Tommie was pretty much unstrung. He sat down under the arm of his father's chair and pressed the button that started the carbon cycle.

"I'm glad we found out in time, Howard," said his mother. "But what about Tommie?" She sounded worried. "Do you think—"

"It's probably nothing serious, and probably nothing that we can do anything about. If he wants to split when un-nice people come around, that's his business. Anyway, he'll probably outgrow it in a few years. Most of them do."

Tommie watched the four hydrogen nuclei go together, and instinctively he drew back for the explosion. But there wasn't any. The four went together into the blue ball that meant a helium nucleus. Tommie clapped his hands. They had worked right this time. Maybe his body energy had been drained by the double split until it didn't affect them any more.

Tommie's mother looked at him softly. Tommie looked back softly. Then he sidled up against his father's leg. His father reached down and caught him around the chest and squeezed him hard.

It made Tommie very happy. "Dad," he said, "what's a phony?"

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