"Kim Stanley Robinson - Sixty Days and Counting" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

тАЬYes, the swamp. But if the swamp freezes overтАЭтАФthey laughedтАФтАЬthen maybe we
can ice-skate over the obstacles!тАЭ
Frank nodded. тАЬSpeaking of which, we were supposed to be going to try ice-skating
down here, when the river froze over.тАЭ
тАЬThatтАЩs right, we were. But now weтАЩve got this so-called heat spell.тАЭ
тАЬTrue. Return of the Gulf Stream.тАЭ
тАЬThat is so crazy. I bet we will get freezing spells just like before.тАЭ
тАЬYes. Well, until that happens maybe we can just walk the shore then, and see where
you could rent ice skates when the time comes.тАЭ
тАЬSure. I think the Georgetown Rowing Club is going to do it, we can go check it
out. I read theyтАЩre going to convert when the river freezes over. TheyтАЩre going to put
out floodlights and boundary lines and everything.тАЭ
тАЬGood for them! LetтАЩs go take a look after dinner.тАЭ
And so they finished the meal cheerfully, moving from one great Levantine dish to
the next. Even the basics were exquisite: olives, hummus, dillтАФeverything. And by
the time they were done they had split a bottle of a dry white wine. They walked
down to the Potomac arm in arm, as they had in Manhattan so very briefly; they
walked the Georgetown waterfront, where the potted shrubs lining the river wall were
lit by little white Christmas tree lights. All this had been overwhelmed in the great
flood, and they could still see the high-water mark on the buildings behind the walk,
but other than that, things were much as they had been before, the river as calm as a
sheet of black silk as it poured under the Key Bridge.
Then they came to the mouth of Rock Creek, a tiny little thing. Following it upstream
in his mind, Frank came to the park and his treehouse, standing right over a bend in
this same creekтАФand thus it occurred to him to think, Here you are fooling around
with another woman while your Caroline is in trouble God knows where. What
would she think if she saw you?
Which was a hard thought to recover from; and Diane saw that his mood had
changed. Quickly he suggested they warm up over drinks.
They retired to a bar overlooking the confluence of the creek and the river, on the
Georgetown side. They ordered Irish coffees. Frank warmed up again, his sudden
stab of dread dispelled by DianeтАЩs immense calmness, by the aura of reality that
emanated from her. It was reassuring to be around her; precisely the opposite of the
feeling he had whenтАФ
But he stayed in the moment. He agreed with DianeтАЩs comment that Irish coffee
provided the perfect compound of stimulant and relaxant, sugar and fat, hydration
and warmth. тАЬIt must have been invented by scientists,тАЭ she said. тАЬItтАЩs like itтАЩs made
to a formula to hit all the receptors at once.тАЭ
Frank said, тАЬI remember itтАЩs what they always used to serve at the Salk Institute after
their seminars. TheyтАЩve got a patio deck overlooking the Pacific, and everyone
would go out with Irish coffees and watch the sunset.тАЭ
тАЬNice.тАЭ
Later, as Frank walked her back up through Georgetown to her car, she said, тАЬI was
wondering if youтАЩd be interested in joining my advisory staff. It would be an
extension of the work youтАЩve been doing at NSF. I mean, I know youтАЩre planning to
go back to San Diego, but until then, you knowтАжI could use your help.тАЭ
Frank had stopped walking. Diane turned and glanced up at him, shyly it seemed,
and then looked away, down M Street. The stretch they could see looked to Frank
like the Platonic form of a Midwestern main street, totally unlike the rest of D.C.
тАЬSure,тАЭ Frank heard himself say. He realized that in some sense he had to accept her