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

He rode directly to his dwelling, exchanging only small jokes and unimportant remarks with Asher.



"See you in the morning, Recreation Director!" he called, dismounting by his door as Asher continued on.



"Right! See you!" Asher called back. Once again, there was just a moment when things weren't quite the same, weren't quite as they had always been through the long friendship. Perhaps he had imagined it. Things couldn't change, with Asher.



The evening meal was quieter than usual. Lily chattered about her plans for volunteer work; she would begin, she said, at the Nurturing Center, since she was already an ex-pert at feeding Gabriel.



''I know," she added quickly, when her father gave her a warning glance, "I won't mention his name. I know I'm not supposed to know his name.



"I can't wait for tomorrow to come,'' she said happily. Jonas sighed uneasily. ''I can,'' he muttered.



"You've been greatly honored,'' his mother said. ''Your father and I are very proud.''



"It's the most important job in the community,'' Father said.



"But just the other night, you said that the job of making Assignments was the most important!''



Mother nodded. ''This is different. It's not a job, really. I never thought, never expected тАФ " She paused. ''There's only one Receiver."



"But the Chief Elder said that they had made a selection before, and that it failed. What was she talking about?"



Both of his parents hesitated. Finally his father de-scribed the previous selection. ''It was very much as it was today, Jonas тАФ the same suspense, as one Eleven had been passed over when the Assignments were given. Then the announcement, when they singled out the one тАФ "