"John D. MacDonald - Flaw" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacDonald John D)

тАЬWeтАЩve made a pretty general mess of this planet. I sort of figure that
the powers-that-be planned it that way. They said, тАШWeтАЩll give this puny little
fella called man a chance to mess up one planet and mess it up good. But
weтАЩll let him slowly learn how to travel to another. Then, by the time he can
migrate, he will be smart enough to turn the next planet into the sort of a
deal we wanted him to have in the beginning. A happy world with no wars,
no disease, no starvation.тАЩ тАЬ

I should have said something flip at that point, but the words werenтАЩt in
me. Like a fool, I asked him questions about the galaxies, about the distant
stars. We drove slowly back. The next day he loaned me two of his books.
Within a week I had caught his fervor, his sense of dedication.

After that it was, of course, too late.

All persons in love have dreams. This was ours. Johnny would be at
the controls of one of the first interplanetary rockets. He would return to me
and then we would become one of the first couples to become colonists
for the new world.

Silly, wasnтАЩt it?

He told me of the problems that would be solved with that first
interplanetary flight. They would take instruments far enough out into space
so that triangulation could solve that tiresome bicker-ing among the
physicists and astronomers about the theory of the exploding universe as
against the theory of тАЬtired lightтАЭ from the distant galaxies.
 And now I am the only person in the world who can solve that
problem. Oh, the others will find the answer soon enough. And then they,
too, can go quietly mad.

They will find out that for years they have been in the position of the
man at the table with his fingers almost touching the sugar bowl and who
asks why there isnтАЩt any sugar on the table.

That year was the most perfect year of my life.

тАЬWhen are you going to marry me, Johnny?тАЭ I asked him.

тАЬThis is so sudden,тАЭ he said, laughing. Then he sobered. тАЬJust as
soon as I come back from the first one, honey. It isnтАЩt fair any other way.
DonтАЩt you see?тАЭ

I saw with my mind, but not with my heart. We exchanged rings. All
very sentimental. He gave me a diamond and I gave him my fatherтАЩs ring,
the one that was sent home to my mother and me when Dad was killed in
Burma in World War II. It fit him and he liked it. It was a star ruby in a heavy
silver setting. The star was perfect, but by looking closely into the stone you
could see the flaws. Two dark little dots and a tiny curved line which
together gave the look of a small and smiling face.