"Avram Davidson - Blunt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davidson Avram)

Physical Culture instructors, whose only duty and only qualification was the
ability to direct mass push-ups, were so considered, and were rated CPOs en
bloc. In the ordinary course of an ordinary tour of duty in the Hospital Corps a
Ph.M. 1/c would have been certain to get sea duty, and thus, a rating as Chief.
But Blunt's very competence undid him. He knew too much.

"I can't spare you, sorry," Dr. West told him each time he put in for sea duty.

"Long's they know he kin do ever detail here and do it better than enna bodda
else, Ol' Huey goin stay here" -- Tester to Pawson.

"Ol' Huey's a mighty good man," Pawson said, but neither the "Ol' Huey" or "the
mighty good man" indicated affection. No one liked Blunt, no one disliked Blunt,
no one told any stories about Blun;, there were none to tell. Blunt had no
personality. He was not a character. He had no existence apart from his rank--
which he did not abuse -- and his skill -which, by its greatness, baffled and
discouraged speculation. If orders came in for a Ph.M. 1/c to be shipped out,
the SMO saw to it that another one was shipped. Once Blunt, on leave, went to
Washington, and pulled strings, but Dr. West, when he saw Blunt's name on the
orders, pulled more strings; and was authorized to make a substitution. The
other First Class Mate was older than Blunt, he was married and had two
children, but he knew incomparably less and he was lazy and inefficient; and for
these failings was destined to die while splashing his trembling and middle-aged
legs through the lukewarm waters of a tropical beachhead.

But before that happened, Blunt had fallen in love.

Wilma Swansoh's family belonged to one of the several colonies of Yankees
settled in Cataline. Besides the usual superannuated railroad men and retired
wholesale plumbing dealers, besides the seekers after more sunshine and health,
there was a group drawn to Cataline by the presence of a small denominational
college that Had a Good Name. At one time it had been Southern terminus for the
Chatauqua Circuit. Retired clergymen, retired schoolteachers and principals,
even retired deans and presidents of other denominational colleges ismalii, had
settled in Cataline so as to take advantage of its advantages.

Mrs. Swanson said that Cataline had everything.

"There's this lovely old town and those beautiful oak trees and Spanish moss.
And the lovely flowers, all the year round. There's Mullet Bay, and the St.
George River, and the ocean -- lovely swimming and fishing and boating and water
games. There's Vallance Beach just a short ride away, and Seminole Springs.
There's this lovely little college and the intellectual atmosphere it creates
here. There are some lovely people who winter here-- call them Snowbirds, if you
will, but I say that some of them are just lovely. As for the year-round people,
well, you just won't find a lovelier community; that's all. And the Colored
People are simply lovable. That's why I say that Cataline has everything."
Mr. Swanson backed her up in all this, but since he had Investments locally,
naturally, he saw things from another point of view as well.