"What's it like having children?" Daniel asked Albert one day as they watched the much-improved chickens peck at the gravel and feed in the dust at the bottom of their cage.

"It's a terrifying time until they get their Book," Albert said. "There's no telling what they might do. I came home one day to find that Joseph had painted an entire wall with pictures of animals."

"So he likes animals. That's good, isn't it?"

"He got the Book for numbers or something. It has to do ...