"Lisa Tuttle & Steven Utley - In the Hole" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tuttle Lisa)

тАЬDaddy, itтАЩs Heath,тАЭ Cara said. тАЬYou remember Heath.тАЭ

тАЬHeath,тАЭ said the old man, slurring the word almost beyond
recognition. One side of his mouth barely moved; one side of his face
seemed unsynchronized with the other. тАЬHeathтАЩs dead.тАЭ

тАЬNo, Daddy. Heath was taken prisoner of war. Now heтАЩs back.тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs not Heath.тАЭ

тАЬYes, it is, Daddy. They did terrible things to him in the prison camp,
but it is Heath, I promise you.тАЭ

тАЬNo, no...тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm upsetting him,тАЭ Heath said, backing out of the room.

тАЬGive him time,тАЭ said Cara.

We all need time, Heath thought. He went downstairs and stepped
outside. Twilight was already settling; he listened for insect song, bird calls,
then for sounds of neighbors, distant traffic, anything, but all was weirdly
silent. He imagined the evening holding its breath as it waited to see what
he intended to do.

Then, as he came around the corner facing the street, something
small and dark like a dog or a very dirty child yelped and darted away
quickly, too fast for him to get a good look at it, disappearing into a gap
among the wild shrubbery. Heath stared after it, breathing hard, waiting for
his heartтАЩs beating to return to normal. When he had recovered, he walked
back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the house, always stopping well
short of the shrubbery. He glimpsed, as though from a distance, as though
through air turned hazy with impossible distance, a few indistinct human
figures stirring in the neighborhood. They took no notice of him; wraithlike,
silent, those who evidently had jobs were returning from them, others
evidently were leaving home for a night out. Heath recalled the closed
factory, the empty shops. He could not imagine what sort of jobs there
might be, or where, exactly, in this small town, one went for a night out.

When he re-entered the house, he found Cara putting dinner on the
table. They sat opposite each other and ate without talking until Heath finally
asked, тАЬWhat happened here?тАЭ

тАЬWhat do you mean?тАЭ

тАЬEverything. The town. What happened to everything, where did
everybody go?тАЭ

Cara stared at him blankly. At last she said, тАЬIтАЩm still here.тАЭ