"Kurt Vonnegut - Long Walk To Forever" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vonnegut Kurt)

Kurt Vonnegut. Long Walk To Forever

They had grown up next door to each other, on the fringe of a
city, near fields and woods and orchards, within sight of a
lovely bell tower that belonged to a school for the blind.
Now they were twenty, had not seen each other for nearly
a year. There had always ben playful, comfortable warmth
between them, but never any talk of love.
His name was Newt. Her name was Catharine. In the early afternoon, Newt
knocked on
Catharine's front door.
Catharine came to the door. She was carrying a fat, glossy magazine she
had been reading.
The magazine was devoted entirely to brides. "Newt!" she said. She was
surprised to see him.
"Could you come for a walk?" he said. He was a shy person, even with
Catharine. He
covered his shyness by speaking absently as though what really concerned him
were far
away--as though he were a secret agent pausing briefly on a mission between
beautiful, distant,
and sinister points. This manner of speaking had always been Newt's style,
even in matters that
concerned him desperately.
"A walk?" said Catharine.
"One foot in front of the other," said Newt, "through leaves, over
bridges---"
"I had no idea you were in town," she said.
"Just this minute got in," he said.
"Still in the Army, I see," she said.
"Seven months more to go," he said. He was a private first class in the
Artillery. His uniform
was rumpled. His shoes were dusty. He needed a shave. He held out his hand
for the magazine.
"Let's see the pretty book," he said.
She gave it to him. "I'm getting married, Newt," she said.
"I know," he said. "Let's go for a walk."
"I'm awfully busy, Newt," she said. "The wedding is only a week away."
"If we go for a walk," he said, "it will make you rosy. It will make
you a rosy bride." He
turned the pages of the magazine. "A rosy bride like her--like her--like
her," he said, showing
her rosy brides.
Catharine turned rosy, thinking about rosy brides.
"That will be my present to Henry Stewart Chasens," said Newt. "By
taking you for a walk,
I'll be giving him a rosy bride."
"You know his name?" she said.
"Mother wrote," he said. "From Pittsburgh?"
"Yes," she said. "You'd like him."