monster."

The dog thumped the ground with his tail.

"Hello, Mrs. Tanner," the boy said. "How's the baby coming?"

The girl smiled. "Just fine, Jimmy. It's beginning to kick a little
now. It kind of tickles. And you know what?"

"What?" asked Jimmy. The visitor in the boy's mind wanted to know,
too.

"I hope it's a boy, and that he grows up to be just like you."

"Aw." The boy rolled over and hid his face in the grass. Then he
peered around. "Honest?"

"Honest," she said.

"Gee whiz." The boy was so embarrassed that he had to leave. "Me and
Max are going down to the swimmin' hole. You wanta come?"

"No, thanks. You go ahead. I think I'll just sit here in the Sun for a
while and watch my toes curl."

As they said good-by, the visitor traveled to the new mind.

* * * * *

With the girl's eyes, he saw the boy and the dog running across the
meadow and down to the stream at the edge of the woods.

The traveler experienced a sensation of tremendous fondness as he
watched them go.

But he mustn't get carried away, he told himself. He must make another
attempt to take command. This girl might be the one he could
influence. She was doing nothing active; her mind was relaxed.

The visitor bent himself to the task. He would be cleverly simple. He
would have her pick a daisy. They were all around at her feet. He
concentrated. Her gaze traveled back across the meadow to the grassy
knoll on which she was standing. She sat. She stretched out her arms
behind her and leaned back on them. She tossed her hair and gazed into
the sky.

She wasn't even thinking of the daisy.

Irritated, he gathered all his powers into a compact mass and hurled
them at her mind.

But with a swoop and a soar, he was carried up and away, through the
sweet summer air, to a cloud of white softness.

This was not what he had planned, by any means.

A steady, warm breeze enveloped him and there was a tinkle of faraway
music. It frightened him and he struggled to get back into contact
with the girl's mind. But there was no contact. Apparently he had been
cast out, against his will.

The forces of creation buffeted him. His dizzying flight carried him
through the clean air in swift journey from horizon to horizon, then
up, up and out beyond the limits of the atmosphere, only to return him
in a trice to the breast of the rolling meadow. He was conscious now
of the steady growth of slim green leaves as they p