"P. J. Plauger - Child of All Ages" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plauger P J)

thrashing on TV. Yet not once did I ever see one of those events with my own eyes.тАЭ

She looked at them each in turn.

тАЬSomething could be happening a block away, something that attracted network television coverage and
carloads of police, and I wouldnтАЩt know about it until I got home and turned on Cronkite. I think I may
have smelled tear gas, once.тАЭ

She picked up her fork.

тАЬYou can quiz me all you want to, Dr. Foster, about admirals and kings and dates. I guess thatтАЩs what
history is all about But donтАЩt expect me to tell you about anything I didnтАЩt learn in school. Or see on
television.тАЭ

She stabbed viciously at a last scrap of endive. They watched her as she ate.

тАЬKids donтАЩt get invited to the events that make history. Until very recently all they ever did was work,
Worked until they grew old or worked until they starved or worked until they were killed by a passing
war. ThatтАЩs as close as most kids get to history, outside the classroom. Dates donтАЩt mean much when
every day looks like every other.тАЭ

George was at a loss for something to say after that, so he got up and went to the sideboard where the
main dishes were being kept warm. He made an elaborate exercise out of removing lids and collecting
hot pads.

тАЬAre you really twenty-four hundred years old?тАЭ asked George Foster, Sr. There, it was out in the open.

тАЬNear as I can tell,тАЭ spooning chicken and dumplings onto her plate. тАЬlike I said, dates donтАЩt mean much
to a kid. It was two or three hundred years before I gave much thought to when everything started. By
then, it was a little hard to reconstruct. I make it twenty-four hundred and thirty-three years, now. Give
or take a decade.тАЭ Give or take a decade!

тАЬAnd your father was a magician?тАЭ May pursued. тАЬNot a magician, a wizard.тАЭ A little exasperated. тАЬHe
didnтАЩt practice magic or cast spells; he was a wise man, a scholar. You could call him a scientist, except
there wasnтАЩt too much science back then. Not that he didnтАЩt know a lot about some things!тАФobviously
he didтАФbut he didnтАЩt work with an organized body of knowledge the way people do now.тАЭ

Somehow she had contrived to fill her plate and make a noticeable dent in her chicken without
interrupting her narrative. George marveled at the girlтАЩs varied social talents.

тАШтАЩAnyway, he was working on a method of restoring youth. Everybody was, in those days. Very stylish.
There was actually quite a bit of progress being made. I remember one old geezer actually renewed his
sex Me for about thirty years.тАЬ

"You mean, you know how to reverse aging?тАЬ George, Sr. asked intently. The candlelight couldnтАЩt erase
all the lines in his face.

тАЬSorry, no, I didnтАЩt say thatтАЭ She watched the elder FosterтАЩs expression closely, her tone earnestly
entreating him to believe her. тАЬI just said I know of one man who did that once. For a while. But he
didnтАЩt tell anyone else how he did it, as far as I know. The knowledge died with him,тАЭ