"Jack Finney - Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Finney Jack)

are none in the hair. Not a sign of what killed him."
I hesitated, but legally I couldn't touch this body, and I picked up the rubber sheet, and tossed it over
the body again, half covering it. "All right," I said. "Where to, now? Upstairs?"
"Yeah." Jack nodded at the doorway, and stood with his hand on the light chain till we'd all filed out.
Up in the livingroom, Theodora politely asked us to sit down, went around turning on lamps and
placing ash trays, then went into the kitchen and came back in a moment without her apron. She sat
down in a big easy chair, Becky and I were on the davenport, and Jack was sitting by the window in a
wooden rocking chair, looking down on the town. Almost the whole front wall of his livingroom is a
single sheet of plate glass, and you could see the lights of the entire town scattered through the hills; it's a
nice room.
"Want a drink or anything?" Jack said then.
Becky shook her head, and I said, "No thanks; you folks go ahead, though."
Jack said no, glancing at his wife, and she shook her head. Then he said, "We called you, Miles,
because you're a doctor, but also because you're a guy who can face facts. Even when the facts aren't
what they ought to be. You're not a man to knock yourself out trying to talk black into white, just
because it's more comfortable. Things are what they are with you, as we have reason to know."
I shrugged, and didn't say anything.
"You got anything more to say about this body downstairs?" Jack asked.
I sat there for a moment or so, fiddling with a button on my coat, then made up my mind to say it.
"Yeah," I said, "I have. This doesn't make sense, it makes no sense at all, but I'd give a lot to perform an
autopsy on that body, because you know what I think I'd find?" I glanced around the room тАУ at Jack,
Theodora, then Becky тАУ and no one answered; they just sat there waiting. "I think I'd find no cause of
death at all. I think I'd find every organ in as perfect condition as the body is externally. Everything in
perfect working order, ready to go."
I let them think about that for a moment, then gave them some more; I felt utterly foolish saying it, and
utterly certain I was right. "That isn't all. I think that when I opened the stomach, there'd be nothing inside.
Not a crumb, not a particle of food, digested or undigested; nothing. Empty as a newborn baby's. And if
I opened the bowel, the same thing: no waste, not a bit. Nothing at all. Why?" I glanced around at them
again. "Because I don't believe that that body downstairs ever died. There is no cause of death, because
it never died. And it never died because it's never been alive." I shrugged, and sat back on the davenport.
"There you are. That screwy enough for you?"
"Yeah." Jack said, slowly and emphatically nodding his head, the women silently watching us. "That's
exactly screwy enough for me. I only wanted it confirmed."
"Becky" тАУ I turned to look at her тАУ "what do you think?" She shook her head, frowning, then sighed."
I'm тАУ stunned. But I think I would like that drink, after all."
We all smiled then, and Jack started to get up, but Theodora said, "I'll get them," and stood. "One for
everyone?" she asked, and we all said yes.
Then we sat waiting, getting out cigarettes, striking matches, holding lights, till Theodora came back
and handed drinks around. We each took a sip, then Jack said, "That's exactly what I think, and so does
Theodora. And the thing is, I didn't tell her anything about my impressions. I let her look at that thing, and
form her own opinion, just like I did with you, Miles. And she's the one who first made the comparison
with the medallions; we saw them making medallions once, on our honeymoon in Washington." Jack
sighed, and shook his head. "We've talked and thought about this all day, Miles; then decided to call
you."
"You tell anyone else?"
"No."
"Why didn't you call the police?"
"I don't know." Jack looked at me, a little smile around his mouth. "You want to call them?"
"No."
"Why not?"