"Lisa Tuttle - Ghosts and Other Lovers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tuttle Lisa)

join them. The wisest course is to accept our ignorance, to accept that they are gone from us, GodтАЩs will
has been done, and all is well. . . . But, of course, it is the nature of the living to question and to
mourn . . .not to accept, but to want, always, to know more. IsnтАЩt that why youтАЩre here?тАЭ
He stopped, apparently expecting an answer. There were uneasy shiftings from his listeners, and Eustacia
took advantage of this to scoot her chair a little farther away from the fire. A thin, elderly woman in rusty
black silks cleared her throat gently, and Mr. Elphinstone let his dark eyes rest on her. тАЬYes, Mrs.
Marcus? Tell us why you have come.тАЭ

тАЬYou know.тАЭ

тАЬYes, I know, but tell us.тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs my son, Nathanael. He died at Bull Run. He was only eighteen. My only boy . . . I never knew the
moment of his passing; I waited a long time before I heard of his death, and even then I couldnтАЩt be
certain. . . . For years IтАФ But finally . . . I thought I had accepted it. Two years ago my husband passed
on. And since then I have thought more and more about our Nathanael . . . worrying about him. Waking
up nights fearing he was cold, or hungry, or hurting. Mr. Marcus could always take care of himself, and I
was beside him at the end. But Nathanael was only a boy, and he died on a battlefieldтАФ IтАЩll never really
knowhow he died. I keep thinking, if only I could have been with him at the end, to mop his brow or
hold his handтАФto give him some little comfort. . . . If only I could see him once more, to know that heтАЩs
not in pain, and heтАЩs not unhappy. . . . Just to see him once more . . . just to have a message from him,
would make such a difference.тАЭ

тАЬAh, yes,тАЭ said Mr. Elphinstone softly. тАЬYes, of course. Touch and sight and hearing are all so important
to us, the living. We cannot communicate without our senses; without them we cannot evenbelieve . And
the dead, who have passed beyond that, still feel our needs and attempt to give us what we want . . . they
attempt to touch us, speak to us, communicate. Yet how can they communicate without a body? How
can they speak, how can they touch without flesh?тАЭ

Mr. ElphinstoneтАЩs burning eyes fixed upon Eustacia. She went hot and cold. What did he want from her?
Everyone was waiting for her to answer. There was no escape. She opened her mouth and out popped:
тАЬGhosts.тАЭ

тАЬGhosts?тАЭ He smiled gravely. тАЬBut what are ghosts? Of what are they formed? The dead have no
material substance. They do not block the light.They cannot be seen . And if they are to communicate
with us in some way, in any way, physical substance is required. Where is it to come from? Nothing
comes from nothing, as the poet said. And they must have something if we are to know them. From
whence does it come? Why, dear people; dear, dear friends: it comes from me.тАЭ His smile became
positively beatific; his face seemed to shine. тАЬI am uniquely gifted to give our dearly departed a brief, a
transitory, yet not entirely unsatisfactory, semblance of life. Certain mediums are gifted in this way with
the ability to produce a substance known asectoplasm , an emanation from my very flesh which clothes
the fleshless spirits and allows them, however briefly, to live and speak to their loved ones. It is not
GodтАЩs will that they should be returned tothis life, when he has lifted them to a greater one, but neither is
it GodтАЩs will that those they have left behind should suffer unduly, or doubt His promise of eternal life. It
has been said, truly, тАШSeek and ye shall find; Ask and it shall be given.тАЩ So now, dear friends, dear
seekers, I ask you to watch and wait as I offer myself unselfishly for the use of any spirits hovering near.тАЭ

The lamps were extinguished as he spoke, and the room was lit only by firelight. Lydia touched her arm
and whispered: тАЬWatchhim .тАЭ