"Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rand Ayn)

could not be stopped. . . . She shook her head angrily, jerked her hat off
and lighted a cigarette.
She would not sleep, she thought; she could last until tomorrow night. . . .
The train wheels clicked in accented rhythm. She was so used to them that she
did not hear them consciously, but the sound became a sense of peace within
her. . . . When she extinguished her cigarette, she knew that she needed
another one, but thought that she would give herself a minute, just a few
minutes, before she would light it. . . .
She had fallen asleep and she awakened with a jolt, knowing that something
was wrong, before she knew what it was: the wheels had stopped. The car stood
soundless and dim in the blue glow of the night lamps. She glanced at her
watch: there was no reason for stopping. She looked out the window: the train
stood still in the middle of empty fields.
She heard someone moving in a seat across the aisle, and asked, "How long
have we been standing?"
A manтАЩs voice answered indifferently, "About an hour." The man looked after
her, sleepily astonished, because she leaped to her feet and rushed to the
door. There was a cold wind outside, and an empty stretch of land under an
empty sky. She heard weeds rustling in the darkness. Far ahead, she saw the
figures of men standing by the engineand above them, hanging detached in the
sky, the red light of a signal.
She walked rapidly toward them, past the motionless line of wheels. No one
paid attention to her when she approached. The train crew and a few
passengers stood clustered under the red light. They had stopped talking,
they seemed to be waiting in placid indifference.
"WhatтАЩs the matter?" she asked.
The engineer turned, astonished. Her question had sounded like an order, not
like the amateur curiosity of a passenger. She stood, hands in pockets, coat
collar raised, the wind beating her hair in strands across her face.
"Red light, lady," he said, pointing up with his thumb.
"How long has it been on?"
"An hour."
"WeтАЩre off the main track, arenтАЩt we?"
"ThatтАЩs right."
"Why?"
"I donтАЩt know."
The conductor spoke up. "I donтАЩt think we had any business being sent off on
a siding, that switch wasnтАЩt working right, and this thingтАЩs not working at
all." He jerked his head up at the red light. "I donтАЩt think the signalтАЩs
going to change. I think itтАЩs busted."
Ryn Rand - ATLAS SHRUGGED
CHAPTER ITHE THEME 12
"Then what are you doing?"
"Waiting for it to change."
In her pause of startled anger, the fireman chuckled. "Last week, the crack
special of the Atlantic Southern got left on a siding for two hoursjust
somebodyтАЩs mistake."
"This is the Taggart Comet," she said. "The Comet has never been late."
"SheтАЩs the only one in the country that hasnтАЩt," said the engineer.
"ThereтАЩs always a first time," said the fireman.