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

УTell your mother that when she gets up,Ф he said.

УYou mean it!Ф

He nodded gravely. УSee you in about three months.Ф

And there he went off down the street, carrying his uniform in its secret box, whistling and looking at the tall green trees and picking chinaberries off the chinaberry bush as he brushed by, tossing them ahead of him as he walked away into the bright shade of early morning. . . .



I asked Mother about a few things that morning after Father had been gone a number of hours. УDad said that sometimes you donТt act as if you hear or see him,Ф I said.

And then she explained everything to me quietly.

УWhen he went off into space ten years ago, I said to myself, СHeТs dead.Т Or as good as dead. So think of him dead. And when he comes back, three or four times a year, itТs not him at all, itТs only a pleasant little memory or a dream. And if a memory stops or a dream stops, it canТt hurt half as much. So most of the time I think of him deadЧЧФ

УBut other timesЧФ

УOther times I canТt help myself. I bake pies and treat him as if he were alive, and then it hurts. No, itТs better to think he hasnТt been here for ten years and IТll never see him again. It doesnТt hurt as much.Ф

УDidnТt he say next time heТd settle down.Ф

She shook her head slowly. УNo, heТs dead. IТm very sure of that.Ф

УHeТll come alive again, then,Ф I said.

УTen years ago,Ф said Mother, УI thought, What if he dies on Venus? Then weТll never be able to see Venus again. What if he dies on Mars? WeТll never be able to look at Mars again, all red in the sky, without wanting to go in and lock the door. Or what if he died on Jupiter or Saturn or Neptune? On those nights when those planets were high in the sky, we wouldnТt want to have anything to do with the stars.Ф

УI guess not,Ф I said.



The message came the next day.

The messenger gave it to me and I read it standing on the porch. The sun was setting. Mom stood in the screen door behind me, watching me fold the message and put it in my pocket.

УMom,Ф I said.

УDonТt tell me anything I donТt already know,Ф she said.

She didnТt cry.

Well, it wasnТt Mars, and it wasnТt Venus, and it wasnТt Jupiter or Saturn that killed him. We wouldnТt have to think of him every time Jupiter or Saturn or Mars lit up the evening sky.

This was different.

His ship had fallen into the sun.

And the sun was big and fiery and merciless, and it was always in the sky and you couldnТt get away from it.