"Bradbury, Ray - The Martian Chronicles" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bradbury Ray)

The heat rose in the clear spring sky, and all was silent. The brass band banged off around a corner, leaving the rocket to shine and dazzle alone in the sunlight
"Abandoned!" said the captain. "They abandoned the ship, they did! I'll have their skins, by God! They had orders!"
"Sir," said Lustig, "don't be too hard on them. Those were all old relatives and friends."
"That's no exuse!"
"Think how they felt, Captain, seeing familiar faces outside the ship!"
"They had their orders, damn it!"
"But how would you have felt, Captain?"
"I would have obeyed orders--" The captain's mouth remained open.
Striding along the sidewalk under the Martian sun, tall, smiling, eyes amazingly clear and blue, came a young man of some twenty-six years. "John!" the man called out, and broke into a trot.
"What?" Captain John Black swayed.
"John, you old son of a bitch!"
The man ran up and gripped his hand and slapped him on the back.
"It's you," said Captain Black.
"Of course, who'd you _think_ it was?"
"Edward!" The captain appealed now to Lustig and Hinkston, holding the stranger's hand. "This is my brother Edward. Ed, meet my men, Lustig, Hinkston! My brother!"
They tugged at each other's hands and arms and then finally embraced.
"Ed!"
"John, you bum, you!"
"You're looking fine, Ed, but, Ed, what _is_ this? You haven't changed over the years. You died, I remember, when you were twenty-six and I was nineteen. Good God, so many years ago, and here you are and, Lord, what goes on?"
"Mom's waiting," said Edward Black, grinning.
"Mom?"
"And Dad too."
"Dad?" The captain almost fell as if he had been hit by a mighty weapon. He walked stiffly and without co.ordination. "Mom and Dad alive? Where?"
"At the old house on Oak Knoll Avenue."
"The old house." The captain stared in delighted amaze. "Did you hear that, Lustig, Hinkston?"
Hinkston was gone. He had seen his own house down the street and was running for it. Lustig was laughing. "You see, Captain, what happened to everyone on the rocket? They couldn't help themselves."
"Yes. Yes." The captain shut his eyes. "When I open my eyes you'll be gone." He blinked. "You're still there. God, Ed, but you look _fine!_"
"Come on, lunch's waiting. I told Mom."
Lustig said, "Sir, I'll be with my grandfolks if you need me."
"What? Oh, fine, Lustig. Later, then."
Edward seized his arm and marched him. "There's the house. Remember it?"
"Hell! Bet I can beat you to the front porch!"
They ran. The trees roared over Captain Black's head; the earth roared under his feet. He saw the golden figure of Edward Black pull ahead of him in the amazing dream of reality. He saw the house rush forward, the screen door swing wide. "Beat you!" cried Edward. "I'm an old man," panted the captain, "and you're still young. But then, you _always_ beat me, I remember!"
In the doorway, Mom, pink, plump, and bright. Behind her, pepper-gray, Dad, his pipe in his hand.
"Mom, Dad!"
He ran up the steps like a child to meet them.

It was a fine long afternoon. They finished a late lunch and they sat in the parlor and he told them all about his rocket and they nodded and smiled upon him and Mother was just the same and Dad bit the end off a cigar and lighted it thoughtfully in his old fashion. There was a big turkey dinner at night and time flowing on. When the drumsticks were sucked clean and lay brittle upon the plates, the captain leaned back and exhaled his deep satisfaction, Night was in all the trees and coloring the sky, and the lamps were halos of pink light in the gentle house. From all the other houses down the street came sounds of music, pianos playing, doors slammng.
Mom put a record on the victrola, and she and Captain John Black had a dance. She was wearing the same perfume he remembered from the summer when she and Dad had been killed in the train accident. She was very real in his arms as they danced lightly to the music. "It's not every day," she said, "you get a second chance to live."
"I'll wake in the morning," said the captain. "And I'll be in my rocket, in space, and all this will be gone."
"No, don't think that," she cried softly. "Don't question. God's good to us. Let's be happy."
"Sorry, Mom."
The record ended in a circular hissing.
"You're tired, Son." Dad pointed with his pipe. "Your old bedroom's waiting for you, brass bed and all."
"But I should report my men in."
"Why?"
"Why? Well, I don't know. No reason, I guess. No, none at all. They're all eating or in bed. A good night's sleep won't hurt them."
"Good night, Son." Mom kissed his cheek. "It's good to have you home."
"It's good to _be_ home."
He left the land of cigar smoke and perfume and books and gentle light and ascended the stairs, talking, talking with Edward. Edward pushed a door open, and there was the yellow brass bed and the old semaphore banners from college and a very musty raccoon coat which he stroked with muted affection. "It's too much," said the captain. "I'm numb and I'm tired. Too much has happened today. I feel as if I'd been out in a pounding rain for forty-eight hours without an umbrella or a coat. I'm soaked to the skin with emotion."