"C. L. Moore - Fruit Of Knowledge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore C. L)

ter dying on his face. "Adam!" cried Lilith again. And this time he heard.
But he did not answer directly. Association with women was beginning to teach
him tact. Instead he beckoned to the reeling cherubs. Rosy with mirth, they
fluttered nearer. Eve looked up in big-eyed surprise as the plump little heads
balanced on rainbow wings swooped laughing toward her and poised to await
Adam's pleasure.
"These are a couple of our cherubs," said Adam. "Dan and Bethuel, from over
toward the Tree. They have a nest there. Tell her about the Tree, will you,
boys? Eve dear, I'll be getting you some fruit for breakfast. Wait for me
here."
She obeyed with only a wistful glance after him as the cherubs burst into
eager chatter, squabbling a little as they spoke.
"Well, there's this Tree in the middle of the Garden-"
"Tell her about the Fruit, Dan. You mustn't-"
"Yes, you mustn't touch-"
"No, that's not right, Dan. Michael says you can touch it, you just can't
eat-"
"Don't interrupt me! Now it's like this. You see, there's a Tree-"


Adam went slowly off down to the brook. A lie had never yet been spoken in
Eden. He was hunting fruit. But Lilith saw him searching the dappled spaces
between the trees, too, a certain wistfulness on his face, and she came down
with a rustle of invisibility through the leaves.
"Adam. . . Adam!"
"Lilith! Where are you?"
With a tremendous effort Lilith focused her whole being into an intensity so
strong that although she remained bodiless, voiceless, intangible, yet the
strength of her desire was enough to make Adam hear her dimly, see her
remotely in a wavering outline against the leaves, in the shape he had created
for her. She held it with difficulty, shimmering before his eyes.
"Lilith!" he cried, and reached her in two long strides, putting out his arms.
She leaned into them. But the muscular, light-sheathed arms closed about her
and through her and met in empty air.
She called his name miserably, quivering against him through all her bodiless
body. But she could feel him no more than he could touch her, and the old ache
she had known in mid-ether, came back with a rush. Even here in his arms,
then, she was forbidden to touch
the Man. She could never be more than a wraith of the air to him, while
Eve-while Eve, in her stolen body- "Adam!" cried Lilith again. "You were mine
first! Can you hear
me? Adam, you could bring me back if you tried! You did it once- you could
again. Try, try!"
He stared down at her dim face, the flowers on the hillside beyond visible
through it.
"What's wrong, Lilith? I can hardly see you!"
"You wanted me once badly enough to bring me out of nowhere into the flesh,"
she cried desperately. "Adam, Adam-want me again!"
He stared down at her. "I do," he said, his voice unexpectedly shaken. And
then, more strongly, "Come back, Lilith! What's happened to you? Come back!"