"The parents got on their way. Mother dragged her tentacles and lowered them resignedly. When he saw his wife\u2019s reaction father planted his tentacles that much more firmly at each step. \u201CWhy are you so hard? That won\u2019t work.\u201D, his mother asked. \u201CLeave it to me.\u201D \u201CYou\u2019ll just drive him away.\u201D \u201CI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201D \u201CI was looking forward to our son coming home. I was hoping we\u2019d start things off well again.\u201D \u201CI said leave it to me.\u201D Later they were settled in a dining establishment proper for their class. Mother looked apprehensive, father started, \u201CYou remember what the prison said about our son getting involved with an old tramp.\u201D \u201CThey said the tramp was almost old enough to be his grandfather.\u201D Mother wrinkled her tentacles in disgust. \u201CHe was a miserable tramp who\u2019s been homeless practically all his life.\u201D \u201CThere\u2019s something wrong when a youngster loves someone so much older that sexual way.\u201D \u201CHe shouldn\u2019t be going with tramps. There\u2019s no way he should.\u201D \u201CI was thinking we should have a party. Get him to meet some youngsters from our class.\u201D \u201CThat\u2019s not what I had in mind.\u201D \u201CCan\u2019t you see? We need to get him away from this unnatural business with Centaurians who are far too old for him, my sister Violet says....\u201D \u201CThere\u2019ll be no parties. He studies till I say he\u2019s done enough.\u201D \u201CI\u2019ll invite a group of youngsters then. There'll be no parties.\u201D \u201CI don\u2019t want that either.\u201D \u201CWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201D \u201CI was planning to tell you this later but it looks like it\u2019ll have to be now. Old Leering Eye Spots wants to marry him.\u201D \u201CThey told me about Leering Eye Spots. He\u2019s no good.\u201D \u201CHe\u2019s from our class. He\u2019s a bit above our class as a matter of fact. The connection with his class will help our family to rise. You understood that type of thing when you married me. You know you are way below my family. Why can\u2019t you understand that now?\u201D \u201CLeering Eye Spots must be even older than the tramp. Tramps don't live that long.\u201D Leering Eye Spots wants him. The boy\u2019s ugly so the boy won\u2019t easily go off with someone else. With the boy's record Leering Eye Spots hopes he won\u2019t find anyone else anyway. And the boy already likes older folk.\u201D \u201CSo you don\u2019t care about him?\u201D \u201CWe need to salvage something from this mess, the boy\u2019s written off as a criminal. Do you think we\u2019ll get anybody decent from our class to marry him? It\u2019s for his own good as well as for our family and if we don\u2019t use this chance the boy may never make a proper marriage. You don\u2019t want that do you? \u201D \u201CWhy do you push all that schoolwork onto the boy? He won\u2019t need to know so much with Old Leering Eye Spots. \u201D \u201CI want the boy to be keen to leave us so he goes with Leering Eye Spots. Can you see that, silly?\u201D Mother carried on eating. The food was well cooked and right for her class or her husband's class. Eating it gave her no pleasure."@en . . "The Aliens of the Flaming Red Sun/9 The boy won\u2019t like his dad\u2019s plan"@en . "The parents got on their way. Mother dragged her tentacles and lowered them resignedly. When he saw his wife\u2019s reaction father planted his tentacles that much more firmly at each step. \u201CWhy are you so hard? That won\u2019t work.\u201D, his mother asked. \u201CLeave it to me.\u201D \u201CYou\u2019ll just drive him away.\u201D \u201CI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201D \u201CI was looking forward to our son coming home. I was hoping we\u2019d start things off well again.\u201D \u201CI said leave it to me.\u201D Mother carried on eating. The food was well cooked and right for her class or her husband's class. Eating it gave her no pleasure."@en .