"Judith Merril - Shadow on the Hearth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

The characters and the incidents in this book are entirely the product of the
author's imagination and have no relation to any person or event in real life.
Copyright, 1950 by Judith Merril Pohl
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States at the Country Life Press, Garden City, N.Y.

First Edition

FOR SHMUEL, THE TEACHER, WHO KEPT ASKING, "WHY?"

contents
VEDA тАв
THE CITY тАв 45
THE RESCUE тАв 137
THE ESCAPE тАв 199
PURSUIT тАв 261

veda

Veda was sick that day. She woke up at seven, as always, but her joints ached,
and even a cup of hot tea did not ease the queasy feeling. She waited till almost
eight, so as not to wake anyone, then wrapped herself from collarbone to bony
ankles in an ancient blanket bathrobe and made a labored descent to the
telephone in the hall. She felt her way along the windowless stair well, feverishly
angry at the landlady's refusal to light the landing during the day.
Ordinarily Veda was inclined to be, as she put it herself, "tolerant to a fault," so
the poisonous black hatred for Mrs. Kovan shocked her and confirmed her
judgment in staying home that day. She called the Mitchell home, and the Missus
answered right away.
Mrs. Mitchell was sincere in her sympathy. Her voice sounded sleepy and
warm, and Veda could hear one of the kids yelling from another room. It made
her f eel bad about staying out.
Now don 't you touch the washin ', Missus, " she said plaintively. "I kin manage
"

that fine tomorrer."
"Don't be silly, Veda. You take care of yourself, and don't worry about anything.
And don 't suffocate yourself in that room of yours, hear me?"
Veda hung up and climbed back to her room, smiling in spite \of the dark
landings and the ache in her joints. Missus Mitchell was
\d fine woman, but she had a lot of foolish notions. Veda inspected the windows
and weather stripping in her room, and stuffed an old stocking in the only crack
she could find.
She brewed more tea in the curtained kitchenette and pulled the extra comforter
over her bed. Then she checked the bolt on the door. She never could get to sleep
in a public rooming house with-out making sure her door was locked shut.
Sealed off from the world, she took two pills from an old green bottle and pulled
another stockingтАФa woolen oneтАФover her head, to cover her ears. Finally she
climbed in under the double com-forter to sweat out the poisons. She had no way
of knowing she had just saved a life.