"Mike Resnick - Bully!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

twenty books, and four of them have been best-sellers. They told me that politics was
no place for a young man, but when I was 24 I was Speaker of the House of the New
York State Legislature. They told me that law and order had no place in the West, but
I went out and single-handedly captured three armed killers in the Dakota Bad Lands
during the Winter of the Blue Snow.тАЭ Roosevelt paused. тАЬEven my Rough Riders said
we couldn't take San Juan Hill; I took it.тАЭ He stared at his son. тАЬSo don't tell me what
I can't do, Kermit.тАЭ

тАЬBut this isn't like anything else you've done,тАЭ persisted Kermit.

тАЬWhat better reason is there to do it?тАЭ said Roosevelt with a delighted grin.
тАЬButтАФтАЭ

тАЬEx-Presidents are supposed to sit around in their rocking chairs and only come out
for parades. Well, I'm 51 years old, and I'm not ready to retire yet. Another
opportunity like this may never come along.тАЭ Roosevelt gazed off to the west, toward
the Congo. тАЬThink of it, Kermit! More than half a million square miles, filled with
nothing but animals and savages and a few missionaries. The British and French and
Portugese and Belgians and Italians all have had their chance at this continent; Africa
ought to have one country developed by someone who will bring them American
know-how and American democracy and American values. We're a rustic, frontier
race ourselves; who better to civilize yet another frontier?тАЭ He paused, envisioning a
future that was as clear to him as the present. тАЬAnd think of the natural resources!
We'll turn it into a protectorate, and give it favored nation trading status. There's
lumber here to build thirty million houses, and where we've cleared the forests away
we'll create farms and cities. It will be America all over againтАФonly this time there
will be no slavery, no genocide practiced against an indigenous people, no slaughter
of the buffalo. I'll use America not as a blueprint, but as a first draft, and I'll learn
from our past mistakes.тАЭ

тАЬBut itisn't another America, Father,тАЭ said Kermit. тАЬIt's a harsh, savage country,
filled with hundreds of tribes whose only experience with white men is slavery.тАЭ

тАЬThen they'll be happy to find a white man who is willing to redress the balance,
won't they?тАЭ replied Roosevelt with a confident smile.

тАЬWhat about the legalities involved?тАЭ persisted Kermit. тАЬThe Congo is a Belgian
colony.тАЭ

тАЬThey've had their chance, and they've muddled it badly.тАЭ Roosevelt paused.
тАЬSuppose you letme worry about the Belgians.тАЭ

Kermit seemed about to argue the point, then realized the fruitlessness of further
debate. тАЬAll right,тАЭ he said with a sigh.

тАЬWas there anything else?тАЭ

тАЬYes,тАЭ said Kermit. тАЬWhat do you know about this man Boyes?тАЭ

тАЬThe man's a true pioneer,тАЭ said Roosevelt admiringly. тАЬHe should have been an