"Jack Dann - A Quiet Revolution for Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dann Jack)

тАЬHow do you know what my vision is?тАЭ Roger asks, trying to find a
comfortable position. His cheek touches the headrest and his knee touches
SandraтАЩs bristly leg. Sandra moves closer to the door.
тАЬYouтАЩre nuts over Guyot Marchant and Holbein,тАЭ says Bennie. тАЬIтАЩve
read your library fiche. DonтАЩt you think IтАЩm acquainted intellectually with
the painted dances of death? Well, ha, I know the poetry of Jean Le Fevre,
and IтАЩve seen the holos of the mural paintings in the church of La
Chaise-Dieu. IтАЩve read Gedeon Huet in fiche and IтАЩve even looked at your
books тАФIтАЩm reading Totentanz, and IтАЩm almost finished.тАЭ
тАЬYou must ask permission,тАЭ says Roger, but he is proud of his son. He
certainly is the little man of the family, Roger tells himself. The other
children only want to nag and cry and eat and play тАЬfeelie.тАЭ
Sandra wakes up, pulls her hair away from her face, and asks: тАЬHow
much longer?тАЭ Her neck and face are glossy with perspiration. She lowers
the temperature, makes a choking noise, and insists that this trip is too
long and sheтАЩs hungry.
тАЬIтАЩm hungry, too,тАЭ says Rose Marie. тАЬAnd itтАЩs hot in here and
everythingтАЩs sticky.тАЭ
тАЬWeтАЩll be there soon,тАЭ Roger says to his family as he gazes out the large
windshield at the steaming highway ahead. The air seems to shimmer
from the exhaust of other cars, and God has created little mirages of blue
water.
тАЬSee the mirages on the highway,тАЭ Roger says to his family. What a day
to be alive! What a day to be with your family. He watches a red
convertible zoom right through a blue mirage and come out unscathed.
тАЬWhat a day,тАЭ he shouts. He grins and squeezes SandraтАЩs knee.
But Sandra swats his hand as if it were a gnat.
Still, it is a beautiful day.



тАЬWell, here we are,тАЭ says an excited Roger as the dashboard lights flash
green, indicating that everyone can now get out of the car.
What a view! The car is parked on the sixteenth tier of a grand parking
lot which overlooks the grandest cemetery in the East. From this vantage
ground (it is certainly worth the forty-dollar parking fee) Roger can view
beautiful Chastellain Cemetery and its environs. There, to the north, are
rolling hills and a green swath which must be pine forest. To the west are
great mountains which have been worn down by GodтАЩs hand. The world is
a pastel pallet: it is the first blush of autumn.
The cemetery is a festival of living movement. Roger imagines that he
has slipped back in time to fifteenth-century Paris. He is the noble
Boucicaut and the duke of Berry combined. He looks down at the common
folk strolling under the cloisters. The peasants are lounging amidst the
burials and exhumations and sniffing the stink of death.
тАЬIтАЩm hungry,тАЭ whines Rose Marie, тАЬand itтАЩs windy up here.тАЭ
тАЬWe came up here for the view,тАЭ Roger says. тАЬSo enjoy it.тАЭ
тАЬLetтАЩs go eat and put this day behind us,тАЭ Sandra says.
тАЬMommy lives in her left brain, huh, Dad?тАЭ says Bennie. тАЬShe suffers
from the conditioning and brainwashing of the olden days.тАЭ