"Robert A. Heinlein - Farmer In The Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

not the only one who is sick of short rations. If you think I'm going to stay here while you're eating high
on the hog out in the colonies, then you had better think about it again.I thought we were partners.тАЭ

That last was the meanest part of it and I should have been ashamed. That was what he had said to me
the day after Anne died, and that was the way it had always been.

The minute I said it I knew why George had to emigrate and I knew it didn't have anything to do with
ration points. But I didn't know how to unsay it.

Dad stared. Then he said slowly, тАЬYou think that's how it is? That I want to go away so I can quit
skipping lunch to save ration points?тАЭ

тАЬWhat else?тАЭ I answered. I was stuck in a groove; I didn't know what to say.

тАЬHmm . . . well, if you believe that, Bill, there is nothing I can say. I think I'll turn in.тАЭ

I went to my room, feeling all mixed up inside. I wanted Mother around so bad I could taste it and I
knew that George felt the same way. She would never have let us reach the point where we were actually
shouting at each otherтАФat least I had shouted. Besides that, the partnership was busted up, it would
never be the same.

I felt better after a shower and a long massage. I knew that the partnership couldn't really be busted up.
In the long run, when George saw that I had to go, he wouldn't let college stand in the way. I was sure of
thatтАФwell, pretty sure at least.

I began to think about Ganymede.

Ganymede!

Why, I had never even been out to the Moon!

There was a boy in my class who had been born on the Moon. His parents were still there; he had been
sent home for schooling. He gave himself airs as a deep-space man. But Luna was less than a quarter of
a million miles away; you could practically throw rocks at it. It wasn't self-supporting; Moon Colony had
the same rations as Earth. It was really part of Earth. ButGanymede!

Let's seeтАФJupiter was half a billion miles away, more or less, depending on the time of year. What was
the tiny distance to the Moon compared with a jump like that?

Suddenly I couldn't remember whether Ganymede was Jupiter's third moon or fourth. And I just had to
know. There was a book out in the living room that would tell and more besidesтАФEllsworth Smith's A
Tour of Earth's Colonies. I went out to get it.

Dad hadn't gone to bed. He was sitting up, reading. I said, тАЬOhтАФhello,тАЭ and went to look for the book.
He nodded and went on reading.

The book wasn't where it should have been. I looked around and Dad said, тАЬWhat are you looking for,
Bill?тАЭ

Then I saw that he was reading it. I said, тАЬOh, nothing. I didn't know you were using it.тАЭ