"Rusch-WithoutEnd" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

contradictions in Deistic philosophy."

"By tomorrow?" someone asked.

"Four pages," he said tiredly. "I'm letting you out early." They looked at him
as if he had betrayed them. "You can do four pages. It's not the great American
novel."

He grabbed his books and let himself out of the room. The hallway was quiet. It
smelled faintly of processed air, and looked cleaner than it did when filled
with students. Down the stairs, he heard a door slam. A moment later, a woman
appeared on the staircase.

She was tiny, blonde, her hair wrapped around her skull like a turban. When she
looked up, he recognized her. Hollings, from psychology.

"What are you pondering so seriously?" she asked.

He studied her for a minute, then decided to answer truthfully. "If God were a
watchmaker, like the Deists believed, and if he abandoned his watch, which they
did not believe, wouldn't that leave a vacuum? Wouldn't that vacuum have to be
filled?"

Her mouth opened slightly, revealing an even row of perfect white teeth. Then
she closed it again. "A watchmaker makes a watch and gives it to someone else.
Presumably the watch owner maintains the watch."

"That assumes a lot of watches -- and a lot of watchmakers."

"Indeed it does." She smiled and walked away.

He watched her go, wondering if the exchange had happened or if he had imagined
it. He thought no one besides Geneva would engage in flip philosophies.

Perhaps he was wrong.

Perhaps he had been wrong about a lot of things.

They lay on their backs on the public dock. Below them, Devil's Lake lapped at
the wood, trying to reach them. In the distance, they could hear the ocean,
shushing its way to shore. The Oregon night was cool, not cold, and they used
each other for warmth.

Above them, in the Perseids, meteors showered at the rate of one per minute.
Dylan oooed his appreciation, but Geneva remained unusually silent. She snuggled
closer and slipped her hand in his. It was thinner than it used to be. He could
feel the delicate bones in her palm.

"I wonder," she said, "if that's going on inside of me."