"William Tenn - Generation of Noah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tenn William)

"Why doesn't he breathe like I told him?" he muttered. "He'll be out of breath in no time."
Halfway to the house, a furrow caught at Saul's toes. As he sprawled, Ann gasped. "You can't count
that, Elliot. He tripped."
"Of course he tripped. He should count on tripping."
"Get up, Saulie," Herbie, his older brother, screamed from the garage where he stood with
Josephine Dawkins, one pail of eggs between them. "Get up and run! This corner here! You can make
it!"
The boy heaved to his feet, and threw his body forward again. Plunkett could hear him sobbing. He
reached the cellar stepsтАФand literally plunged down.
Plunkett pressed the stopwatch and the second hand halted. Three minutes thir-teen seconds.
He held the watch up for his wife to see. "Thirteen seconds, Ann."
Her face wrinkled.
He walked to the house. Saul crawled back up the steps, fragments of unrecovered breath rattling in
his chest. He kept his eyes on his father.
"Come here, Saul. Come right here. Look at the watch. Now, what do you see?"
The boy stared intently at the watch. His lips began twisting; startled tears writhed down his stained
face. "MoreтАФmore than three m-minutes, poppa?"
"More than three minutes, Saul. Now, SaulтАФdon't cry, son; it isn't any useтАФSaul, what would have
happened when you got to the steps?"
A small voice, pitifully trying to cover its cracks: "The big doors would be shut."
"The big doors would be shut. You would be locked outside. ThenтАФwhat would have happened to
you? Stop crying. Answer me!"
"Then, when the bombs fell, I'dтАФI'd have no place to hide. I'd burn like the head of a match.
An'тАФan' the only thing left of me would be a dark spot on the ground, shaped like my shadow.
An'тАФan'тАФ"
"And the radioactive dust," his father helped with the catechism.
"ElliotтАФ"Ann sobbed behind him. "I don'tтАФ"
"Please, Ann! And the radioactive dust, son?"
"An' if it was ra-di-o-ac-tive dust 'stead of atom bombs, my skin would come right off my body, an'
my lungs would burn up inside meтАФplease, poppa, I won't do it again!"
"And your eyes? What would happen to your eyes?"
A chubby brown fist dug into one of the eyes. "An' my eyes would fall out, an' my teeth would fall
out, and I'd feel such terrible terrible painтАФ"
"All over and inside you. That's what would happen if you got to the cellar too late when the alarm
went off, if you got locked out. At the end of three minutes, we pull the levers, and no matter who's
outsideтАФno matter whoтАФall four corner doors swing shut and the cellar will be sealed. You understand
that, Saul?"
 The two Dawkins children were listening with white faces and dry lips. Their par-ents had brought
them from the city and begged Elliot Plunkett, as he remembered old friends, to give their children the
same protection as his. Well, they were getting it. This was the way to get it.
"Yes, I understand it, poppa. I won't ever do it again. Never again."
"I hope you won't. Now start for the barn, Saul. Go ahead." Plunkett slid his heavy leather belt from
its loops.
"Elliot! Don't you think he understands the horrible thing? A beating won't make it any clearer."
He paused behind the weeping boy trudging to the barn. "It won't make it any clearer, but it will
teach him the lesson another way. All seven of us are going to be in that cellar three minutes after the
alarm, if I have to wear this strap clear down to the buckle!"
When Plunkett later clumped into the kitchen with his heavy farm boots, he stopped and sighed.
Ann was feeding Dinah. With her eyes on the baby, she asked, "No supper for him, Elliot?"
"No supper." He sighed again. "It does take it out of a man."