"Nancy Kress - Nano Comes to Clifford Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"I haven't seen anybody," I said. The bubble rose higher and now I knew what it was: laughter. I turned
my face away from Bob.

"If that kid knows what's good for him, he'll keep on running," Bob said. He was really upset. "Now the
mayor's shut down the other nanomachines, except the food one, until the repair guys get out here from
the city. You get your food today, Carol?"

"No, but I'll come back later," I managed to say, without laughing in Bob's face. "K-Kimee's not feeling
well."

"Okay," he said, not really interested. "Hey, Earl! Wait!" He pushed through the garbage cans toward
Earl Bickel across the square.

Will somehow understood that there would be no playhouse today. He screwed up his face, but before
he could start to howl, I said, "Will! Look at all these great cans! We can make the best playhouse ever
out of them!"

His face cleared. "Cool!"
So we nested and dragged home four garbage cans, with a little help from the teenage Parker boys, who
are nice kids and who seemed glad to have something to do. They found some boards in the basement,
plus a hammer and nails, and spent all afternoon making a playhouse with four garbage-can rooms. Will
was in seventh heaven. I couldn't pay them, but I unfroze and toasted the last of my home-made banana
bread, and they gobbled it down happily. Will and Kimee, her itching forgotten, played in the garbage
cans until dark.

The next day all the nanomachines were working again, and I put in a daily food order. But I left the kids
at home with Kitty Svenson when I picked up my order, and I started canning all the squash, beans,
peppers, corn, and melons in the garden.
****
School opened. Will was in first grade. I walked him there the first day and he seemed to like his teacher.

By the third week of school, she'd quit.

By the fifth week, so had the teacher who replaced her, along with a few other faculty.

"They just don't want to work when they don't have to, and why should they?" Emma said. She sat in my
kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and wearing a strange hat that sloped down to cover half her face. I
suppose she picked it out of the nano-catalogues--it must be what they were wearing in the city. The
color was pretty, though, a warm peach. It was practically the first morning she'd made time for me in
weeks. "With nano, nobody has to work if they don't want to."

"Did the twins' teacher quit, too?"

"No. It's old Mrs. Cameron. She's been teaching so long she probably can't even imagine doing anything
else after she gets up in the morning. Carol, look at this place. How come you let it get so shabby?"

I said mildly, "There isn't too much money since Jack left. Just enough for the rent."

"That asshole ... but that's not what I meant and you know it. Why haven't you replaced those old