"Heinlein, Robert A - A Bathroom of Her Own" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

FOREWORD

You may not be old enough to remember the acute housing shortage following World War II (the subject of this story) but if you are over six but not yet old enough for the undertaker, you are aware of the current problem of getting in out of the rain. . . a problem especially acute for the young couple with one baby and for the retired old couple trying to get by on Social УSecurityФ plus savings if any. (I am not suggesting that it is easy for those between youth and old age; the present price of mortgage money constitutes rape with violence; the price tag on an honestly-constructedЧif you can find oneЧtwo-bedroom house makes me feel faint.)
In 1960 in Moscow Mrs. Heinlein and I had as Intourist courier a sweet child named LudmillaЧ23, unmarried, living with her father, mother, brother and sisters. She told us that her ambition in life was for her family not to have to share a bathroom with another family.
The next aesthete who sneers at our American Уplumbing cultureФ in my presence I intend to cut into small pieces and flush him down that W.C. he despises.

Any old pol will recognize the politics in this story as the Real McCoy. Should be. Autobiographical in many details. Which details? Show me a warrant and IТll take the Fifth.
A BATHROOM OF HER OWN


Ever step on a top step that wasnТt there?
ThatТs the way I felt when I saw my honorable opponent for the office of city councilman, third district.
Tom Griffith had telephoned at the close of filing, to let me know my opponents. УAlfred McNye,Ф he said, Уand Francis X. Nelson.Ф
УMcNye we can forget,Ф I mused. УHe files just for the advertising. ItТs a three-way raceЧme, this Nelson party, and the present encumbrance, Judge Jorgens. Maybe weТll settle it in the primaries.Ф Our fair city has the system laughingly called Уnon-partisanФ; a man can be elected in the primary by getting a clear majority.
УJorgens didnТt file, Jack. The old thief isnТt running for re-election.Ф
I let this sink in. УTom, we might as well tear up those photostats. Do you suppose TullyТs boys are conceding our district?Ф
УThe machine canТt concede the third district, not this year. It must be Nelson.Ф
УI suppose so . . . it canТt be McNye. What dТyou know about him?Ф
УNothing.Ф
УNor I. Well, weТll look him over tonight.Ф The Civic League had called a Уmeet-the-candidatesФ meeting that night. I drove out to the trailer camp where I hang
my hatЧthen a shower, a shave, put on my hurtinТ shoes, and back to town. It gave me time to think.
ItТs not unusual for a machine to replaceЧtemporarilyЧa man whose record smells too ripe with a citizen of no background to be sniped at. I could visualize NelsonЧyoung, manly looking, probably a lawyer and certainly a veteran. He would be so politically naive that he would stand without hitching, or so ambitious that it would blind him to what he must do to keep the support of the machine. Either way the machine could use him.
I got there just in time to be introduced and take a seat on the platform. I couldnТt spot Nelson but I did see Cliff Meyers, standing with some girl. Meyers is a handyman for Boss TullyЧNelson would be around close
McNye accepted the call of the peepul in a few hundred well-worn words then the chairman introduced Nelson УЧa veteran of this war and candidate for the same officeФ
The girl standing with Meyers walked up and took the stage
They clapped and somebody in the balcony gave a wolf whistle Instead of getting flustered, she smiled up and said, УThank you!Ф
They clapped again and whistled and stomped She started talking IТm not brightЧI had trouble learning to wave bye-bye and never did master patty-cake. I expected her to apologize for NelsonТs absence and identify herself as his wife or sister or something. She was into her fourth paragraph before I realized that
she was Nelson. j Francis X. NelsonЧFrances X. Nelson. I wondered
what I had done to deserve this. Female candidates are poison to run against at best; you donТt dare use the ordinary rough-and-tumble, while she is free to use anything from a blacksnake whip to mickeys in your coffee.
Add to that ladylike good looks, obvious intelli
gence, platform poiseЧand a veteran. I couldnТt have lived that wrong. I tried to catch Tohi GriffithТs eye to share my misery, but he was looking at her and the lunk was lapping it up.
NelsonЧMiss NelsonЧwas going to town on housing. УYou promised him that when he got out of that foxhole nothing would be too good for him. And what did he get? A shack in shanty-town, the sofa in his inlawsТ parlor, a garage with no plumbing. If I am elected I shall make it my first concernЧФ
You couldnТt argue against it. Like good roads, good weather, and the American Home, everybody is for veteransТ housing.
When the meeting broke up, I snagged Tom and we rounded up the leaders of the Third District Association and adjourned to the home of one of the members. УLook, folks,Ф I told them, Уwhen we caucused and I agreed to run, our purpose was to take a bite out of the machine by kicking out Jorgens. Well, the situation has changed. ItТs not too late for me to forfeit the filing fee. How about it?Ф
Mrs. HolmesЧMrs. Bixby Holmes, as fine an old warhorse as ever swung a gavelЧlooked amazed. УWhatТs gotten into you, Jack? Getting rid of Jorgens is only half of it. We have to put in men we can depend on. For this district, youТre it.Ф
I shook my head. УI didnТt want to be the candidate; I wanted to manage. We should have had a veterУThereТs nothing wrong with your war record,Ф pi~it
in Dick Blair.
УMaybe not, but itТs useless politically. We needed a veteran.Ф I had shuffled papers in the legal section of the Manhattan projectЧin civilian clothes. Dick Blair, a paratrooper and Purple Heart, had been my choice. But Dick had begged off, and who is to tell a combat veteran that he has got to make further sacrifice for the dear peepul?
УI abided by the will of the group, because Jorgens
was not a veteran either. Now look at the damn thingЧWhat makes you think I can beat her? SheТs got political sex-appeal.Ф
УSheТs got more than political sex-appealФЧthis from Tom.
When Dr. Potter spoke we listened; heТs the old head in our group. УThatТs the wrong tack, Jack. It does not matter whether you win.Ф
УI donТt believe in lost causes, Doctor.Ф
УI do. And so will you, someday. If Miss Nelson is TullyТs choice to succeed Jorgens, then we must oppose her.Ф
УShe is with the machine, isnТt she?Ф asked Mrs. Holmes.
УSure she is,Ф Tom told her. УDidnТt you see that Cliff Meyers had her in tow? SheТs a stoogeЧthe Stooge with the Light Brown Hair.Ф
I insisted on a vote; they were all against me. УOkay,Ф I agreed, Уif you can take it, I can. This means a tougher campaign. We thought the dirt we had on Jorgens was enough; now weТve got to dig.Ф
УDonТt fret, Jack,Ф Mrs. Holmes soothed me. УWeТll dig. IТll take charge of the precinct work.Ф
УI thought your daughter in Denver was having a baby?Ф
УSo she is. IТll stick.Ф