"John Dalmas - The Second Coming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

There was also a storage building with surplus furniture and appliances, and a small
commissary with a limited selection of basic household supplies, and groceries. The
commissary had the use of the Ranch's helicopter, and twice a week made a shopping
run for residents, to City Market in Walsenburg. It was about thirty miles by air.


Susan also told them the name "Ranch" didn't apply to the "village," strictly speaking.
A newsman had learned that in Malawi, Ngunda meant "dove," so he'd dubbed this
place "the Dove Cote" before it had even been moved into. That was quickly
shortened to "the Cote," and "the Ranch" came to mean the entire, sixteen-square-
mile property.


After Susan Klein had left, it occurred to Lee she might adjust to this place pretty
decently. The day had gone well, and no one had seemed at all like a fanatic. If only
the school was okay. Susan Klein's personalityтАФpleasant and intelligentтАФhad been
reassuring. Cross your fingers, Lee, she said inwardly.
***
Supper with Dove also went well. The food was rather simple, mostly low fat, and
well prepared. And instead of talking religion or philosophy, the great guru had talked
about the school, about the Rockies' late season skid that had lost them a place in the
National League playoffs, and about the Broncos' rookie quarterback, their first-round
draft pick out of BYU. As far as she could tell, he wasn't putting it on for her benefit.
He seemed as knowledgeable and interested as any casual fan might be. Despite his
magnetism, though, she couldn't see why so many people made such a big deal of
him. In letters to the editor, he'd even been referred to as the new messiah. Ben said
Millennium made no such claim, but it wouldn't. Bad PR. Let others make it for them.


Obviously a lot of money had been pumped into Millennium, which meant someone
hoped to make big money out of it. Perhaps it was his PR image that drew people. He
might be nothing more than a magnetic but amiable puppet, mouthing someone else's
scripts. Or the scripts could be his own. Big Money might see him as a resource.
Might have moved in on him, providing financing and promotion.
Walking back to the house, Becca and Raquel did most of the talking. Actually,
Raquel did seventy percent of it. They "really really liked" the Klein twins. Their
eagerness to start school the next day bemused Lee. When she'd been a girl, the
prospect of changing schools had given her an upset stomach.


If cult values and ideas were taught, she wasn't sure she could deal with it.
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3

. . . . Many people accept only physical phenomena as real. To them we are
born, live awhile, then die, and with death cease to exist. To them, the