"Robert Reed - Night Calls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

тАЬBut what do people see?тАЭ the children asked. тАЬWhat did the Night
show them?тАЭ

тАЬNobody knows,тАЭ the old women would promise. тАЬWhatever was
there, it was too awful and far too strange to be remembered.тАЭ

тАЬThen we wonтАЩt look,тАЭ young voices proclaimed. тАЬIf the Night shows
itself, weтАЩll hide indoors. WeтАЩll live in our cellars, with sacks tied over our
heads.тАЭ

тАЬAnd what then? Do you think that youтАЩre the first clever people? Make
no mistake, little darlings. Wherever you hide, the Night will find you.тАЭ

Nothing can save a person, particularly when he or she insists on
believing in a particular fate. If the entire world decided to remake itself
every thousand years, then the Night was a fine excuse, chaos sweeping
away what was weak and old so that tiny prophets had their chance to stand
on the wreckage, proclaiming new faiths and followings.

****

FerrumтАЩs grandmother liked to tell the wicked old stories. She would
laugh out loud when she described riots and wars and other flavors of
mayhem. This was all in the past, of course. The perceptive soul was free
to mock the ignorant hordes from Days gone. But she made a critical
errorтАФthe same mistake repeated by millions of sturdy, doubting adults
across the world. She assumed her little grandson would hear about the
Night and its madness, and Ferrum would realize that this was nothing but a
fun old story.

Yet young boys have a fondness for worlds that teeter on the brink,
ready to collapse into fire and blood.

Ferrum wanted to believe in the NightтАЩs power.

тАЬWhen will the darkness happen?тАЭ he asked, his voice soft as a
whisper, but fearfully sharp. тАЬSoon, does it?тАЭ

тАЬVery soon,тАЭ she told him.

He imagined going to sleep after this eveningтАЩs meal, and then waking
in the morning to find the world transformed.

тАЬTwenty-four years from now,тАЭ she continued.

тАЬBut that isnтАЩt soon,тАЭ he pointed out.

тАЬI suppose not.тАЭ She laughed. тАЬYet for me, itтАЩs as good as forever.тАЭ

тАЬWhy?тАЭ Ferrum asked, genuinely puzzled.