"Arthur Tofte - Walls within Walls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tofte Arthur)

almost more than we could imagine.

"Well, Rolf," my twin said to me, "what will we do now? It will be at
least an hour before the next watch guard comes by."

Tears welled up again in my eyes. It was unthinkable that Ralf, my
other half, would be leaving me. I might never see him again. He was the
lucky one.

For weeks Ralf and I had suspected something was wrong. Our mother
and father had been unusually kind to us, hugging us more often than ever
before, doing little nice things for us.

Even more disturbing than that, several times we had heard our
mother weeping and our father trying to comfort her. Yes, we knew
something was wrong. And whatever it was, was going to happen on our
sixth birthday. And this was that date.

We knew that much. Yet we didn't know what it all meant. We knew
that Ralf was going to have to leave us and I would stay. But why?

After breakfast, our parents had tried to explain. All children, they said,
were taken away by the city on their sixth birthday. To be educated and
trained according to a plan. To serve the city. Those with superior abilities
could become eligible to be Class Two leaders. The rest stayed as workers
in Class Three.
 Our parents, we knew, were Class Three. Ralf, by doing well in the
training schedule, could rise to the Class Two rating. They were the
managers who reported only to the Class One rulers of the city.

All this meant little or nothing to our six-year old minds. The thing that
really upset me was that Ralf and I would be separated. For six years we
had never had a moment apart. Now, we might never see each other
again.

"Why can't I go too?" I pleaded.

It was then that our mother broke down and couldn't stop crying for
several minutes. Later, when she was able to talk again, she told Ralf that
if he loved us, he must never tell anyone that he had a twin brother. Never!

To keep her from crying any more, Ralf eagerly agreed.

It was about this time we had rushed to the front gate-door at the
sound of the approaching watch guard. After they had gone by, my
brother had said, "What will we do now?"

He needn't have asked. We both knew what we wanted most to do.

Although we had never been permitted to leave our yard and venture