"Linda Nagata - Goddesses" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nagata Linda)

Sheo's voice crooned through the portal speaker, calm as a holy man preaching peace and brotherhood.
"You're strong and you're beautiful, Jaya. And you've done this before. Our beautiful GitaтАФ"

Fury heated Jaya's black eyes. "That was six years ago! Now I am old! And you're not here."

"I've got a zip," he explained quickly. "I'm leaving the airport now. I'll be there in just a few more
minutes."

"He'll be here," Michael whispered, fervently hoping it was true. With a white cotton cloth, he daubed at
the sweat gleaming on Jaya's forehead and cheeks. The clinic's air conditioning had been shut off at
midnight. It would not be restored until after dawn, when the sun rose high enough to activate the rooftop
solar tiles. Windows had been thrown open to the night. In the distance, a train murmured, base whispers
interrupted by rhythmic thumps that went on and on and on until Michael felt the train must surely run all
the way to Bangalore.

Jaya's eyes closed. The muscles in her face emerged in severe outline as the contraction climaxed.
Michael dipped the cloth in a bowl of water and wiped at her forehead, until she growled at him to leave
her alone.

Down between her legs, the midwife, who spoke excellent English, sighed happily. "Ah, he's almost here.
Gently now, lady. Push gently, so he doesn't tear you."

"Where are you, Sheo?" Jaya cried. "It's happening now."

"I'm here!" The calmness in Sheo's voice had cracked. "I'm outside."

A screech of dirty brakes and the growl of wet pavement under tires testified to the arrival of his zip. "Get
your ass in here, Sheo," Michael growled.

Jaya gasped. From the foot of the bed, the midwife cried, "Here is the head! He's here тАж just a little
more, a little more тАж there!" And Jaya's breath blew out in a long, crying exhalation. "There my lady,
now only his body to come, easy, easy."

Sheo stumbled past the curtain, struggling to pull an old set of surgical scrubs over his beige business
shirt. A nurse followed after him, her face stern as she fought to grab the gown's danglings ties.

Sheo still wore his own shades, and as he cried out Jaya's name a whistle of feedback snapped out of the
portal on the bedside table. Michael leaned over and slapped the thing off. Then the baby was there. The
midwife had the child in her hands, but as she gazed at it, her happy expression drained away. Her mouth
shrank to a pucker. Her eyes seemed to recede within a mantle of soft, aging flesh. The stern nurse saw
the change. She leaned past the midwife's shoulder to look at the child, and her eyes went wide with an
ugly surprise.

For a dreadful moment Michael was sure the baby was dead. Then he heard the tiny red thing whimper.
He saw its arm move, its little fingers clench in a fierce fist. Was it deformed then? Impossible. Jaya had
employed the best obstetric care. If there had been a problem, she would have known.

Sheo crouched at Jaya's side. He whispered to her, he kissed her face. Neither of them had noticed the
midwife and her distress, and for that Michael felt thankful. But he had to see the baby.