Free Lovelock by Kathryn H. Kidd Orson Scott Card Page A

Mayflower,” she asked brightly, using the sing-song tone she usually reserved for Lydia and Emmy. “Tell me all about where we’re going to live.”
    Penelope was obviously unaware of the effort that Mamie was making. “You read all about us when you chose the place you wanted to live,” she said. “We’re just as the prospectus described us.”
    “I didn’t read the prospectus,” said Mamie.
    “I didn’t, either,” Carol Jeanne admitted. “Other than the legal papers I signed, I didn’t read any of the specifics. I’ve been so busy planning our agenda once we reach the new planet that I haven’t had time to think about the Ark. I’m afraid I left all those decisions to Red.”
    Carol Jeanne blushed, as well she should have. Red had never made a rational decision in his life. The truth was that she had left the reading to me , and so apparently I was the only one in the group to know what we were in for. Carol Jeanne knew that I would fill her in on anything she needed to know, as soon as she needed to know it. At least, that’s what I’d do as soon as I got a clipboard or a computer so I could communicate fully with her.
    Penelope looked disgruntled; then she swelled up importantly and took a deep breath. “Well, I’ll have to tell you about it myself. First of all, we’re Presbyterian here.”
    Mamie sniffed. “There’s not a Presbyterian in the bunch of us,” she said. “ I’m Congregationalist, and Stef and Red and the girls are Episcopalian. Of course, with a name like Cocciolone, Carol Jeanne just has to be Catholic.” Mamie treated it as if it were an old family joke. But her smile was tight. Lines radiated from her mouth like legs on a spider.
    “Mayflower is a compromise, Mother.” Red said it patiently, as if he had explained it a hundred times before. I’d heard him say it so many times that I wanted to throw feces at him whenever I heard it again. When I read the specs, I knew at once that Carol Jeanne should live in the village of Einstein, with the people for whom science was life, not just a job; or in Mensa, with the godless heathens. There would have been fewer distractions that way. But no, Mamie had insisted on living among Christians. Her brand of Christians, of course—or as close to her brand as she could get.
    Mamie smiled indulgently at her dear boy. “Of course Mayflower’s a compromise, Redmond. I’m very happy with it.”
    Penelope smiled, too. “You’ll be even happier the better you get to know us,” she said cheerfully. “We’re pretty open-minded here. Presbyterians are tolerant folks. All religions are the same, anyway, as long as they’re Christian. In fact, we even have three Jewish families who live with us, because Bethel Village is too Orthodox for them, and there are also some Mormons because nobody else wanted them. They have their own services, of course, but otherwise you’d never know they belonged to a cult.”
    “How interesting,” said Mamie, plainly uninterested. It did not particularly please her to know that her village was one that included Jews and fanatics. She had never in her life had to associate with such people except when they served her in such roles as lawyer, store clerk, or maid.
    Penelope didn’t catch Mamie’s sarcasm. “Actually, I think most people agree that Mayflower is the best village of all. For one thing, the chief administrator lives here. That gives the village a certain—prestige, if you will—that the others don’t have. It makes Mayflower—well, there is no capital city on the Ark, but if there were one, it would be Mayflower.”
    “Oh?” Mamie’s mouth relaxed into a tentative smile.
    “And now we have the chief gaiologist as well. People would kill to live in Mayflower. Oh, the parties we’ll have!—after the mourning is over, of course. I hope Cyrus marries again soon.”
    “Cyrus?” Stef asked, sounding more tired than curious.
    “The chief administrator, Dad,” said Red. “It’s his