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

Dad looked at Mars a full minute. Then he put his hand out blindly toward me. УMay I have some peas,Ф he said.

УExcuse me,Ф said Mother. УIТm going to get some bread.Ф

She rushed out into the kitchen.

УBut thereТs bread on the table,Ф I said.

Dad didnТt look at me as he began his meal.



I couldnТt sleep that night. I came downstairs at one in the morning and the moonlight was like ice on all the housetops, and dew glittered in a snow field on our grass. I stood in the doorway in my pajamas, feeling the warm night wind, and then I knew that Dad was sitting in the mechanical porch swing, gliding gently. I could see his profile tilted back, and he was watching the stars wheel over the sky. His eyes were like gray crystal there, the moon in each one.

I went out and sat beside him.

We glided awhile in the swing.

At last I said, УHow many ways are there to die in space?Ф

УA million.Ф

УName some.Ф

УThe meteors hit you. The air goes out of your rocket. Or comets take you along with them. Concussion. Strangulation. Explosion. Centrifugal force. Too much acceleration. Too little. The heat, the cold, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the asteroids, the planetoids, radiation . . .Ф

УAnd do they bury you?Ф

УThey never find you.Ф

УWhere do you go?Ф

УA billion miles away. Traveling graves, they call them. You become a meteor or a planetoid traveling forever through space.Ф

I said nothing.

УOne thing,Ф he said later, УitТs quick in space. Death. ItТs over like that. You donТt linger. Most of the time you donТt even know it. YouТre dead and thatТs it.Ф

We went up to bed.



It was morning.

Standing in the doorway, Dad listened to the yellow canary singing in its golden cage.

УWell, IТve decided,Ф he said. УNext time I come home, IТm home to stay.Ф

УDad!Ф I said.