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

A House Divided
LEE KILLOUGH

Amanda Gail and Selene Randall came to Aventine during the autumn hiatus, when the last of the
summer residents had gone back to jobs in the city or followed the sun south, and the winter influx of
skiers and skaters was still some weeks away. Aventine scarcely noticed them, and if my current cohab
had not gone off through the Diana Mountain Stargate on some interstellar artists' junket, they might
never have been more than clients to me, either. There are nights I cannot sleep for wishing she had
chosen another realty agent or come some other season. I was alone, though, in the boredom of autumn
when Amanda walked into my office with her seeds of tragedy and elected me gardener.
"Matthew Gordon?" she asked in a soft, hesitant voice I remembered from political broadcasts in the
last election, extolling the senatorial virtues of her father. тАЬIтАЩm Amanda Gail. I wired you about renting a
cabin?"
I nodded. "I have your wire."
Her pictures, though, did not do her justice. Not only was I surprised to find her taller than I
expected, fully as tall as I was, but no media camera had ever captured the glow that shone out through
her otherwise rather plain face, giving her the look of a Renaissance Madonna and adding nostalgic
charm to her loose topknot of copper hair and high-waisted Regency-style dress.
"How many will be in your party?" I asked.
Eyes with the warm brilliance of goldstone looked at me through her lashes. "I'm alone."
I nodded again, at the same time wondering how Amanda Gail could ever, really, consider herself
alone. The acrimonious divorce of former Olympic runner Margot Randall and Senator Charles
Christopher Gail had traumatically divided not only Amanda's childhood but her very psyche. Five years
ago, when Margot Randall died hi a hovercraft accident and Amanda moved to Washington full-time, it
emerged that for most of her childhood, Amanda Selene Gail had been two personalities, Amanda Gail
and another calling herself Selene Randall. The revelation, and their decision to remain dissociated, had
made them the darlings of the gossip columns.
"Senator Moran told me I could live here in privacy. Is that true?" Amanda asked.
"Yes. Aventine has too many rich and famous residents to care about another celebrity, and as we
have no hotels or public transportation and the cabletrain from Gateside is the only way in, aside from
private aircraft on private landing fields, we manage to discourage most reporters and curiosity seekers."
She smiled. "Wonderful."
That smile was remarkable. It turned the light hi her to dazzling incandescence.
"My runabout is outside. IT! show you what I have available."
I was carrying a long list of rentals, owned by summer people who authorized whiter leasing to pay
for the upkeep on their property. They were all over Aventine, from a few apartments down near the
shopping square to cabins in the woods and along the shores of both the Lunamere and Heliomere. I
explained the choices to Amanda as I handed her into the runabout and unplugged the car from its
charger. The Lunamere's main attraction in winter was that it froze over, making sixteen kilometers of ice
for skating. The Heliomere was fed by hot springs and, at thirty-five degrees C, was suitable for
year-round swimming.
"IтАЩm no swimmer but I prefer hot water to ice," Amanda said.
I drove her up to a little A-frame at No. 43 Apollo on the lower shore of the Heliomere. It was a
good size for a single person, with a deck all around and steps down to the beach in back. Amanda
admired the white expanse of the beach, which would have gratified the city council. They had once
spent a good deal importing all those tons of sand from some distant world on the stargate system to
cover the razor flint nature originally laid there.
What brought another of those incredible smiles was the interior. Not only did the carpeting continue
up the walls, but as she walked from the kitchen, across the lounge area to the fireplace, and turned to