"RESNICK, Mike - The Land of Nod" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

atomizer. "I had a visit from Father Ngoma this morning."
"I do not know him."
"You know his parishoners, though," said my son. "A number of
them have come to you for advice."
"That is possible," I admitted.
"Damn it!" said Edward. "I have to live in this neighborhood,
and he is the parish priest. He resents you telling his flock how
to live, especially since what you tell them is in contradiction
to Catholic dogma."
"Am I to lie to them, then?" I asked.
"Can't you just refer them to Father Ngona?"
"I am a _mundumugu_," I said. "It is my duty to advise those
who come to me for guidance."
"You have not been a _mundumugu_ since they made you leave
Kirinyaga!" he said irritably.
"I left of my own volition," I replied calmly.
"We are getting off the subject again," said Edward. "Look --
if you want to stay in the _mundumugu_ business, I'll rent you an
office, or" -- he added contemptuously --"buy you a patch of dirt
on which to sit and make pronouncements. But you cannot practice
in my house."
"Father Ngoma's parishoners must not like what he has to
say," I observed, "or they would not seek advice elsewhere."
"I do not want you speaking to them again. Is that clear?"
"Yes," I said. "It is clear that you do not want me to speak
to them again."
"You know exactly what I mean!" he exploded. "No more verbal
games! Maybe they worked on Kirinyaga, but they won't work here! I
know you too well!"
He went back to staring at his computer.
"It is most interesting," I said.
"What is?" he asked suspiciously, glaring at me.
"Here you are, surrounded by English books, studying French,
and arguing on behalf of the priest of an Italian religion. Not
only are you not Kikuyu, I think perhaps you are no longer even
Kenyan."
He glared at me across his desk. "You drive me crazy," he
repeated.
* * *
After I left my son's study I left the house and took an
airbus to the park in Muthaiga, miles from my son and the
neighbors who were interchangeable with him. Once lions had
stalked this terrain. Leopards had clung to overhanging limbs,
waiting for the opportunity to pounce upon their prey. Wildebeest
and zebra and gazelles had rubbed shoulders, grazing on the tall
grasses. Giraffes had nibbled the tops of acacia trees, while
warthogs rooted in the earth for tubers. Rhinos had nibbled on
thornbushes, and charged furiously at any sound or sight they
could not immediately identify.
Then the Kikuyu had come and cleared the land, bringing with