"Lisa Goldstein - Tourists" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldstein Lisa)

He went closer to examine them. No mortar, everything cut
perfectly to match. тАЬWhen was this house built?тАЭ he asked the
young man.
тАЬOh, it would be impossible to sayтАФapproximately three
hundred years ago. Perhaps more,тАЭ the man said.
тАЬDoesnтАЩt it get cold in the winter?тАЭ Mitchell asked.
тАЬAh,тАЭ the young man said, тАЬbut it never gets cold here.тАЭ
The young man let himself out. Belatedly Mitchell
remembered his manners. тАЬThank you for showing me
around,тАЭ he called after him. тАЬAnd thanks for the ride from the
airport!тАЭ The young man nodded and closed the thick wooden
door, bound in brass, behind him.
The silence settled over Mitchell immediately. Despite the
sun, despite what the young man had said, he was starting to
feel cold. He wished he could remember the young manтАЩs
name, wished he knew what he did. Probably connected with
the college in some way. There had been a hasty introduction
in the car at the airport, but Mitchell hadnтАЩt been used to the
manтАЩs accent yet and the words had mostly passed him by.
 He paced back and forth across the floor, the polished wood
creaking loudly beneath him. Come on, he told himself. This
isnтАЩt like you. At home youтАЩre always yelling for quiet, you
need perfect silence to work. Well, here it isтАФperfect silence.
Get to work.
He stopped and looked at a small light fixture shaped like a
candle set into the wall. There were eight of the fixtures, he
noticed, two on each wall. At least thereтАЩs electricity, he
thought. It must have been added long after the house was
built. If that ever goes, weтАЩre dead. There arenтАЩt any windows
in this room. He shivered suddenly.
I canтАЩt get to work, he thought. I have to show Dr. Jara the
manuscript and get him to tell me if he thinks itтАЩs authentic.
ThereтАЩs not much point in starting to work if itтАЩs a fake.
He paced some more. Too bad Claire isnтАЩt here, he thought.
Another month, and then Dr. Tamir gets back from his field
trip and goes to the States and moves into our house. I hope
he likes it. I hope the family likes it here. Maybe thisтАЩll get us
out of the rut weтАЩve been in.


The next morning Mitchell left the gray stone house and stood
blinking in the sun, holding his briefcase in one hand and Dr.
TamirтАЩs letter in the other. тАЬAcross the street,тАЭ Dr. Tamir had
written, тАЬis a statue of a man holding an egg.тАЭ
Mitchell raised his eyes from the letter. Sure enough, the
bronze man across the street stood holding a bronze egg
carefully cupped in his hand. His shoulders were thrown back
heroically, and he seemed to be looking out both at the future
and at his egg. Why on earth would the people of Amaz want
to honor a man and his egg? There must be a story behind it,