"Robert A. Heinlein - To Sail Beyond the Sunset" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

last laugh.
It is futile to mourn over the corpse of Earth, as silly as it would be to cry over
an empty chrysalis when its butterfly has flown. But I am incurably
sentimental and forever sad at how ManтАЩs Old Home has changed.
I had a marvellously happy girlhood.
I not only lived on Earth when she was young and beautiful but I also had the
good fortune to be born in one of her loveliest garden spots, southern
Missouri before people and bulldozers ravaged its green hills.
Besides the happy accident of birthplace, I had the special good fortune to be
my fatherтАЩs daughter.
When I was still quite young my father said to me, тАЪMy beloved daughter, you
are an amoral little wretch. I know this, because you take after me; your mind
works just the way mine does. If you are not to be destroyed by your lack,
you must work out a practical code of your own and live by it.тАЩ
I thought about his words and felt warm and good inside. тАЪAmoral little wretch
-тАЪFather knew me so well.
тАЪWhat code should I follow, Father?тАЩ
тАЪYou have to pick your own.тАЩ
тАЪThe Ten Commandments?тАЩ
тАЪYou know better than that. The Ten Commandments are for lame brains.
The first five are solely for the benefit of the priests and the powers that be;
the second five are half-truths, neither complete nor adequate.тАЩ
тАЪAll right, teach me about the second five. How should they read?тАЩ
тАЪNot on your tintype, lazy bones; youтАЩve got to do it yourself.тАЩ He stood up
suddenly, dumping me off his lap and almost landing me on my bottom. This
was a running game with us. If I moved fast, I could land on my feet. If not, it
was one point to him.
тАЪAnalyse the Ten Commandments,тАЩ he ordered. тАЪTell me how they should
read. In the meantime, if I hear just once more that you have lost your
temper, then when your mother sends you to discuss the matter with me, you
had better have your McGuffeyтАЩs Reader tucked inside your bloomers.тАЩ
тАЪFather, you wouldnтАЩt.тАЩ
тАЪJust try me, carrot top, just try me. I will enjoy spanking you.тАЩ
An empty threat - He never spanked me once I was old enough to
understand why I was being scolded. But even before then he had never
spanked me hard enough to hurt my bottom. Just my feelings.
MotherтАЩs punishments were another matter. The high justice was FatherтАЩs
bailiwick; Mother handled the low and middle - with a peach switch. Ouch!
Father spoiled me rotten.
I had four brothers and four sisters - Edward, born in I876; Audrey inтАЩ78;
Agnes in i88o; Tom,тАЩ8i; inтАЩ8z I carne along; Frank was born in I884, then Beth
inтАЩ92; Lucille,тАЩ94; George in I897 - and I took up more of FatherтАЩs time than
any three of my siblings. Maybe four. Looking back on it, I canтАЩt sec that he
made himself more available to me than he did to any of my brothers and
sisters. But it certainly worked out that I spent more time with my father.
Two ground-floor rooms in our house were FatherтАЩs clinic and surgery; I
spent a lot of my free time there as I was fascinated by his books. Mother did
not think I should read them, medical books being filled with things that ladies
simply should not delve into. Unladylike. Immodest.
Father said to her, тАЪMrs Johnson, the few errors in those books I will point out