"Carol Emshwiller - Gliders Though They Be" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emshwiller Carol)

and then push. Or break the branch out from under them. If they fall and keep on falling, they'll fledge
soon enough. They'll have to. Being harsher on our own young might be the only way.

Nubs are ugly. Wings тАж so delicate, so optimistic тАж are lovely. Even so, it'll be easy for one of us to
hide among them. Wear a vest or hang a scarf over where your wings ought to be, and you can pass for
them. Go!



***

They have no trees! That's my first shock. Hills and valleys тАж mounds of loose dirt next to entrances,
yes, piles of rocks just like home, and bushes тАж You'd think they'd have trees. I wasn't told the most
important thing. Perhaps they have gnawed them all down as a safety measureтАФwhich it surely is.
Perhaps they don't ever say, Die by the trees, as we say.

But then I see they do have тАж one тАж just one huge tree off in the middle of their compound. It's the
largest I've ever seen. They must take great care of it. Keep it watered. We had no idea they lived like
this.

I wear a vest that hides my nubs. Thank goodness there are some of them that are of our bluish color.
We're larger than they are, but not by much. Perhaps that's why we can't glide. Though why don't we
fledge? And why have these ugly nubs in the first place?




┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖


I had skittered along with others of their kind. I joined a hunting group, bringing back voles, locusts,
beetles тАж I had nothing hanging from my belt, but many others didn't either. Since I'm bigger than most
of them, I thought to wrestle something from one of the smaller ones, but then I thought better of it.
Now, through the gates and into their treeless тАж almost treeless compound. I hope I don't look too
surprised as I enter.

It's neater than ours. And in spite of having no trees (except that one), they've made plenty of places for
shade and to hide under. Little lean-tos and platforms; prickly poppies are growing right on top of some
of them.




┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖


Handsome though I am (and especially so in my red vestтАФor so my own kind tells me), right away they
squint at me. Some clack their teeth. Perhaps I remind them of Us. I puff up so as to look even larger,
though I lose some of my shine that way. I know that's not a good idea, considering I'll look even more
like one of Us, but I want to scare them as much as they're scaring me. I become myself. Or, rather, I