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

attitude. "Hold it, Dad! I'll take her."
"Get on down and open the door!"
The door was steel set into the wall of the basement. Seconds were lost
because Duke did not know how to handle its latch. At last Mr. Farnham passed
his wife over to his son, opened it himself. Beyond, stairs led farther down.
They managed it by carrying Mrs. Farnham, hands and feet, a limp doll, and
took her through a second door into a room beyond. Its floor was six feet
lower than the basement and under, Barbara decided, their back garden. She
hung back while Mrs. Farnham was carried inside.
Mr. Farnham reappeared. "Barbara! Get in here! Where's Joseph? Where's
Karen?"
Those two came rushing down the basement stairs as he spoke. Karen was
flushed and seemed excited and happy. Joseph was looking wild-eyed and was
dressed in undershirt and trousers, his feet bare.
He stopped short. "Mr. Farnham! Are they going to hit us?"
"I'm afraid so. Get inside."
The young Negro turned and yelled, "Doctor Livingston I presume!" --
dashed back up the stairs.
Mr. Farnham said, "Oh, God!" and pressed his fists against his temples.
He added in his usual voice, "Get inside, girls. Karen, bolt the door but
listen for me. I'll wait as long as I can." He glanced at his watch. "Five
minutes."
The girls went in. Barbara whispered, "What happened to Joseph?
Flipped?"
"Well, sort of. Dr. -- Livingston-I-Presume is our cat. Loves Joseph,
tolerates us." Karen started bolting the inner door, heavy steel, and secured
with ten inch-thick bolts.
She stopped. "I'm damned if I'll bolt this all the way while Daddy is
outside!"
"Don't bolt it at all."
Karen shook her head. "I'll use a couple, so he can hear me draw them.
That cat may be a mile away."
Barbara looked around. It was an L-shaped room; they had entered the end
of one arm. Two bunks were on the right-hand wall; Grace Farnham was in the
lower and still asleep. The left wall was solid with packed shelves; the
passage was hardly wider than the door. The ceiling was low and arched and of
corrugated steel. She could see the ends of two more bunks at the bend. Duke
was not in sight but he quickly appeared from around the bend, started setting
up a card table in the space there. She watched in amazement as he got out the
cards he had picked up-how long ago? It seemed an hour. Probably less than
five minutes.
Duke saw her, grinned, and placed folding chairs around the table.
There came a clanging at the door. Karen unbolted it; Joseph tumbled in,
followed by Mr. Farnham. A lordly red Persian cat jumped out of Joseph's arms,
started an inspection. Karen and her father bolted the door. He glanced at his
wife, then said, "Joseph! Help me crank."
"Yes, sir!"
Duke came over. "Got her buttoned up, Skipper?"
"All but the sliding door. It has to be cranked."
"Then come take your licking." Duke waved at the table. His father