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

took an impression of them all, directly under Jack's prints, then lifted the hand from the paper.
Becky actually moaned when we saw the prints, and I think we all felt sick. Because it's one thing to
speculate about a body that's never been alive, a blank. But it's something very different, something that
touches whatever is primitive deep in your brain, to have that speculation proved. There were no prints;
there were five absolutely smooth, solidly black circles. I wiped the ink off the fingers fairly well, and we
all bent over, huddled in a circle under the swinging light, and looked at the darkened ends of those
fingers. They were smooth as a baby's cheek, and Theodora murmured quietly, "Jack, I'll be sick," and
he turned to grab her тАУ she was bending at the waist тАУ then helped her upstairs.
Sitting in the livingroom again, I shook my head, and said to Jack, "You've got the word for it, all right.
It's a blank; unfinished, and still waiting for the final impression."
He nodded. "What'll we do? You got any ideas?"
"Yeah" тАУ I sat looking at him for a moment. "But it's only a suggestion, and if you don't want to go
through with it, nobody'll blame you, certainly not me."
 "What is it?"
"Remember, this is only a suggestion." I leaned forward on the davenport, forearms on my knees, and
now I turned to Theodora. "And if you don't think you can take this," I said to her, "you'd better not try
it, I'm warning you." I looked at Jack again. "Leave it where it is, down on that table. Tonight you'll go to
sleep; I'll give you something to take." I glanced at Theodora тАУ "But you stay awake; don't sleep for an
instant. Every hour, if you can do this, I want you to go downstairs and look at that тАУ body. If you see
any hint of a change, hurry upstairs and wake Jack up, right away. Get him out of the house тАУ both of
you get out right away тАУ and come right down to my place."
Jack looked at Theodora for a moment, then he said quietly, "I want you to say no, if you don't think
you can go through with that."
She sat biting gently at her lip, staring at the rug. Then she looked up, first at me, then turned to Jack.
"What would it тАжstart looking like? If it started to change?"
No one answered, and after a moment she looked down at the rug, nibbling her lip again, and didn't
repeat the question. "Would Jack wake up all right?" Theodora looked at me. "Could I wake him any
time?"
"Yes. A slap on the face, and he'll wake right up. Now, listen; even if nothing happens, wake him up if
you find you can't stand it. You can both come down to my place for the rest of the night then, if you
want."
She nodded, and stared at the rug again. Finally she said," I guess I could." She looked up at Jack,
frowning.
"As long as I know I can wake him any time, I guess I could."
"Couldn't we stay with her?" Becky said.
I shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't think so. I think just the people who live here ought to be here;
I'm not sure it'll work otherwise. I don't know why I say that, though; it's just a hunch, a feeling. But I
think only Jack and Theodora should be here."
Jack nodded, and after glancing at Theodora to confirm this, said, "We'll try it."
We sat then, and talked some more тАУ quite a while, in fact тАУ staring down at the tiny lights of the town
in the little valley below. But no one said anything much that hadn't already been said, and around twelve,
most of the lights in the town below now out, Becky and I stood up to leave. The Belicecs got their
coats, and drove downtown with us to pick up Jack's car. It was parked on Sutter Place, a block and a
half from the movie, and when we stopped beside their car, and they got out, I repeated to Theodora
what I'd said about waking Jack up and beating it out of there if the body in their basement started to
alter in any way. I got some halfstrength Seconal out of my satchel and gave it to Jack, and told him that
one ought to get him to sleep. Then they said good night тАУ Jack smiling a little, Theodora not bothering to
try тАУ got into their car, and we waved, and drove on.
On our way to her house, through the dark, empty streets, Becky said quietly, "There's a connection,
isn't there, Miles? Between this and тАУ Wilma's case?"