"David G. Hartwell. - Years Best SF 4" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hartwell David G)

I winced as he dragged my leather suitcase over the sliding door tracks into the backyard. A glowing
blue North Face tent sat on the grass. A Coleman lantern pooled yellow on a picnic table stolen from a
roadside rest area. The snapped security chain dangled down underneath.

тАЬLulu!тАЭ he yelled, then managed a grin for me. тАЬShe must be checking the garden. We getтАжyou
knowтАжslugs. Eat the tomatoes.тАЭ

The yard didn't end in a garden. Beyond the grass was a dense growth of trees. Now and then headlights
from the highway beyond paled the undersides of the maple leaves, but they didn't let me see anything.

тАЬSure.тАЭ I sat down at the picnic table. тАЬSo how are you, Dad?тАЭ

He squinted at me, as if unsure whether I was joking. тАЬMe? Oh, I'm fine. Never better. Life out here
agrees with me. Should have done it a long time ago.тАЭ

Clich├йs were my father's front defensive line. He was fortifying quickly, building walls in front of questions
I hadn't even asked yet.

тАЬTrouble?тАЭ I said. тАЬWith Mom?тАЭ Being subtle is a nonstarter in my family.

тАЬAnd how is your fast-paced urban lifestyle?тАЭ he asked.

тАЬWe're working a few things out. A bit of a shake-down period, you might call it.тАЭ

My parents' entire marriage had been a shakedown period. I was just an interim project that had
somehow become permanent. I swear, all through my childhood, every morning they had been surprised
to see me come downstairs to breakfast. Even now, my dad was looking at me as if he wasn't entirely
sure who I was.

тАЬWell, to start with, Dad, I guess the problems Stacy and I have been having stem from being in the same
professionтАФтАЭ

тАЬYou know,тАЭ Dad said, тАЬyour mother still has the darkest blue eyes I have ever seen.тАЭ

тАЬShe does have lovely eyes.тАЭ

тАЬCornflower blue, I always thought. Her eyes are cornflower blue.тАЭ

Stacy's eyes were brown, but I guessed my father wasn't interested in hearing about that. тАЬCornflowers
are not the flowers on corn.тАЭ It had taken me years to figure that out.

тАЬThat's right.тАЭ

тАЬSomeone once told me,тАЭ I said, тАЬthat you can hear corn growing at night. It grows so fast on hot
summer nights. A night like tonight.тАЭ

тАЬYou need quiet to hear it,тАЭ he said. тАЬYou don't like quiet, do you, Bert?тАЭ He was already looking for an
argument. тАЬYou can't market quiet.тАЭ