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. Up till then he had been proud of the way Sisu's dress stood out; now he was learning painfully that clothing has its proper background. That night be was conscious of snores around him . . . strangers . . . fraki -- and he yearned to be back among People, where he was known, understood, recognized.
He tossed on a harder bed than he was used to and wondered who would get his own?
He found himself wondering whether anyone had ever claimed the hole he still thought of as "home." Would they repair the door? Would they keep it clean and decent the way Pop liked? What would they do with Pop's leg?
Asleep, he dreamt of Pop and of Sisu, all mixed up. At last, with Grandmother shortened and a raider bearing down. Pop whispered, "No more bad dreams, Thorby. Never again, son. Just happy dreams"
He slept peacefully then -- and awoke in this forbidding place with gabbling fraki all around him. Breakfast was substantial but not up to Aunt Athena's high standards; however he was not hungry.
After breakfast he was quietly tasting his misery when he was required to undress and submit to indignities. It was his first experience with medical men's offhand behavior with human flesh -- he loathed the poking and prodding.
When the Commanding Officer sent for him Thorby was not even cheered by seeing the man who knew Pop. This room was where he had had to say a last "good-business" to Father; the thoughts lingering there were not good
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