"Edward L. Ferman - Best From F&SF, 23rd Edition" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ferman Edward L)

wheezing launch, he stood beside the crib in the spare bedroom and gazed down at his son with an
overwhelming surge of pride.
"Isn't he adorable?" Darlene said. "He looks just like you."
"You're prejudiced" Nolan grinned, but he was flattered. And when the tiny pink starshell of a hand
reached forth to meet his fingers, he tingled at the touch.
Then Darlene gasped.
Nolan glanced up quickly. "What's the matter?" he said.
"Nothing." Darlene was staring past him. "I thought I saw someone outside the window."
Nolan followed her gaze. "No one out there." He moved to the window, peered at the clearing
beyond. "Not a soul."
Darlene passed a hand before her eyes. "I guess IтАЩm just overtired," she said. "The long trip-"
Nolan put his arm around her. "Why don't you go lie down? Mama Dolores can look after Robbie."
Darlene hesitated. "Are you sure she knows what to do?"
"Look who's talking!" Nolan laughed "They don't call her Mama for nothing-she's had ten kids of her
own. She's in the kitchen right now, fixing Robbie's formula. IтАЩll go get her."
So Darlene went down the hall to their bedroom for a siesta, and Mama Dolores took over Robbie's
schedule while Nolan made his daily rounds in the fields.
The heat was stifling, worse than anything he could remember. Even Moises was gasping for air as he
gunned the jeep over the rutted roadway, peering into the shimmering haze.
Nolan wiped his forehead. Maybe he'd been too hasty, bringing Darlene and the baby here. But a
man was entitled to see his own son, and in a few months they'd be out of this miserable sweatbox
forever. No sense getting uptight; everything was going to be all right.
But at dusk, when he returned to the bungalow, Mama Dolores greeted him at the door with a
troubled face.
"What is it?" Nolan said. "Something wrong with Robbie?"
Mama shook her head. "He sleeps like an angel," she murmured "But the senora-"
In their room, Darlene lay shivering on the bed, eyes closed. Her head moved ceaselessly on the
pillows even when Nolan pressed his palm against her brow.
"Fever." Nolan gestured to Mama Dolores, and the old woman held Darlene still while he forced the
thermometer between her lips.
The red column inched upwards. "One hundred and four." Nolan straightened quickly. "Go fetch
Moises. Tell him I want the launch ready, pronto. We'll have to get her to the doctor at Manaos."
Darlene's eyes fluttered open; she'd heard.
"No, you can't! The babyтАФ"
"Do not trouble yourself. I will look after the little one." Mama's voice was soothing. "Now you must
rest"
"No, please-"
Darlene's voice trailed off into an incoherent babbling, and she sank back. Nolan kept his hand on
her forehead; the heat was like an oven. "Now just relax, darling. It's all right. I'm going with you."
And he did.
If the first trip had been an ordeal, this one was an agony: a frantic thrust through the sultry night on
the steaming river, Moises sweating over the throttle as Nolan held Darlene's shuddering shoulders
against the straw mattress in the stern of the vibrating launch. They made Manaos by dawn and roused
Dr. Robales from slumber at his house near the plaza.
Then came the examination, the removal to the hospital, the tests and the verdict A simple matter,
Dr. Rebates said, and no need for alarm. With proper treatment and rest she would recover. A week
here in the hospitalтАФ
"A week?" Nolan's voice rose. "I've got to get back for the loading. I can't stay here that long!"
"There is no need for you to stay, senor. She shall have my personal attention, I assure you."
It was small comfort, but Nolan had no choice. And he was too tired to protest, too tired to worry.