"Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor - Diamonds are Forever" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

"Construction areas don't count as potholes." I responded. "HolyтАФ!"
I slammed on the brakes just in time to keep from going over into the ravine that now cut squarely
across the packed and oiled rock-dirt roadway leading to the Slade homestead. Last time I'd been here
there hadn't been a sign of such a thing; now it yawned, a raw gash in the earth, fully forty feet from the
edge I sat on to the other side, eight feet deep on the right dropping to ten or twelve on the left as it
passed out of sight into the old-growth forest.
We sat there for a few moments in silence, me waiting for my heart to stop pounding before I slowly
backed the truck a few more feet from the edge, just in case. Jodi turned to me. "So you had to prove me
wrong. Okay, that is bigger than the one on Seventeenth." She looked at the ravine with slightly wide
eyes, the only sign she was going to let this disturb her New York sangfroid. "So, what, are we supposed
to fill that in with our bare hands?"
"Stay here a minute." I reached down into the bag and grabbed the crowbar.
I walked to the edge, so I could look to the left and right. I could see, down below, the mound of
jumbled dirt, trees, and rocks which marked the slide. The thing that bothered meтАФreally, really
bothered meтАФwas how straight and selective this was. The slide started about fifty feet up the slope, cut
across the road in a perfect right angle, and ended about a hundred feet below. I poked at the dirt with
the crowbar; it crumbled like normal, not too wet, packed hard where the road was. There wasn't any
sign of the usual slumping you get when the earth's moving because it's gotten too soggy and all. The
road looked like someone had just cut a piece out of it with a giant knife, like a Bunyan-sized slice of
earth pie. I listened. Not a sound except some water dripping off the trees in the fogтАФand the fog wasn't
common this time of year, either. Seemed like the air was colder here than ought be. No animal sounds,
the critters were quiet.
Maybe Mamma had been premature. This sure 'nuff looked like that kind of trouble to me.
Well, no help for it now. I studied the lay of the land. Awfully steep in parts but . . . I could probably
make it around the upper end. Old-growth forest has some advantages, like usually bigger distances
between the trees. I got back into the truck. "Jodi, get out and wait a ways down. I'll try and drive
around."

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 - Chapter 2

"If you aren't scared to drive it, I'm not scared to ride it. And it's chilly out there."
"I am scared to drive it, but I ain't leavin' the truck parked here neither!" I heard my voice head all the
way back home. Shoot, this wasn't good. "Look, Jodi, sweetheart, this kind of driving's really tricky, and
I'll do better if I'm not worrying about you as a passenger while I'm trying to hold her steady on the
slope."
Jodi rolled her eyes, then kissed my cheek and got out. I knew she would if I put it that way; it made
practical sense, sure, but more importantly, it told her I didn't doubt her courage, just my concentration.
There was one really sticky moment when the earth near the top of the gouge started to give, but I gave
her the gas and bounced clear before I could get dragged sideways. With only a couple of minor
scratches to the side panels, I made it to the far side of the road. "YEEAH! Try 'n' stop a Slade that way,
willya? Ha!" I shook the crowbar at the silent woods. "Okay, honey, you can come on over. Walk
around the way I drove."
"Walk? You need sidewalks here, Clint! This isn't walking, this is an obstacle course!" Despite her
complaints, Jodi was making her way through the woods at a respectable clip. She'd done hiking before.
"IтАФyow!" Her figure seemed to vanish into the earth.
"Jodi!" I shouted in horror. Damnation, I should have made her take the crowbar! I had the whole car to
protect me!
"Calm down, Clint!" Relief flooded me as I saw her rise back into sight, brushing leaves and dirt off. "I
was just being a schlemiel and looking at you instead of where I was putting my big feet. Honestly, you