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

bed and mattress, but after so many years of living in my hut on
Kirinyaga, I found the bed uncomfortable, so every night I removed
the blanket and placed it on the floor, then lay down and slept on
it.
But tonight sleep would not come, for I kept reliving the
past two months in my mind. Everything I saw, everything I heard,
made me remember why I had left Kenya in the first place, why I
had fought so long and so hard to obtain Kirinyaga's charter.
I rolled onto my side, propped my head on my hand, and looked
out the window. Hundreds of stars were twinkling brightly in the
clear, cloudless sky. I tried to imagine which of them was
Kirinyaga. I had been the _mundumugu_ -- the witch doctor -- who
was charged with establishing our Kikuyu Utopia.
"I served you more selflessly than any other," I whispered,
staring at a flickering, verdant star, "and you betrayed me.
Worse, you have betrayed Ngai. Neither He nor I shall ever seek
you out again."
I lay my head back down, turned away from the window, and
closed my eyes, determined to look into the skies no more.
* * *
In the morning, my son stopped by my room.
"You have slept on the floor again," he noted.
"Have they passed a law against that now?" I demanded.
He sighed deeply. "Sleep any way you want."
I stared at him. "You look very impressive..." I began.
"Thank you."
"...in your European clothes," I concluded.
"I have an important meeting with the Finance Minister
today." He looked at his timepiece. "In fact, I must leave now or
I will be late." He paused uneasily. "Have you considered what we
spoke about yesterday?"
"We spoke of many things," I said.
"I am referring to the Kikuyu retirement village."
"I have lived in a village," I said. "And that is not one. It
is a twenty-story tower of steel and glass, built to imprison the
elderly."
"We have been through all this before," said my son. "It
would be a place for you to make new friends."
"I have a new friend," I said. "I shall be visiting him this
evening."
"Good!" he said. "Maybe he'll keep you out of trouble."
* * *
I arrived at the huge titanium-and-glass laboratory complex
just before midnight. The night had turned cool, and a breeze was
blowing gently from the south. The moon had passed behind a cloud,
and it was difficult to find the side gate in the darkness.
Eventually I did find it, though, and Kamau was waiting for me. He
deactivated a small section of the electronic barrier long enough
for me to step through.
"_Jambo, mzee,_" he said. _Hello, wise old man._