"John Kessel - The Franchise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kessel John)

THE FRANCHISE
John Kessel


John Kessel writes a regular column on books for The Magazine of
Fantasy & Science Fiction and teaches American literature and fiction
writing at North Carolina State University. His inventive and erudite short
fiction has won him a Nebula Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial
Award, and a Locus Award. He is the author of two novels, Freedom
Beach (written with James Patrick Kelly) and Good News from Outer
Space; he has also published a short-story collection, Meeting in Infinity.

About his Nebula Award finalist "The Franchise," he writes: "I had the
idea for 'The Franchise' years ago, when I first heard that Fidel Castro was
scouted as a pitcher by several major-league baseball teams in 1948. But it
didn't get written until I discovered that George Bush was also a superior
baseball player, captain of the 1948 Yale squad that made the finals of the
college World Series. The resemblance between the Senators and Giants of
my story and the real ones of 1959 is purely expedient.

"Cynic that I am, sometimes I think the desire to lead a nation is a
character flaw. I find George and Fidel fascinating, both admirable and
astonishingly obtuse. It was interesting to try to get into their heads; I
can't claim any great insight, but this is the closest I'll ever come to either
the White House or the majors."


Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better
learn baseball.
Jacques Barzun



ONE

When George Herbert Walker Bush strode into the batter's box to face the
pitcher they called the Franchise, it was the bottom of the second, and the
Senators were already a run behind.

But Killebrew had managed a bloop double down the right-field line
and two outs later still stood on second in the bright October sunlight,
waiting to be driven in. The bleachers were crammed full of restless fans
in colorful shirts. Far behind Killebrew, Griffith Stadium's green
center-field wall zigzagged to avoid the towering oak in Mrs. Mahan's
backyard, lending the stadium its crazy dimensions. They said the only
players ever to homer into that tree were Mantle and Ruth. George
imagined how the stadium would erupt if he did it, drove the first pitch
right out of the old ball yard, putting the Senators ahead in the first game
of the 1959 World Series. If wishes were horses, his father had told him
more than once, then beggars would ride.