"Mike Resnick - THE LIGHT THAT BLINDS, THE CLAWS THAT CATCH" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

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THE LIGHT THAT BLINDS, THE CLAWS THAT CATCH

by Mike Resnick

An alternate Teddy Roosevelt story


Mike Resnick
10547 Tanager Hills Drive
Cincinnati, Ohio 45249


_"And when my heart's dearest died, the light went from my
life for ever."_

-- Theodore Roosevelt
_In Memory of my Darling Wife_ (1884)

_"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!"_

-- Lewis Carroll
_Through the Looking-Glass_ (1872)


The date is February 14, 1884.

Theodore Roosevelt holds Alice in his arms, cradling her
head against his massive chest. The house is cursed, no doubt
about it, and he resolves to sell it as soon as Death has claimed
yet another victim.
His mother lies in her bed down the hall. She has been dead
for almost eight hours. Three rooms away his two-day-old daughter
wails mournfully. The doctors have done all they can for Alice,
and now they sit in the parlor and wait while the 26-year-old
State Assembleyman spends his last few moments with his wife,
tears running down his cheeks and falling onto her honey-colored
hair.
The undertaker arrives for his mother, and looks into the
room. He decides that perhaps he should stay, and he joins the
doctors downstairs.
How can this be happening, wonders Roosevelt. Have I come
this far, accomplished this much, triumphed over so many
obstacles, only to lose you both on the same day?
He shakes his head furiously. _No!_, he screams silently. _I
will not allow it! I have looked Death in the eye before and
stared him down. Draw your strength from me, for I have strength