"Philip Jose Farmer - Flesh" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Now the crowd carried him down the broad steps and out onto the great porch of the White House.

At his appearance a tremendous shout rose from the mob in the street. Drums thundered; bugles
blared like GabrielтАЩs trumpet; syrinxes shrilled. The priestesses on the porch waved sickles at the men
dressed like elks, but they did not cutтАФexcept by accident. The Elks on the outside of the mob shoved
at the priestesses so they staggered back and fell on their backs. There they lay, their legs up in the air,
screaming and writhing.

The antlered man was rushed down the sidewalk, out through the iron gates and onto the middle of
Pennsylvania Avenue. Here he was seated on the back of a wild-eyed black stag. The stag tried to buck
and rear; but the men held on to his antlers and the long hair of his flanks and prevented him from racing
headlong down the street. The man on the beastтАЩs back grabbed its antlers to keep from being thrown.
His own back arched. The muscles on his arms knotted as he forced the mighty neck back. The stag
bellowed, and the whites of his eyes shone in the torchlight. Suddenly, just as it seemed his neck must
break under the force of the manтАЩs arms, he relaxed and stood trembling. Saliva drooled from his mouth,
and his eyes were still wide, but they were frightened. His rider was master.

The Elks formed in ranks of twelve behind the stag and rider. Behind them was a band of musicians,
also of the Elk frat. Behind them were the Moose and their musicians. Next was a group of Lions
wearing panther skulls as helmets and panther skins as cloaks, the long tails dragging on the cement. They
held on to the ropes of a balloon that rose twelve feet over them. This had a long sausage-shape and a
swelling round nose. Beneath it hung two round gondolas in each of which sat pregnant women, throwing
flowers and rice on the crowd lining the street. Behind them were the representatives of the Rooster frat
carrying their totem, a tall pole surmounted by the carved head of an enormous rooster with a tall red
comb and a long straight beak knobbed at the end.

Behind them, the leader of the other frats of the nation: the Elephants, the Mules, the Jackrabbits, the
Trouts, the Billy Goats, and many others. Behind them, the representatives of the great sisterhoods: the
Wild Does, the Queen Bees, the Wood Cats, the Lionesses, the Shrikes.
 The Sunhero paid no attention to those behind him. He was staring down the street. Both sides were
lined with crowds, but evidently they had not assembled by accident. They were organized into definite
ranks. The group closest to the streets was composed of girls from fourteen to eighteen. They wore the
high-necked, long-sleeved blouses which opened at the front to exhibit their breasts. Their legs were
concealed by white bell-shaped skirts with many petticoats beneath, and their red-nailed feet wore white
sandals. Their long hair was unbound and fell to their waists. Each carried a bouquet of white roses in her
right hand. They were wide-eyed and eager; they screamed, over and over, тАЬSunhero! Horned King!
Mighty Stag! Great Son and Lover!тАЭ

Behind them stood matrons who seemed, from the advice they shouted at them, to be their mothers.
Those wore high-necked, long-sleeved blouses too, but their breasts were covered. Their skirts lacked
the petticoats to give them the bell shape; they fell straight to the ground except in the front, where they
wore, beneath the skirt, bustles to give them a pregnant appearance. Their hair was coiled up into buns
and Psyche knots, and in each were stuck the stems of red roses, one for each child they had borne.

Behind the matrons stood the fathers, each clad in the garment of his particular frat and holding in one
hand the totem of his frat. In the other he held a bottle from which he drank frequently and occasionally
passed forward to his wife.

All were shouting and screaming, straining forward as if they would crowd onto the street. This was