"Henry Kuttner - Clash by Night" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

Ilene said, 'Come back? Why not stay now?'
'Because I'm a complete fool, I guess. I'm a key man, and Cine Rhys needs me just now.'
'Is it Rhys or the Company?'
Scott smiled crookedly. 'Not the Company. It's just a job I have to do. When I think how many
years I've been slaving, pretending absurdities were important, knowing that I was bowing to a
straw dummy- No! I want your life- the son of life I didn't know could exist in the Keeps. I'll be
back, Ilene. It's something more important than love. Separately we're halves. Together we may be
a complete whole.'
She didn't answer. Her eyes were steady on Scott's. He kissed her.
Before morning bell he was back in the apartment. Jeana had already packed the necessary light
equipment. She was asleep, her dark hair cascading over the pillow, and Scott did not waken her.
Quietly he shaved, showered, and dressed. A heavy, waiting silence seemed to fill the city like a
cup brimmed with stillness.
As he emerged from the bathroom, buttoning his tunic, he saw the table had been let down and two
places set at it. Jeana came in, wearing a cool morning frock. She set cups down and poured
coffee.
'Morning, soldier,' she said. 'You've time for this, haven't you?'
'Uh-huh.' Scott kissed her, a bit hesitantly. Up till this moment, the breaking with Jeana had
seemed easy enough. She would raise no objections. That was the chief reason for free-marriage.
However-
She was sitting in the relaxer, sweetening the coffee, opening a fresh celopack of cigarettes.
'Hung over?'
'No. I vitamized. Feel pretty good.' Most bars had a vitamizing chamber to nullify the effects of
too much stimulant. Scott was, in fact, feeling fresh and keenly alert. He was wondering how to
broach the subject of Ilene to Jeana.
She saved him the trouble.
'If it's a girl, Brian, just take it easy. No use doing anything till this war's over. How long
will it take?'
'Oh, not long. A week at most. One battle may settle it, you know. The girl-'
'She's not a Keep girl.'
'Yes.'
Jeana looked up, startled. 'You're crazy.'
'I started to tell you,' Scott said impatiently. 'It isn't just - her. I'm sick of the Doones. I'm
going to quit.'
'Hm-m-m. Like that?'
'Like that.'
Jeana shook her head. 'Keep women aren't tough.'
'They don't need to be. Their men aren't soldiers.'
'Have it your own way. I'll wait till you get back. Maybe I've got a hunch. You see, Brian, we've
been together for five years. We fit. Not because of anything like philosophy or psychology- it's
a lot more personal. It's just us. As man and woman, we get along comfortably. There's love, too.
Those close emotional feelings are more important, really, than the long view. You can get excited
about futures, but you can't live them.'
Scott shrugged. 'Could be I'm starting to forget about futures. Concentrating on Brian Scott.'
'More coffee . . . there. Well, for five years now I've gone
with you from Keep to Keep, waiting every time you went off to war, wondering if you'd come back,
knowing that I was just a part of your life, but - I sometimes thought - the most important part.
Soldiering's seventy-five per cent. I'm the other quarter. I think you need that quarter - you
need the whole thing, in that proportion, actually. You could find another woman, but she'd have
to be willing to take twenty-five per cent.'