" Erin said. "Just how many people like us are there?" Jamie asked.Erin just shrugged. "I don't know the numbers, but look around. For all you know, o...e out of every ten kids could have what we have." She said, and Jamie looked around. She knew Erin was right. She couldn't tell just by looks alone. Jamie sighed. She had ruined everything, at least in her opinion, and let her head hang low. "I'm sorry." She said softly. Erin just looked at her strangely. "What for?" She asked. "For ruining the. And her dress, too, in red and orange and brown made her look gargantuan. She filled Jim's doorway, and filled Jim's office when she entered."So you're the chap who found Cy," she began in a low and unexpectedly attractive voice. "I saw your piece on Laxness but didn't finish it. I can't get myself into novels about nuclear power stations and homey communists in Iceland. I must admit I'm glad he's dead -- Cy, not Laxness. He's been a thorn in this department's side for twenty years. Now we can. I felt uncomfortable sitting there. There were a couple of other kids inthe waiting room waiting to see one of the two doctors that the L.A.Gender Clinic employed. Unlike me, they didn't seem to pass quite sowell. One of them was wearing a dress. He, or she I guess, looked alittle too large to be a girl. Her face was made up quite expertly andshe looked pretty good, despite the giveaways that her size displayed.The other was a scrawny little boy. Dressed in tight jeans and a tightshirt, it was. He knew what would befall. And so we walked through the countryside, seemingly without goal or purpose, even as Basho wanders the land. I was no hinin, though in my rags I doubtless appeared as one, I was unaccustomed to walking, and my feet and legs soon tired. The sun burned hot, and the air shimmered above the cracked earth. I felt as though I could go no further. I stopped and turned to Kano to tell him that I must rest, but I saw him bent under the heavy pack he had borne all the while.