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«Ask Saul. He might use the present corporation, or bankrupt it. Or it might be left untouched a century or two. But consider any occupation. How can a teacher handle a child who knows more than she does? What becomes of physicians when people are healthy? What happens to the cloak and suit industry when clothing isn't necessary and women aren't so engrossed in dressing up (they'll never lose interest entirely) — and nobody gives a damn if he's caught with his arse bare? What shape does “the Farm Problem” take when weeds can be told not to grow and crops can be harvested without benefit of International Harvester? Just name it; the discipline changes it beyond recognition. Take one change that will shake both marriage — in its present form — and property. Jubal, do you know how much is spent each year in this country on Malthusian drugs and devices?»

«I have some idea, Sam. Almost a billion on oral contraceptives alone … more than half on worthless patent nostrums.»

«Oh, yes, you're a medical man.»

«Only in passing.»

«What happens to that industry — and to the shrill threats of moralists — when a female conceives only as an act of volition, when she is immune to disease, cares only for the approval of her own sort … and has her orientation so changed that she desires intercourse with a whole-heartedness that Cleopatra never dreamed of — but any male who tried to rape her would die so quickly, if she so grokked, that he wouldn't know what hit him? When women are free of guilt and fear — but invulnerable? Hell, the pharmaceutical industry will be a minor casualty — what other industries, laws, institutions, attitudes, prejudices, and nonsense must give way?»

«I don't grok its fullness,» admitted Jubal. «It concerns a subject of little personal interest to me.»

«One institution won't be damaged. Marriage.»

«So?»

«Very much so. Instead it will be purged, strengthened, and made endurable. Endurable? Ecstatic! See that wench down there with the long black hair?»

«Yes. I was delighting in its beauty earlier.»

«She knows it's beautiful and it's grown a foot and a half since we joined the church. That's my wife. Not much over a year ago we lived together like bad-tempered dogs. She was jealous … and I was inattentive. Bored. Hell, we were both bored and only our kids kept us together — that and her possessiveness; I knew she would never let me go without a scandal … and I didn't have any stomach for trying to put together a new marriage at my age, anyhow. So I grabbed a little on the side, when I could get away with it — a professor has many temptations, few safe opportunities — and Ruth was quietly bitter. Or sometimes not quiet. And then we joined up.» Sam grinned happily. «And I fell in love with my wife. Number-one gal friend!»

Sam had spoken only to Jubal, his words walled by noise. His wife was far down the table. She looked up and said clearly, «That's an exaggeration, Jubal. I'm about number six.»

Her husband called out, «Stay out of my mind, beautiful! — we're talking men talk. Give Larry your undivided attention.» He threw a roll at her.

She stopped it in orbit, propelled it back. «I'm giving Larry all the attention he wants … until later, maybe. Jubal, that brute didn't let me finish. Sixth place is wonderful! Because my name wasn't on his list till we joined the church. I hadn't rated as high as six with Sam for twenty years.»

«The point,» Sam said quietly, «is that we are now partners, more so than we ever were outside — and we got that way through the training, culminating in sharing and growing closer with others who had the same training. We all wind up in partnerships inside the group — usually with spouses-of-record. Sometimes not … and if not, the readjustment takes place without heartache and creates a warmer, better relationship between the “divorced” couple than ever, in bed and out. No loss and all gain. Shucks, this pairing needn't be between man and woman. Dawn and Jill for example — they work together like an acrobatic team.»

«Hmm … I had thought of them as being Mike's wives.»

«No more so than they are to any of us. Or than Mike is to the rest. Mike has been too busy to do more than make sure that he shared himself all the way around.» Sam added, «If anybody is Mike's wife, it's Patty, although she keeps so busy that the relation is more spiritual than physical. Both Mike and Patty are short-changed when it comes to mauling the mattress.»

Patty was farther away than Ruth. She looked up and said, «Sam dear, I don't feel short-changed.»

«Huh?» Sam announced bitterly, «The only thing wrong with this church is that a man has absolutely no privacy!»

This brought on him a barrage from distaff brothers. He tossed it all back without lifting a hand … until a plateful of spaghetti caught him full in the face — thrown, Jubal noticed, by Dorcas.

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