"Zenna Henderson - No different flesh" - читать интересную книгу автора (Henderson Zenna)

voice asking and coaxing. So Meris squatted down by the child and together
they undressed Deeko and washed her and her tiny clothes in the creek, then
spread the clothes on the boulder in the sun. Lain gave Deeko a couple of
soggy hugs, then put her on the rock also.
Just before supper, Mark came out to the creek-side to see the metallic
object. He was still shaking his head in wonderment over the things Meris had
told him of Lala. He would have discounted them about ninety per cent except
that Lala did them all over again for him. When he saw the ripped cylinder, he
stopped shaking his head and just stared for a moment. Then he was turning it,
and exploring in it, head hidden, hefting the weight of it, flexing a piece of
its ripped metal. Then he lounged against the gray boulder and lipped
thoughtfully at a dry cluster of pine needles.
"Let's live dangerously," he said, "and assert that this is the How that
Lala arrived in our vicinity last night. Let us further assert that it has no
earthly origin. Therefore, let us, madly but positively, assert that this is a
Space capsule of some sort and Lala is an extra-terrestrial."
"You mean," gasped Meris, "that Lala is a little green man! And that this is
a flying saucer?"
"Well, yes," said Mark. "Inexact, but it conveys the general idea."
"But, Mark! She's just a baby. She couldn't possibly have traveled all that
distance alone-"
"I'd say also that she couldn't have traveled all that distance in this
vehicle, either," said Mark. "Point one, I don't see anything resembling a
motor or a fuel container or even a steering device. Point two, there are no
provisions of any kind-water or food-or even any evidence of an air supply."
"Then?" said Meris, deftly fielding Lala from the edge of the creek.
"I'd say-only as a guess--that this is a sort of lifeboat in case of a wreck.
I'd say something happened in the storm last night and here's Lala, Castaway."
"Where did you come from, baby dear?" chanted Meris to the wiggly Lala.
"The heavens opened and you were here?"
"They'll be looking for her," said Mark, "whoever her people are. Which means
they'll be looking for us." He looked at Meris and smiled. "How does it feel,
Mrs. Edwards, to be Looked For by denizens of Outer Space?"
"Should we try to find them?" asked Meris. "Should we call the sheriff?"
"I don't think so," said Mark. "Let's wait a day or so. They'll find her. I'm
sure of it. Anyone who had a Lala would comb the whole state, inch by inch,
until they found her."
He caught up Lala and tossed her, squealing, into the air. For the next ten
minutes Mark and Meris were led a merry chase trying to get Lala down out of
the trees! Out of the sky! She finally fluttered down into Meris's arms and
patted her cheek with a puzzled remark of some kind:
"I suppose," said Mark, taking a relieved breath, "that she's wondering how
come we didn't chase her up there. Well, small one, you're our duckling. Don't
laugh at our unwebbed feet."
That evening Meris. sat rocking a drowsy-eyed Lala to sleep. She reached to
tuck the blanket closer about the small bare feet, but instead cradled one
foot in her hand. "You know what, Mark?" she said softly. "It's just dawned on
me what you were saying about Lala. You were saying that this foot might have
walked on another world! It just doesn't seem possible!"
"Well, try this thought, then." Mark pushed back from his desk, stretching