The *Ten* Heads of Cerberus

To Adam Louis Stephanides, who's joined the head counting debate: I'm now arguing there are two multiples of five because everything in FIFTH HEAD is paired. The vertical configuration counts backwards from Number Five through time, although its impetus is forward: 5. Number Five 4. Maitre 3. Mr. Million 2. Gene Wolfe II (first cloned progeny) 1. Gene Wolfe (founder, ur-patriarch) In this group, to incorporate David's maidenhead pun, Mr. Million is the virgin. As for our Gene Wolfe, the one you number 1, he would be Gene Wolfe 0. The horizontal configuration includes the current batch of Wolfes, the one Aunt Jeannine can't quite total to five (because she's unaware of who Number Five's sister is). 1. Maitre 2. Aunt Jeannine 3. Number Five 4. David 5. Phaedria In the above configuration Phaedria is the virgin, because I refuse to believe that given the casual attitude about sex and the licentiousness of the Maison du Chien that Aunt Jeannine is still hymenally intact. Robert Borski