"Robert A. Heinlein - Farnham's Freehold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

"But you just said it wouldn't save your life!"
"No, I said I doubted that it would be enough. It could save our lives
if we lived a hundred miles away. But Mountain Springs is a prime target...and
no citizen can build anything strong enough to stop a direct hit."
"Then why bother?"
"I told you. The best insurance I can afford. Our shelter won't stop a
direct hit. But it will stand up to a near miss-and Russians aren't supermen
and rockets are temperamental. I've minimized the risk. That's the best I can
do."
Duke hesitated. "Dad, I can't be diplomatic."
"Then don't try."
"So I'll be blunt. Do you have to ruin Mother's life, turn her into a
lush, just on the chance that a hole in the ground will let you live a few
years longer? Will it be worth while to be alive-afterwards-with the country
devastated and all your friends dead?"
"Probably not."
"Then why?"
"Duke, you aren't married."
"Obviously."
"Son, I must be blunt myself. It has been years since I've had any real
interest in staying alive. You are grown and on your own, and your sister is a
grown woman, even though she is still in school. As for myself -- " He
shrugged. "The most satisfying thing left is the fiddling pleasure of a game
of bridge. As you are aware, there isn't much companionship left in my
marriage."
"I am aware, all right. But it's your fault. You're crowding Mother into
a nervous breakdown."
"I wish it were that simple. In the first place -- You were at law
school when I built the shelter, during that Berlin crisis. Your mother perked
up and stayed sober. She would take a martini and let it go at that-instead of
four as she did tonight. Duke, Grace wants that shelter."
"Well-maybe so. But you aren't soothing her by trotting around with that
plug in your ear."
"Perhaps not. But I have no choice."
"What do you mean?"
"Grace is my wife, Son. 'To love and to cherish' includes keeping her
alive if I can. That shelter may keep her alive. But only if she is in it. How
much warning today? Fifteen minutes, if we're lucky. But three minutes could
be time enough to get her into the shelter. But if I don't hear the alert, I
won't have three minutes. So I listen. During any crisis."
"Suppose it happens when you are asleep?"
His father smiled. "If the news is bad, I sleep with this button taped
into my ear. When it's really bad-as it is tonight -- Grace and I sleep in the
shelter. The girls will be urged to sleep there. And you are invited."
"Not likely!"
"I didn't think so."
"Dad, stipulating that an attack is possible-merely stipulating, as the
Russians aren't crazy-why build a shelter smack on a target? Why don't you
pick a place far from any target, build there-again stipulating that Mother
needs one for her nerves, which may be true-and get Mother off the sauce?"