduced to a weak, weeping rasp of a laugh.

«All – you – have to – do is listen, the child says,» the captain finally managed to get out.

«Hrriss,» Hrrestan said, releasing both boys and turning them toward the Common, «take Zodd (he could not quite master the labial stop of the 'T') and play together, listening carefully to each other. That is the way to make friends – to listen.»

The two moved off without a comment, Hrriss's tail tucked around Todd's waist.

“Your youngest will gather much credit for you,” Hrrestan remarked, turning around to the adults.

Reeve set his jaw against a swift flash of jealousy that Todd would so easily accept the native and disregard his own father.

“Hrriss shows the wisdom of an adult,” he managed to say, politely turning the compliment.

“If I were you, mister,” Kiachif said, having cleared his lungs and stopped wheezing, I'd let the catmen raise that young man of yours. He's a throwback in more'n those blue eyes of his. He needs room.

“Are you suggesting I can't control my son?”

The captain guffawed wheezingly and the supercargo gave a short bark of derisive laughter. At this moment, Pat, wild-eyed, came rushing up to Ken.

«Oh, Ken, I've looked everywhere. Todd's broken out of his room. I mean, really broken out. That window – the whole frame was unscrewed.»

Grabbing her hands to calm her, Ken reassured her.

«He was just here, and he's in good – hands, Pat,» Ken said, feeling more and more antagonistic toward the subject of son Todd with each passing second.

"You mean, we've got a tail on him,'' the captain exploded, roaring at his own witticism. "If you get what I mean," and he dissolved into another paroxysm of laughter.

Ken half-turned, about to pounce on the captain, when the air whistle cut across the babel in the Common, and Phyllis Hu announced over the loudspeaker that the feast was now ready to be served.

Under cover of the cheer of approval, Pat pulled Ken back to her, giving him a moment to get his anger and resentment under control.

“DADDY, DADDY,” said a soft voice in his ear. Ken roused himself from the lovely depths of sleep to the urgent tug at his shoulder. “Daddy, please wake up,” cried Ilsa, an almost hysterical note of pleading in her voice.

“Whassa matter, Ilsa?” he asked, blinking his eyes into focus.

“Todd's got loose,” she said, her little face contorted with her concern. She was wringing her hands in an unconscious imitation of her mother.

Ken groaned and struggled to a sitting position. Reaching out, he dragged the coverall from the foot of the bed and started to struggle into it.

" 'S not your fault, Ilsa, 's not your fault," he reassured his daughter. "Get in with your mother."

He slipped into his boots and, snatching up a jacket against the cool dawn air and a rifle against any carnivores who might not yet have made their kill, he lurched out of the cabin.

The brisk morning air was pungent with many smells: the lingering aroma of last night's barbecue, the wood fire still glowing in the pit; the scent of fresh water mists rising from the river, the cinnamony flavor of the forest behind him warmed by Doona's orange sun. Reeve blinked the last of sleep from his eyes and surveyed the Common.

Trestle tables dotted the green but the debris of the feast had been cleared away. The area had a forlorn look compared with his memory of the crowded jollity of last night. A few oddments of tableware could be seen in out-of-the-way places, shadow-hidden from the cleaning squad. For a non-alcoholic evening, it had been a very high-spirited one.

Todd was nowhere in sight, in any direction. Reeve sneezed sharply as he trotted across the Common to the mess hall. Equipping himself with several rounds of ammunition and a pair of binoculars, he set out toward the bridge.

Takes no mental strain to guess where that little bugger is headed, Reeve thought. And the Hrrubans got to bed a lot later than we did. No one will be glad to see that snot-nosed idiot at this hour.

During the evening, Todd had found a length of rope somewhere. He had hacked at the end until it resembled the tuft of an Hrruban tail, and then attached it to his pants. It had dragged, a pathetic imitation, in the dirt behind him. When Reeve had looked for the child at midnight, he had found him, 'tail' in hand, and Hrriss's tail curled around his waist, the two fast asleep in each other's arms. It had been an unsettling sight for Reeve. For the first time, he saw his son's face unguarded, his brow relaxed from its habitual frown, his mouth in a gentle, unstubborn line, the long dark lashes outlined on the fair cheek. Todd looked the six-year-old he was, sweet, young and thoroughly lovable. A responding chord of paternal affection was touched in Reeve's heart and he felt the desire to love and protect this exasperating child. Cradling the limp warm body in his arms, tail and all, Reeve had carried Todd to his bed, kissing him as he laid the blankets snugly around him. Toddy, stirring in his sleep, had smiled with contentment.