"Maxine McArthur - Time Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (McArthur Maxine)

She would sit in her room under the frangipani and I'd bring tobacco
for her to smoke in secret in return for the stories. She'd suck and
puff until the thin pipe drew properly, then lean back in the creaky
cane chair. I can't remember her face--only the long arms and heavy
voice, both of which are now my own. That and the flowery-smoky-musty
smell of her room.

Always the same beginning to the stories.

"Listen now, child. This was a town of women. When Marlena Alvarez
became mayor, she asked me to be chief of police because she knew I
could do the job.

"The old mayor and judges were dead. They'd been murdered by the very
thugs who put them in office. The old police chief and his deputies
had disappeared, either dead or in hiding. Or they'd joined one of the
gangs.

"The able-bodied men? Mostly dead, drafted by the militia or arrested
by them--it came to the same thing in the long run. Everyone who could
afford to go to the cities did so. Many of them couldn't afford
transport but they
went anyway. Better to brave the dangers of disease, famine, guns
than stay. The only ones left were the old, the sick, the very young,
and the women who looked after them.

"God, those politicians hated her. They tried to scare us out of town,
they tried to force us to do what they wanted. They tried ridicule and
starvation... death threats all the time. Tried everything to wear us
down.

"Marlena never said anything, but I watched her grow old before my
eyes."

Her tone would become softer, reminiscent. The pipe would go out.

"We did a good job though. Rebuilt the town. She never turned away
refugees. They needed shelter, we needed the labor. Marlena pestered
the state and central governments for funds. We got media contacts,
too, and told everyone what was happening. After years of bargaining
and compromise she filially placed the town off-limits to all armed
groups." Demora would roll her eyes. "Mad, we all said she was
mad."

Sometimes I would sneak away at this point, before she reached the end
of the story. It didn't matter whether anyone was listening or not.
She had to say it, had to relive it and forgive herself again.

"Marlena died on January 3rd, 2017. I should have watched the roof. We
never caught the sniper. I remember it was about dusk because I