"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

тАЬSo Phil traded horses.тАЭ

тАЬThe comprehensive was going to lose.тАЭ

тАЬYou donтАЩt know that for sure! They had Speck with them and so they could have carried it on party
lines! Who cares what kind of fuel weтАЩre burning if the world has melted! This wasimportant, Roy!тАЭ

тАЬIt wasnтАЩt going to win,тАЭ Roy said, enunciating each word. тАЬWe counted the votes and it lost by one.
After that we went for what we could. You know Phil. He likes to get things done.тАЭ

тАЬAs long as theyтАЩre easy.тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩre still pissed off about this. You should go talk to Phil yourself, maybe it will impact what he does
next time. IтАЩve got to get to a meeting uptown.тАЭ

тАЬOkay maybe IтАЩll do that.тАЭ

And as it was another morning of Joe and Dad on the town, he was free to do so. He sat on the Metro,
absorbing JoeтАЩs punches and thinking things over, and when he got the stroller out of the elevator on the
third floor of the office he drove it straight for Phil, who today was sitting on a desk in the outer
conference room, holding court as blithe and bald-faced as a monkey.

Charlie aimed the waddedPost like a stick at Phil, who saw him and winced theatrically. тАЬOkay!тАЭ he
said, palm held out to stop the assault. тАЬOkay kick my ass! Kick my ass right here! But IтАЩll tell you right
now that they made me do it.тАЭ

He was turning it into another office debate, so Charlie went for it full bore. тАЬWhat do you mean they
made you do it? You caved, Phil. You gave away the store!тАЭ

Phil shook his head vehemently. тАЬI got more than I gave. TheyтАЩre going to have to reduce carbon
emissions anyway, we were never going to get much more from them on thatтАФтАЭ

тАЬWhat do you mean!тАЭ Charlie shouted.

Andrea and some of the others came out of their rooms, and even Evelyn looked in, though mostly to
say hi to Joe. It was a regular schtick: Charlie hammering Phil for his compromises, Phil admitting to all
and baiting Charlie to ever greater outrage. Charlie, recognizing this, was still determined to make his
point, even if it meant he had to play his usual part. Even if he didnтАЩt convince Phil himself, if PhilтАЩs group
here would bear down on him a little harderтАж

Charlie whacked Phil with thePost. тАЬIf you would have stuck to your guns we could have sequestered
billions of tons of carbon. The whole worldтАЩs with us on this!тАЭ

Phil made a face. тАЬI would have stuck to my guns, Charlie, but then the rest of our wonderful party
would have shot me in the foot with those guns. The House wasnтАЩt there either. This way we got what
was possible. We got it out of committee, damn it, and thatтАЩs not peanuts. We got out with the full
roadless forest requirement and the Arctic refuge and the offshore drilling ban, all of those, and the
President has promised to sign them already.тАЭ