"Got a minute for your old dad?" Jack asked as he stuck his head in his son's door.

"Sure, dad. What's up?"

"I thought we could talk a bit. You know. Man to man."

"Umm... sure. Dad? Is this gonna be "the birds and the bees talk"? I'm not exactly a kid, you know. Or did you want me to explain some things?"

Jack chuckled, feeling a little awkward. He and Janice had always been open about sex and sexuality with their son, so he was fairly certain Mark had a good understanding of what was involved. But this was going to be different. Very different.

"You have some tips for me on how to pick up wimmin, do you?"

"Yeah... right. I don't even have my own girl, dad. Besides, I think you're taken. Maybe she has a rich younger sister? We could double date." Mark grinned and winked at his father. "You know, dad. Come to think of it. I might just steal your girl and leave you to fend for yourself if you don't watch... "

The look on his father's face made Mark stop mid-sentence. Something was wrong. Really wrong. "Dad? Is it mom? Is she all right?"

Jack sat down on his son's bed. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands between his knees. This was going to be harder than he thought, but it was better that he be the one to tell their son what the government was going to require of him. Damn those fools who played with chemicals and created the plague! As it that wasn't bad enough. Now this!

"Come here and sit, Mark." Jack nodded toward a spot on the bed beside him. "We really have to talk."

"Umm... sure, dad. This isn't good, is it?"

"Well. Not really. But it's not the end of the world either." Jack sighed. He couldn't believe he'd just said that. Of course it was the end of the world! That was the whole point of this travesty, wasn't it?

"Have you ever had sex?" Jack just blurted it out. If he didn't start somewhere none of it would ever come out.

"Daddddddd... " The macho part of Mark wanted to tell his father that he had, but he knew that there had to be a reason for his dad to ask in the first place. Maybe Sunil hadn't been pulling his leg? Oh, yeuk! Mark suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." Jack sat up and looked at his son's face. "You do understand the mechanics of it though, right?"

"Geez!" Mark was really beginning to feel awkward. What in the world was going on with his father? He really wished he'd get to the point already. "The penis goes in the vagina. Is that what you mean?"

"Erm... yes. And you know that when you... ejaculate... " Jack didn't want to play down the pleasures of sex, but this was not going to be for fun. Fuck! This was going to be sex with his wife -- their son's mother for gods sake!

"Yeah yeah. The sperm finds and egg and fertilizes it. I know all that, dad. What the hell is this all about?"

Just say it, dammit! Jack stood up and began to pace the room. "It's like this, Mark. When the plague broke out, all the men who were sexually mature at the time were made infertile. We shoot blanks. Get it?" He turned to look at his son.

"Thing is, with no fertile men there won't be any new babies. See? And without new babies... no more people."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"No. Don't say anything til I'm finished. Please." Jack rubbed his hands over his balding pate and continued on. "If something isn't done to... Well, the point is that the worlds' population keeps decreasing and if we don't find a way to start reproducing... Look. There's no easy way to put this. Artificial insemination doesn't seem to work, so they are saying that only connately related people can produce a child. Fuck! They want you to have sex with your mother and make her pregnant!"