"Robert Tine - The Astronaut's Wife" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tine Robert)

so workaday, so not Spencer. Why would he be interested in the weather? It was as if he was
asking her about something he would never see again, something deep in his past
тАЬSpencer,тАЭ she asked quickly, тАЬwhere are you?тАЭ
Before he could answer, the voice of officialdom, the NASA voice, came back on the line
abruptly. тАЬThirty seconds to go, Commander,тАЭ he cautioned.
Jillian felt her panic ratchet up a notch. тАЬSpencer, where exactly are you?тАЭ
There was a pause, the briefest delay. It could have been due to the distance of transmission, it
could have been reluctance on SpencerтАЩs part. Jillian did not know. She did not care. The
hesitation had not lasted a second, not a half second, but it seemed to Jillian to have played out
over an hour or more.
тАЬCan you see outside, Jill?тАЭ he asked finally.
тАЬYes, Spencer.тАЭ Jillian glanced out of the window in the office. The day was bright and sunny,
the sky blue, just as her husband had described it to her a few moments before.
тАЬFifteen seconds, Commander,тАЭ said the guy from Houston.
тАЬJillian.. said Spencer wistfully. тАЬI am right above you. Right over you now.тАЭ
.тАЬ


Jillian knew it was foolish, but she couldnтАЩt stop herself. Without thinking about it she pulled
the phone cord as far as it would go to the farthest
extension of the wire. Then she threw open the window and looked into the sky.
тАЬYou looking up?тАЭ Spencer asked.
тАЬTen seconds, Commander...тАЭ
тАЬJillian, smile for me, huh? Okay?тАЭ
Jillian gazed into the sky, a smile on her face, but with tears in the corner of her eyes. тАЬI
already am.тАЭ
тАЬFive seconds, Commander Armacost.тАЭ You could almost see the guy with his eyes glued to
the digital clock on his console, counting off the seconds.
тАЬJillian, IтАФтАЭ That was all he managed to say before his voice was lost in a sea of static.
тАЬSpencer?тАЭ Jillian sounded as if she was demanding that her husband not leave her.
тАЬIтАЩm sorry, Mrs. Armacost,тАЭ said the voice of NASA. тАЬWe lost the link. But heтАЩs talking to
Mission Control right now. Everything is fine. WeтАЩll take good care of him.тАЭ That was NASA all
over, donтАЩt worry, your kindly old uncle is here, always on the job, taking care of the boys up
there in space.
тАЬThank you,тАЭ Jillian whispered. тАЬI know you will.тАЭ
2
Jillian could never quite reconcile herself to the term space travel. It wasnтАЩt travel as human
beings understood the word; it wasnтАЩt as if Spencer was just another husband away on an
extended business trip. There was something about his going into space that made his absence
seem more extreme, bizarreтАФalmost unnatural. And attendant on these peculiar circumstances,
the anxiety and fear that Jillian felt was that much more acute. And while it was possible to
forget your husband for a moment or two when heтАЩs at a sales conference in Santa Fe or a
convention in San Diego, his actions, his fate was ever with her when Spencer was in space. A
slight vibration of apprehension, slightly flustering like a low-grade fever, was always with her.
When Spencer was away, up there, it was as if he had died but he was going to come back to life,
as if resurrection was guaranteed by NASA and the United States government, as well as by God
and all the saints.
She could not be aloneтАФnot for the whole time he was gone. When Spencer was away, Jillian
turned to her younger sister Nan for companionship and a steady guiding hand. Not that Nan was
all that reliable in the conduct of her own life, but she had an instinctive knowledge of what her