"But why do they kill each other, Daddy? That doesn't prove anything."
I laughed. "Son, if I could answer that one, I'd be Daddy Number One of the whole universe!"
We finally packed Adam off to bed in the spare room, after promising him we'd talk some more the next night. I'd shown him my library and told him he could come and read any time he liked, though of course he mustn't take any books out of the house where the Kids might see them.
Ruth and I stood on the front porch for awhile in the moonlight, gazing out over our once-peaceful little world.
"Harry, what will become of him?"
"I don't know.... He'll have to decide for himself. He became a man tonight, you know. I'd like him to stay, but I imagine he'll want to go to Earth. He's got a mind that just won't stop. The best thing we can do is try to teach him the things he'll need to survive in that cock-eyed world, and turn him loose. It's no good trying to hang onto your kids once they're grown up, Mommy."
She shivered a little and moved closer to me. "I suppose you're right. I think I know now why mothers hate to see their children grow up."
I put my arm around her and gave her an affectionate squeeze. "He'll be all right.... You know, in a way I'm almost glad this happened. Maybe—just maybe—Adam has given us the answer. Maybe the thing to do is not to keep them Kids all their lives, but to let them grow up more slowly, in their own time instead of to some prescribed formula. The world has kept getting more complicated all the time, and a kid just can't grow up in it as easily as before."
When we were in bed, just before I put out the light, I said, "I guess I can answer your question now, Mommy. I don't still think these twenty years were wasted. If I had it to do over again, I'd still want to be Daddy of Fairyland."