"C M Kornbluth - The Education Of Tigress Mccardle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

to satisfy his, whim, and just once in her life requested some infinitesimal con-тАвsideration in return for her
ghastly drudgery and scrimping.

George, who was a kind and gentle person except with writers, dried her tears and apologized for his
brutality. They would have a child, he said contritely. 'Though," he added, "I hear there are some
complications about it these days."

"For Motherhood," said Mrs.McCardle , getting off the floor, "no complications are too great." She
stood profiled like a statue against their picture window, with its view of the picture window of the house
across the street.

The next day George asked around at his office.

None of the younger men, married since the P.Q.P. went into effect, seemed to have had children.

A few of them cheerily admitted they had not had children and were not going to have children, for they
had volunteered for D-Bal shots, thus doing away with a running minor expense and, more importantly,
ensuring a certain peace of mind and unbroken continuity during tender moments. /i "Ugh," thought
George.

(The Columbia University professor explained to his students "It is clearly in George's interest to go to
the clinic for a painless, effective D-Bal shot and thus resolve his problem, but he does not go; he
shudders at the thought. We cannot know what fear of amputation stemming from some early traumatic
experience thus prevents him from action, but deep-rooted psychological reasons explain his behavior,
we can't be certain." The class bent over the chronoscope.)

And some of George's co-workers slunk away and would not submit to questioning. YoungMacBirney ,
normally open and incisive, muttered vaguely and passed his hand across his brow when George asked
him how one went about having a babyтАФred-tape-wise, that is.

It was Blount, come in for his afternoon screaming match, who spilled the vengeful beans. "You and your
wife just phone P.Q.P. for an appointment," he told George with a straight face. "They'll issue
youтАФeverything you need." George in his innocence thanked him, and Blount turned away andgrinned
the twisted, sly grin of an author.

A glad female voice answered the phone on behalf of the P.Q.P. It assured George that he and Mrs.
McCardle need only drop in any time at the Empire State Building and they'd be well on their way to
parenthood.

The next day Mr. and Mrs.McCardle dropped in at the Empire State Building. A receptionist in the
lobby was buffing her nails under a huge portrait of His Majesty. A beautifully lettered sign displayed the
words with which His Majesty had decreed that P.Q.P. be enacted: "OwRackenTheah'saRahtSmaht
Ah-dee, Boys."

"Where do we sign up, please?" asked George.

The receptionist pawed uncertainly through her desk. "Iknowthere's some kind of book," she said as she
rummaged, but she did not find it. "Well,It doesn't matter. They'll give you everything you need in Room
100."
"Will I sign up there?" asked George nervously, conditioned by a lifetime of red tape anduncomiQrtable