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big
present with butterflies in his stomach. To accommodate everyone
they were holding the party in the park dome and it looked like
everyone had turned out. Jon sat at the center of the gathering
facing a large sack. Back on Earth he'd have been showered in
gifts. Here they had worked out one gift that a number of the
colonists had worked on. Jon struggled to get the ties undone.
    Jenny crouched beside him and offered to
help. Jon shook his head and kept at the knots. Jenny straightened
up and sipped her glass of water. "You're almost there!"
    True enough. Jon managed to get the knots
undone. Kyle was proud of his son but still worried about the gift.
He and Jenny had argued about it but she'd been determined that her
son needed help to walk. Kyle still believed that Amanda was right.
Jon would get there on his schedule.
    The bag fell away revealing the walker.
Everyone cheered. Kyle saw lots of satisfied smiles. People raised
their glasses and clapped. It looked pretty slick. A woven seat,
rounded frame and four wheels crafted by the machine shop. All from
recycled material. Expensive but Jenny wouldn't have any other way.
She claimed that it was necessary now that there was another baby
in the colony, plus one more on the way. The population would grow
and they had to know that their children could learn to walk. At
least that was what Jenny claimed.
    Jon pushed it with one foot. He used his feet
often, just not for walking. Kyle thought his son was quite adept
at it. Jon looked over at Kyle. "Dad?"
    That usually meant he wanted his father to
explain something. Kyle squeezed Amanda's hand and went over to
Jon. He crouched down. "Happy birthday, son." He kissed his son's
head. "It's a walker. You sit in it and then can walk around."
    Jon's grinned melted faster than ice could
sublimate. He pushed the walker harder with his foot. It rolled
toward Jenny. She stopped it.
    "Now, Jon, that's no way to act. This will be
fun." She gave Kyle a hard look. "Tell him it'll be fun, Kyle."
    Kyle ran his hand through his son's hair.
"Why don't we give it a shot, bud? Just try it out for your
mother?"
    Jon looked at his mother, back to Kyle and
then at Amanda. He shook his head.
    It was the look at Amanda that did it. Jenny
got that look in her eyes. She reached down and picked Jon up. He
screamed and flailed his thin arms. No matter how hard he twisted
he couldn't break free from Jenny's grip. She stepped over to the
walker and started to lower him. He kicked his feet at the
seat.
    "Give him some time to get used to the idea,"
Kyle said.
    "He's had time. You coddle him instead of
encouraging him." She turned Jon around to face her. "I want you to
try this. It's no harder than sitting in a chair."
    Which he hates, Kyle thought. Jon didn't care
much for furniture at all. He preferred to sleep wrapped in a
blanket on the floor than in his bed. He crawled and sat on the
floor and didn't appear to want to change that.
    Jon shook his head. "No! No!"
    "Yes," Jenny said. "You're going to have to
try it. Understand?"
    People in the crowd looked uncomfortable.
Kyle didn't want to get in a big fight with Jenny but he hated to
see Jon forced into the walker. He'd tried to tell her that Jon
wouldn't like the walker but she'd convinced herself that he would
once he saw it.
    Jenny plunked him down into the seat. He
wouldn't extend his legs. He pulled up his feet and gripped the
front of the walker's tray. His bottom lip quivered. He sucked in
air and then held it. His face turned red.
    "Stop it," Jenny said. "Don't hold your
breath like that."
    Jon kept holding his breath. He screwed his
eyes close. Jenny reached down and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Jon, breathe."
    Amanda brushed past Kyle. Jenny looked up and
saw her coming but too late. Amanda reached down and picked up Jon
who threw his arms around Amanda's neck. His breath blew out
noisily and then he sobbed into Amanda's shoulder. Jenny stood
up.
    "This is the problem. You let him get away
with