Part 23 (1/2)
Manella turned to Hari Seldon. ”See how early it starts? Private lives. Private problems. Of course, Wanda, shall we go to your room?”
”Yes, Mother.” Wanda was clearly relieved.
Hand in hand, they went and then her mother said, ”Now what is the problem, Wanda?”
”It's Grandfather, Mother.”
”Grandfather! I can't imagine him doing anything to bother you.”
”Well, he is.” Wanda's eyes filled with sudden tears. ”Is he going to die?”
”Your grandfather? What put that into your head, Wanda?”
”He's going to be sixty. That's so old.”
”No, it isn't. It's not young, but it's not old, either. People live to be eighty, ninety, even a hundred-and your grandfather is strong and healthy. He'll live a long time.”
”Are you sure?” She was sniffing.
Manella grasped her daughter by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. ”We must all die someday, Wanda. I've explained that to you before. Just the same, we don't worry about it till the someday is much closer.” She wiped Wanda's eyes gently. ”Grandfather is going to stay alive till you're all grown up and have babies of your own. You'll see. Now come back with me. I want you to talk to Grandfather.”
Wanda sniffed again.
Seldon looked at the little girl with a sympathetic expression on her return and said, ”What is it, Wanda? Why are you unhappy?”
Wanda shook her head.
Seldon turned his gaze to the girl's mother. ”Well, what is it, Manella?”
Manella shook her head. ”She'll have to tell you herself.”
Seldon sat down and tapped his lap. ”Come, Wanda. Have a seat and tell me your troubles.”
She obeyed and wriggled a bit, then said, ”I'm scared.”
Seldon put his arm around her. ”Nothing to be scared of in your old grandfather.”
Manella made a face. ”Wrong word.”
Seldon looked up at her. ”Grandfather?”
”No. Old.”
That seemed to break the dike. Wanda burst into tears. ”You're old, Grandfather.”
”I suppose so. I'm sixty.” He bent his face down to Wanda's and whispered, ”I don't like it, either, Wanda. That's why I'm glad you're only seven going on eight.”
”Your hair is white, Grandpa.”
”It wasn't always. It just turned white recently.”
”White hair means you're going to die, Grandpa.”
Seldon looked shocked. He said to Manella, ”What is all this?”
”I don't know, Hari. It's her own idea.”
”I had a bad dream,” said Wanda.
Seldon cleared his throat. ”We all have bad dreams now and then, Wanda. It's good we do. Bad dreams get rid of bad thoughts and then we're better off.”
”It was about you dying, Grandfather.”
”I know. I know. Dreams can be about dying, but that doesn't make them important. Look at me. Don't you see how alive I am-and cheerful-and laughing? Do I look as though I'm dying? Tell me.”
”N-no.”
”There you are, then. Now you go out and play and forget all about this. I'm just having a birthday and everyone will have a good time. Go ahead, dear.”
Wanda left in reasonable cheer, but Seldon motioned to Manella to stay.
2
Seldon said, ”Wherever do you think Wanda got such a notion?”
”Come now, Hari. She had a Salvanian gecko that died, remember? One of her friends had a father who died in an accident and she sees deaths on holovision all the time. It is impossible for any child to be so protected as not to be aware of death. Actually I wouldn't want her to be so protected. Death is an essential part of life; she must learn that.”
”I don't mean death in general, Manella. I mean my death in particular. What has put that into her head?”
Manella hesitated. She was very fond, indeed, of Hari Seldon. She thought, Who would not be, so how can I say this?
But how could she not say this? So she said, ”Hari, you yourself put it into her head.”
”I?”
”Of course, you've been speaking for months of turning sixty and complaining loudly of growing old. The only reason people are setting up this party is to console you.”
”It's no fun turning sixty,” said Seldon indignantly. ”Wait! Wait! You'll find out.”
”I will-if I'm lucky. Some people don't make it to sixty. Just the same, if turning sixty and being old are all you talk about, you end up frightening an impressionable little girl.”