"By the Falls by Harry Harrison" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

When the thick door had 'been swung shut and the
many sealing bars shoved back into place the silence in
the house took on a quality of its own. Carter had known
absence of sound elsewhere here was a positive state-
ment of no-sound, a bubble of peace pushed right up
against the very base of the all-sound of The Falls. He
was momentarily deafened and he knew it. But he was
not so deaf that he did not know that the hammering
thunder of The Falls bad 'been shut 'outside. The other
man must have sensed how 'his visitor felt. He nodded in
a reassuring manner as he took Carter's coat, then painted
to a comfortable chair set by the deal table near the fire.
Carter sank gratefully into the cushions. His host turned
away and vanished, to return a moment later with a tray
bearing a decanter and two glasses. He poured a measure
of wine into each glass and set one down before Carter,
who nodded and seized it 'in both hands to steady their
shaking. After a first large gulp he sipped at it while the
tremors died and his hearing slowly returned. His host
moved about the room on various tasks and presently
Carter found himself much recovered. He looked up.
"I must thank you for your hospitality. When I came
in I was shaken."
"How are you now? Has the wine helped?" the man
said loudly, almost shouting, and Carter realized that his
own words bad not 'been heard. Of course, the man must
be hard of hearing. It was a wonder he was not stone deaf.
"Very good, thank you," Carter shouted back. "Very
kind of you indeed. My name is Carter, I'm a reporter,
which is why I have come to see you."
The man nodded, smiling slightly.
"My name is Bodum. You must know that 'if you have
come here to talk to me. You write for the newspaper?"
"I was sent here." Carter coughed the shouting was
irritating his throat. "And I of course know you, Mr.
Bodum--that is I know you by reputation. You're the
Man by The Falls."
"Forty-three years now," Bodum said with solid pride,
"I've lived here and have never been away for a single
night. Not that it has been easy. When 'the wind is wrong
the spray is blown over the house for days and it is hard
to breathe--even the fire goes out. I built the chimney
myself--there is a bend part way up with baffles and
doors. The smoke goes up but if water comes down the
baffles stop it and its weight opens the doors and it drains
away through a pipe to the outside. I can show you Where
it drains--black with soot the wall is there."
While Bodum talked Carter looked 'around the room at
the dim furniture shapes barely seen in the wavering light
from the fire and at the two windows set into the wall.