"Thomas A. Easton - Alien Resonance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Easton Thomas A)

her preference for wading the margins of a pond, casting flies where no boughs
conspired to frustrate her. This afternoon she had been using small streamers,
with such success that she had released more trout than she had kept.
Setting the plate on the table, she looked past the other horn of the crescent,
shaking her head to settle her dark hair out of her gaze. A clatter of stone, a
splash, and she grinned. Franklin Massey, fellow biologist, had gone that way
with Ellen Young, chemist, and by now, fish or no, he must be out of sorts.
She almost laughed when she saw Ellen first, but she managed instead a
sympathetic grin. Ellen was walking straight-backed along the water's edge. Her
lips were a compressed line, and her normally hazel eyes were darkly shadowed.
Her fly rod stood as straight as her spine, a lance at rest. Her creel hung from
one shoulder like a purse.
Behind her came Franklin, his spinning rod horizontal, his creel slapping the
small of his back, a plastic worm box jutting from his belt. His mouth was open,
his shoulders slumped, and his free hand flapped, appealing.
Di imagined he was pleading with Ellen to forget the pass he had surely made, to
forgive his hand or voice or... He had wanted her ever since he had first joined
their group, ever since the first expedition he had shared with them the year
before. And Ellen, while she would accept him as a friend, would have no more of
him.
Both relaxed when they came near Di. They leaned their rods against the aluminum
camp table and emptied their creels in one heap of fish on the ground. "They're
hitting better today," said Ellen. "Even for him." She patted Franklin's bald
spot, a little harder than necessary, as he knelt to transfer the fish to a
plate.
He snorted. "I got more than you did yesterday. Bait's more reliable."
"But messier."
"I'll be back in a minute." Plate and knife in hand, he headed down the shore
even as Alec emerged from the woods.
"Wait a minute, Franklin. I'll be right with you." Alec's rod joined the others


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and, creel in hand, he followed the other man. As he passed Di, he said, "Found
something interesting. Tell you later."
Her face softened as she watched his tall figure walk away, feet scuffing leaves
and crunching gravel, large hands already opening his jackknife. But she did not
watch long. She took bowl and corn meal from the table and rummaged through
wrappers and boxes for the salt and pepper to mix the coating for their
fresh-caught supper. Ellen said nothing as she in turn took the coffee pot to
the pond's edge to rinse and fill it.



As Ybarra emerged from the shrubbery near where Alec and Franklin were cleaning
trout, Alec laughed. "So that's where it went."
Ybarra grinned back at him, breathing hard. His belly was larger than Alec's,
and his burden had gotten to him. "Had to pick it up, you know. Never seen