"The Giver Quartet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowry, Lois)

But when he looked out across the crowd, the sea of faces, the thing happened again. The thing that had happened with the apple.



They changed.



He blinked, and it was gone. His shoulders straightened slightly. Briefly he felt a tiny sliver of sureness for the first time.



She was still watching him. They all were.



"I think it's true," he told the Chief Elder and the community. "I don't understand it yet. I don't know what it is. But sometimes I see something. And maybe it's beyond."



She took her arm from his shoulders.



"Jonas," she said, speaking not to him alone but to the entire community of which he was a part, "you will be trained to be our next Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood."



Then she turned and left the stage, left him there alone, standing and facing the crowd, which began spontaneously the collective murmur of his name.



"Jonas." It was a whisper at first: hushed, barely audible. ''Jonas. Jonas."



Then louder, faster. "JONAS. JONAS. JONAS."



With the chant, Jonas knew, the community was accepting him and his new role, giving him life, the way they had given it to the newchild Caleb. His heart swelled with gratitude and pride.



But at the same time he was filled with fear. He did not know what his selection meant. He did not know what he was to become.