"Nancy Kress - By Fools Like Me" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

walls donтАЩt keep out the heat. But thatтАЩs my fault. I close the window shutters
only when I absolutely have to. Insects and heat are preferable to dark. But
I have a door, made of precious and rotting wood, which is more than Hope
or her parents have on their sleeping alcoves off the houseтАЩs only other
room. I expect to die in this room.

Hope returns, carrying a bubble of sleek white plastic that fills her
bare arms. The bubble has no seams. No mold sticks to it, no sand.
Carefully she lays the thing on my cot.

Despite myself, I say, тАЬBring me the big knife and be very careful, itтАЩs
sharp.тАЭ

She gets the knife, carrying it as gingerly as an offering for the altar.
The plastic slits more readily than I expected. I peel it back, and we both
gasp.

I am the oldest person on Island by two decades, and I have seen
much. Not of the world my father told me about, from before the Crash, but
in our world now. I have buried two husbands and five children, survived
three great sandstorms and two years where the rains didnтАЩt come at all,
planted and first-nursed a sacred tree, served six times at the altar. I have
seen much, but I have never seen so much preserved sin in one place.

тАЬWhat ... Grandma ... what is that?тАЭ

тАЬA book, child. TheyтАЩre all books.тАЭ

тАЬBooks?тАЭ Her voice holds titillated horror. тАЬYou mean ... like they
made before the Crash? Like they cut down trees to make?тАЭ

тАЬYes.тАЭ

тАЬTrees? Real trees?тАЭ

тАЬYes.тАЭ I lift the top one from the white plastic bubble. Firm thick red
cover, like ... dear God, itтАЩs made from the skin of some animal. My gorge
rises. Hope mustnтАЩt know that. The edges of the sin are gold. My father told
me about books, but not that they could look like this. I open it.

тАЬOh!тАЭ Hope cried. тАЬOh, Grandma!тАЭ

The first slateтАФno, first page, the word floating up from some
childhood conversationтАФis a picture of trees, but nothing like the pictures
children draw on their slates. This picture shows dozens of richly colored
trees, crowded together, each with hundreds of healthy, beautifully detailed
green leaves. The trees shade a path bordered with glorious flowers. Along
the path runs a child wearing far too many wraps, following a large white
animal dressed in a wrap and hat and carrying a small metal machine. At the
top of the picture, words float on golden clouds: Alice in Wonderland.