"Colin Kapp - Letter From An Unknown Genius" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kapp Colin)

LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN GENIUS

There can be situations in which a genius might definitely prefer that his work of
genius not be associated with him. It would be a lot safer that way. . .

COLIN KAPP
ILLUSTRATED BY MICHAEL GILBERT
Dancing on a sea of silvery wavelets, the small boat came: under the radar towers, past the brief
defensesтАФthe clamor of its tiny engine sounding loud across the bay. The men behind the guns spared it
not a second glance. It was an ordinary sceneтАФthe priest returning from the blessing of the fishing fleet
and the casting of bread upon the waters. This was part of the pattern by which the village lived, a way of
life almost unchanged as far as the yellowed records could remember.
Only a shrewd eye, and one equipped with good binoculars and a good memory, would have
noticed that this day was different. The boat returning from its mission carried one more occupant than it
had taken. Around the shadow of the headland the nuclear submarine, its assignment completed, had
already slipped silently across the shelf, making for deep water.
The monastery of San Cherno was old. Its walls, built continuously up from the bedrock of the cliffs,
in places dipped almost to the water. Here, past the sad harbor, the great, gray steps of the ecclesiastic
landing stage showed for just how many centuries the church of San Cherno had comforted and been
concerned with those who fought their living from the sea.
But it was not only the years which had left their mark on the gray and dedicated walls. Scars of the
ravages of cannon shell and rocket remained an ineradicable reminder of the impact of the century into
which they had survived. As though acknowledging its grudged awareness of the' times, the chapel wore
a copper crown whose newly acquired patina had not yet learned to live in harmony with the dull stone
walls.
The boat pulled in at the landing stage at the foot of the monastery steps. A priest and one other
disembarked before the novices turned the craft away to place it at anchorage safe against the tides. The
priest permitted the cowl of his cloak to fall back to his shoulders, revealing his curiously sharp, ascetic
face and the whitened wisps of a tonsured headтАФa vision of piety who might unchanged, have occupied
the selfsame role at any time in the monastery's history. His companion maintained the garb intact,
concealing beneath it the casual clothes of one more than usually aware of the progress of the Atomic
Age. Not until they had ascended the steps and entered the great, shaded halls of San Cherno did the
visitor disrobe.



The priest took the cloak from her with an air of deference.
"It is good of you to come here, Madam KarpтАФespecially on so dangerous a journey."
"If the news that has reached us is true, the dangers involved in my coming are nothing compared to
the dangers had I not come."
"May God preserve us all!" said the priest quietly. "If you would be so good as to wait here, I will
inform the abb├и of your arrival. He will wish to speak with you immediately."
Left alone, Marion Anderson Karp, greatly regretting that the occasion had caused her to abandon
her high heels, began to examine her surroundings. The buildings were classic examples of their age, and
the housekeeping was loving and meticulous. But time and war had caused many faults in the fabric, and
the process of reconstruction, due to the unfitting poverty of the area, was a labor to be measured in
lifetimes rather than years.
She approached the great portal, looking out appreciatively at the incredibly bright sunshine which
flooded the headland and the bay, but careful to keep her own self concealed in the shadows against any
casual eye. The number of lives set at risk by her presence in San Cherno warned her to great caution,