"Nancy Kress - Evolution" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

I listen to the news every hour now, although Jack doesn't like it. Or
anything else I'm doing. I read, and I study, and now I know what prokaryotes
are, and beta-lactamase, and plasmids. I know how bacteria fight to survive,
evolving whatever they need to wipe out the competition and go on producing
the next generation. That's all that matters to bacteria. Survival by their
own kind.
And that's what Randy Satler meant, too, when he said, "My work is what
matters." Triumph by his own kind. It's what Ceci believes, too. And Jack.
We bring in the reengineered prokaryotes in convoys of cars and trucks,
because in some other places there's been trouble. People who don't
understand, people who won't understand. People whose family got a lot sicker
than mine. The violence isn't over, even though the CDC says the epidemic
itself is starting to come under control.
I'm early. The convoy hasn't formed yet. We leave from a different
place in town each time. This time we're meeting behind the American Bowl.
Sean is already there, with Sylvia. I take a short detour and drive, for the
last time, to the Food Mart.
The basket is gone, with all its letters to the dead man. So are the
American flag and the peace sign. The crucifex is still there, but it's
broken in half. The latest flowers in the wine bottle are half wilted. Rain
has muddied the Barbie doll's dress, and her long blonde hair is a mess.
Someone ripped up the anti-NRA stickers. The white candle on a styrofoam
plate and the pile of seashells are untouched.
We are not bacteria. More than survival matters to us, or should. The
individual past, which we can't escape, no matter how hard we try. The
individual present, with its unsafe choices. The individual future. And the
collective one.
I search in my pockets. Nothing but keys, money clip, lipstick,
tissues, a blue marble I must have stuck in my pocket when I cleaned behind
the couch. Jackie likes marbles.
I put the marble beside the candle, check my gun, and drive to join the
convoy for the city.

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