"Robert Reed - To Church With Mr. Multhiford" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

oddness inside the family, all is fine. But ask the world to watch, and the
locals won't be so patient.

That library book barely mentions Multhiford. Just a quick paragraph saying that
one farm has more circles than the others, and its owner --unnamed -- has the
best yields of any local farmer.

Year in, year out.

I've read that part twenty times, in secret, and honest to God, it never
occurred to me just what that means.

We pulled off the county road, driving up to Multhiford's farmhouse. It was
normal at a distance, tall and angular with the usual shade trees huddled around
it. But the legends made me expect more, and sure enough, it wasn't long before
I was noticing the statues.

The old farmer built them out of car parts, lumber and crap from the local
landfill. Nobody knew just why. No two were the same, but they all looked like
weird corn, leaves oddly shaped and cobs oversized and their stalks twisted
every which way. It was just like I'd heard, down to the general spookiness. I
watched the statues watch me as we drove past, and I halfway expected them to
pick up and move. To chase me, maybe.

Multhiford put us in reverse, backing in between two metal buildings.

We climbed down. I found myself staring at a stack of concrete blocks and
chunks, rusted fingers of rebar sticking out here and there.

The tailgate dropped with a powerful crash. Multhiford told me, "I want you to
fill it for me. Agreed?"

I picked up a little chunk and threw it in. It hit the plastic liner with a
thunderous boom.

"Here," he said, "use these."

Work gloves fell at my feet. Putting them on, I smelled their owner on leather.
I set to work, throwing in half a dozen blocks before I noticed the voice, quiet
and steady and almost sane. Except the words themselves were anything but sane.

"People didn't domesticate corn," he said. "If you think about it."
I'd rather not, thank you.

"It's corn and the other crops that did the domesticating. They took wandering
hunters and made them into farmers. They tamed a scarce ape and made it
civilized." A pause, then he asked, "Why, John? Why did corn and wheat and the
rest of them do it?"

I didn't think I was listening, but I stopped and looked at him, trying to find