"Charles Stross - A Boy And His God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

"Your mother said something," he repeated.

Howie shifted his gaze from the direction of the demonic abyss -- which lay somewhere below the floor
of his cereal bowl and somewhere above the planes of Hades, according to the Dungeons and Dragons
book he'd got for Christmas -- and refocussed on Mom's face. "Yo?" he asked, with all the charm and
tact of a pre-teen bulldozer.

My, but they grow up fast these days, Mom thought admiringly, looking forward to adolescent sulks and
no need to have to work at bringing him up any more. "We're going for a little drive, she said brightly;
your father and I agreed that it would be a good idea. It's about time, after all. Since Juniper ..."

"What?" Howie looked at her, spoon poised in mid air. A thin trickle of dirty milk dribbled back into his
bowl as his hand sagged under the weight of his curiosity.

"It's time we took you to temple," said Mom. "We're going to buy you a God."

You sell pets through a pet shop, but for Gods you have to go to Temple. Temple was downtown, a
sprawling great drive-in cathedral city that stank of incense and resounded with the noise of striking
gongs, booming drums, chanting acolytes -- recorded, of course -- and human sacrifice.

The complex sprawled because you have to keep gods well apart. Being fiercely territorial, gods tend to
fight violently and utter the most fearsome curses on sight of a potential rival; and besides, real estate
was cheap downtown. They'd built minarets up either side of the entrance boulevard -- very phallic,
Sophie thought -- and as she pulled the Toyota up at the gatehouse she shook her head and tut-tutted
quietly to herself. Terrible, she thought, exposing little boys to such oedipal archetypes! What can the
architect have been thinking of?

"Hiya," she called, head half out of the window; "Sophie Phillips and family. I phoned ahead,
remember?"

"Pleased to meet you ma'am!" said the bronzed, grinning gatekeeper. "If you'd like to wait just a second
we'll have one of our salesmen join you for your journey round our complex." He glanced over his
shoulder. "Moon," he hissed. The smile slipped back into place with just a seconds' hesitation. "Minister
Moon will be joining you presently, ma'am."

A door beside the window opened and a butterball oriental stepped out, face all glowing teeth and
sunglasses above his hawaiian shirt. He walked round the car and Sophie unlocked one of the passenger
doors. "Glad to meet you ma'am, name's Sunny Moon, but you can call me Sunny if you want! Hope
you enjoy your visit here, have a nice day as well," he added, glancing nervously at her. Something
about women in mirrorshades gave him a funny turn. He sat down gingerly on the other side of the back

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 A Boy and his God

seat to Howie, who cast him a long, cool stare. Sophie nodded at the gatekeeper and slid the Buick into
gear; then she moved off along the driveway.

"Here on your right we see the temple of the old Egyptian pantheon," Moon began, launching into his
spiel. It was a huge, sand-weathered pyramid fronted by a temple. "All the way from Thoth the ibis-