"Bradbury, Ray - The Illustrated Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bradbury Ray)

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The Illustrated Man turned in the moonlight. He turned again . . . and again . . . and again. . . .


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The Other Foot


WHEN they heard the news they came out of the restaurants and cafщs and hotels and looked at the sky. They lifted their dark hands over their upturned white eyes. Their mouths hung wide. In the hot noon for thousands of miles there were little towns where the dark people stood with their shadows under them, looking up.

In her kitchen Hattie Johnson covered the boiling soup, wiped her thin fingers on a cloth, and walked carefully to the back porch.

УCome on, Ma! Hey, Ma, come onЧyouТll miss it!Ф

УHey, Mom!Ф

Three little Negro boys danced around in the dusty yard, yelling. Now and then they looked at the house frantically.

УIТm coming,Ф said Hattie, and opened the screen door. УWhere you hear this rumor?Ф

УUp at JonesТs, Ma. They say a rocketТs coming, first one in twenty years, with a white man in it!Ф

УWhatТs a white man? I never seen one.

УYouТll find out,Ф said Hattie. УYes indeed, youТll find out.Ф

УTell us about one, Ma. Tell like you did.Ф

Hattie frowned. УWell, itТs been a long time. I was a little girl, you see. That was back in 1965.Ф

УTell us about a white man, Mom!Ф

She came and stood in the yard, looking up at the blue clear Martian sky with the thin white Martian clouds, and in the distance the Martian hills broiling in the heat. She said at last, УWell, first of all, they got white hands.Ф

УWhite hands!Ф The boys joked, slapping each other.

УAnd they got white arms.

УWhite arms!Ф hooted the boys.

УAnd white faces.Ф

УWhite faces! Really?Ф

УWhite like this, Mom?Ф The smallest threw dust on his face, sneezing. УThis way?Ф