"It was all our fault, it was all our fault, it was all our fault."the dectuplets repeated in unison.

"Would you stop saying that already?"Arthur told them angrily. "It might've been funny at first at first, but now it's annoying."

"But it was our fault. We wanted to sent Scott to the choza. It was our fault."they said in unison.

"Please, one at a time. I beg you."

"It was all our fault."said Ma.Xacinta.

"It was all our fault,"said Ma.Xosefina.

"It was all our fault."said Ma.Xaviera.

"It was all our fault."said Ma.Ximena.

"It was all our fault,"said Ma.Xulia.

"It was..."began Ma.Xochilt.

"ENOUGH! STOP IT ALREADY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"Arthur yelled.

"It was our fault, Cuzzy."

"I think everybody memorized that by now.

"Well, but it was our fault."

"That's why things turned out the way they did."

"We never meant any harm."

"You guys are mentally retarded."

"Thank you."

"You thank him for saying that?"asked Rogue.

"Of course we do. We don't want to be normal, we want to be different."

"I don't think you're mentally retarded."Ma.Eugenia said.

"Maru, you're offending us."

"And you are different. I mean, would you believe that these guys actually name their pets in honor of something, or someone. You see, they named Lloran after Lloran las Rosas, that's a song. Angle Luz is named after part of a song. Salome is named after a novela these guys watched, Manantial, too, in honor of El Manantial. And well, some of the other animals you don't want to know."

"So that's what those names mean."said Toad.

"No, that's where they came from. Lloran means crying, lloran las rosas means something like the roses are crying, angel luz means angel light, and Salome, I don't know what that means. And I have a feeling I don't want to find out. Whatever, you know, you should just join Mama Teta, Rebecca, and Guillermo in choosing to go to bed."

"We don't want to go to bed. What we wanted was to go in, and see our nieces being borne. I mean we've already seen pigs, cows, cats, sheep, and well, a lot of species, but never humans. Once we stayed with up all night with Nellie, when she had her first foal."

"What's a foal?"asked Toad. "You mean a foul?"

"A foal is a horse. Like a kitten is a cat."Arthur explained to him.j

"Oh."

Arthur sighed.

"Look on the bright side,"he said. "You added to you knowledge today."

Now if you could only learn to take a shower everyday, he thought, moving towards the window. The dectuplets smiled at this. They liked to see what people were thinking when there was nothing to do, and they were stressed.

Meanwhile, Scott was in a cold, gloomy dungeon. The men had pulled him there and chained him. There was no one around. There was no light. It was like he was blind. All he knew was that he was bound by heavy chains. He tried to pull on them, but they were too heavy. He knew he should never had said the things he did. Before when he told Lance what he really was, he never had to worry about the consequences, but now, everything seemed to have been turned upside down. He was tied down, while Lance was probably sitting in a soft chair, in a warm room, with his sisters laughing at what happened. He yelled out, but nobody came.

"No puedo si quiera fumarme un cigarro."Francisca was saying.

"You promised not to."Lance told her.

"I know. I will go on keeping that promise."

Before, whenever Francisca felt stressed she had usually lit a cigarette, however, since she had recovered Lance had asked her to stop smoking. Since then, she had quit her habit.

At least I can still drink, she thought, as a girl poured some brandy for her.

"Don't we have anything stronger?"she asked, opening the liquor cabinet.

"There's everything in there. However, I don't know if it's stronger, we don't drink, you know."Ma.Xitlalli told her.

"I know."

Ma.Eugenia and the dectuplets didn't drink because of their epilepsy. Not that that stopped them from sneaking a drink every now and then. They still preferred aguas frescas, and teas, anyway.

"How long does it take to have a baby?"Ma.Eugenia asked.

"I don't know."answered Ma.Ximena. "I suppose about the same time as a foal, more than a kitten or puppy."

"But they come in litters."

"But this is a litter, too. There are eight of them."

"Well, I don't know, ask Juanita, or someone who knows. The doctor? The midwife?"

"The problem is everyone who knows is inside."

"We should be inside, too. Can't we go see? Can't we, Mother?"

"No."

"If Father was here, he would let us. He always let us see the cows, mares, sows, queens, and bitches. Why can't we see Kitty? I don't get it."

"You're father let you see that? You being only little girls?"asked Kurt.

"Of course, Father always let us see. He preferred that we got the facts, instead of a garbled version. He told us how the foals or whatever came, and how long they stayed inside the mare. He told us about plants, too. You see, that's why we never understood people. Just look at everyone else. We've always envied them. Like Sissy. We've always envied Sissy. Sissy walks around with no clothes. Why do people have to wear clothes? Why do we have to wear clothes? There's really no point. It's only uncomfortable, and unhealthy. See, Sissy walks around with no clothes. Why can't we? There's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, it's just like Ricardo Arjona's song. Would you dress a flower? Would you cover its beauty? You see, we're flowers, too. At least, the vagina is. Just like any other flower it has the ability to give life. So why should we hide it? No one else hides theirs. The rosebushes, the orange trees, Sissy."

Everyone stared at them speechless.

"You're joking!"Kurt exclaimed.

The dectuplets shrugged.

"That's the way we think."

"I think that way, too."Ma.Eugenia added.

"You are all crazy. Arthur, I agree with you."

"Thank you."

Everyone sat waiting for Juanita to come and give them the good news. The dectuplets thought angrily why they wouldn't be allowed in. Ma.Eugenia tried to concentrate on her knitting. Pietro hoped against hope that maybe with this, he wouldn't have to work tomorrow, maybe it would be a celebration day, and he wouldn't have to work. Francisca and Lance kept drinking more brandy. Jean thought about where Scott could be, finding him, and begging him to ask Lance, Francisca, and the dectuplets to forgive him for what he'd said, so they could order that he be released. Blob fell asleep, and Toad took advantage of this to draw on this face. Arthur kept playing the Gameboy, and Jesus listened to music.

"This is taking too long."Alfonsina said. "Perhaps we should go to bed."

"Don't be stupid. We're not going anywhere."Ma.Xochilt told her.

"Well, it should take long, if they're eight. It took me almost the whole day just to have my last ten."

"You don't think that this'll take all night!"

"Of course it won't."Ma.Xitlalli said. "Sissy said that it wouldn't. She said that by midnight tonight, all eight girls will be here. And you know Sissy doesn't lie."

"Well, what if Sissy's wrong."

"Sissy's never wrong. She said all eight babies would be girls, like us, and identical. And they would all be healthy."

"That cat."

"Sissy has a name, you know."

"I wish she didn't. And I wish you guys would stop taking orders from her."

"This wasn't an order. She just gave us information. We're just passing it on."

"What time is it?"

Alfonsina looked at the clock.

"Well, it's eleven hours, and one minute. Now what?"

"We'll just have to wait."

Juanita came into the room, smiling.

"Que pasa, Juanita?"asked Francisca.

"The girls were right. They were eight. All girls. They are identical. All eight of them, and they're doing great."

"We didn't say that. Sissy did."

"Well, Sissy was right."

"And how would the mother be doing?"asked Alfonsina.

"Just very, very tired."

"Sissy told, well, though us, but she told everybody."

"Hip hip hurray!"said Jesus and Arthur.

"That's just great. Now, the problem is who's going to see the babies first. I say it should be...our brother."said Ma.Xiomara.

"That's too true."Ma.Xamila turned to Pietro. "Everyone should celebrate. Pietro, tomorrow morning, first thing, before work you will go and tell the workers, not to mention they shall toast to the new princesses."she laughed. "Right now, we should be the ones toasting."

Juanita ran to get more glasses. Oh, no, thought Pietro, so there will be work, after all. He cursed himself for having accepted to take over Benigno's job. But he put on his best smile, after what he had went through that first day, he couldn't ruin it, by expressing regret at what he had done.

"Congratulations."he said happily.

Lance was very surprised. Maybe Pietro did mean it, and he was changing, not being his selfish self anymore.

"Thank you."

Jean was about to say, that maybe now they could release Scott, but decided against it. She knew the dectuplets would probably say, she was taking advantage of the fact that they were so happy. And knowing how much Lance was like his sisters, he would probably take it the same way, too.

The room had eight cradles, all designed by the dectuplets, with bows, ribbons, hanging everywhere, all in lilac. In each cradle there lay a baby. Lance picked one up, and held it close to his face. He could feel tears of joy stinging his eyes.

"So I guess you will be the Eights, or the Octs."he laughed.