"Walter M. Miller - The Best of Walter M. Miller" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Walter M)

"We regret to inform you that recent studies have been ..."
"Investigations concerning the psychogenic factors show only ..."
"Prepare to meet God . . ."
"For seventy-five dollars, Guru Tahaj Reshvi guaran-tees . . ."
"Sickness is only an illusion. Have faith and . . .тАЭ
"We cannot promise anything in the near future, but the Institute is rapidly finding new directions for . .
."
"Allow us to extend sympathy . . ."
"The powers of hydromagnetic massage therapy have been established by ..."
And so it went. We talked to crackpots, confidence men, respectable scientists, fanatics, lunatics, and
a few honest fools. Occasionally we tried some harmless tech-nique, with Jules' approval, mostly
because it felt like we were doing something. But the techniques did more good for Cleo than they did
for Kenny, and Kenny's very grad-ual change for the worse made it apparent that nothing short of the
miraculous could save him.
And then Kenny started working on it himself.
The idea, whatever it was, must have hit him suddenly, and it was strangeтАФbecause it came at a time
when both Cleo and I thought that he had completely and fatalisti-cally accepted the coming of the end.
"The labs aren't going to find it in time," he said. "I've been reading what they say. I know it's no good,
Dad. " He cried some then; it was good that he had relearned to cry.
 But the next day, his spirits soared mysteriously to a new high, and he went around the house singing
to himself. He was busy with his stamp collection most of the time, but he also wandered about the house
and garage searching for odds and ends, his actions seeming purpose-ful and determined. He moved
slowly, and stopped to rest frequently, but he displayed more energy than we had seen for weeks, and
even Jules commented on how bright he was looking, when he came for Kenny's daily blood sample.
Cleo decided that complete resignation had brought cheerfulness with it, and that acceptance of illfate
obviated the need to worry or hope. But I wasn't so sure.
What've you been up to, Kenny?" I asked.
"


He looked innocent and shook his bead.
Come on, now. You don't go wandering around mut-tering to yourself unless you're cooking
"


something up. What is it, another time-ship? I heard you hammering in the garage before dinner."
"I was just knocking the lid off an old breadbox."
I couldn't get any answer but evasions, innocent glances, and mysterious smirks. I let him keep his
secret, thinking that his enthusiasm for whatever it was he was doing would soon wear off.
Then the photographers came.
"We want to take a picture of Kenny's treehouse," they explained.
Why?тАФand how did you know he had one?" I de-manded.
"


It developed that somebody was doing a feature-article on the effects of science-fantasy television
shows on chil-dren. It developed that the "somebody" was being hired by a publicity agency which was
being hired by the advertisers who presented Captain Chronos and the Guardsmen of Time. It developed
that Kenny's fan letter, with the snapshot of his treehouse time-ship, had been forwarded to the publicity
department by the producer of the show. They wanted a picture of the time-ship with Kenny inside,