The man passed a hand through his hair.
Another voice from the crowd, "Seems to be a lot of questions unanswered here."
And another, "Sign the petition, Senator!"
All the voices, "Sign it, sign it!"
"But why?" Mary began to cry. The voices stilled for a moment.
"Because—Because—"
"If you'd only tell me that. Tell me!"
"Why, it simply isn't being done, that's all. The greatest gift of all, and what if others should get the same idea? What would happen to us then, little girl? We'd be right back to the ugly, thin, fat, unhealthy-looking race we were ages ago! There can't be any exceptions."
"Maybe they didn't consider themselves so ugly."
The mumbling began anew.