"Richard Wadholm - Orange Groves Out to the Horizon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wadholm Richard)

That turn of phrase clings to me like sea grass. My boy is going away. It
seemed so quaint at the time, IтАЩm standing in front of him, and we seem to
be discussing someone in the room with us. Some little kid, still getting all
wide-eyed at mice shot into space.


Polyphony 6 289
RICHARD WADHOLM


I came back for Christmas break, and the army jacket I had refused to
give up was long since replaced by the sweatshirt of a girl who promised to
love me forever. (DonтАЩt ask me to remember her name). My dad is laughing
at all my jokes with that blustery good humor he saved for his bosses and
people he wanted to impress.
But the little boy with the rockets is gone, and all his secrets gone with
him. Gone where no one, not even college freshmen can bring them back.
Ken was restive. I could hear him jetting streams of smoke out the
corner of his mouth. тАЬI knew that note-business was going to cause me
problems.тАЭ
тАЬMaybe your friend needs to get somebody else for this business.тАЭ
I wanted to beat the living shit out of Ken Rafael. Him and his Anarchist
Cookbook hobbies. I wanted to go up north and visit him in his cell at Sears
Pointe and shoot him and shoot him and shoot him.
тАЬIтАЩve got to go,тАЭ I managed to say.
тАЬWhat about old Thumper and Agnes.тАЭ
тАЬMaybe thatтАЩs a personal problem.тАЭ
тАЬCome on. You donтАЩt mean that.тАЭ Sporting and sly. He knew I couldnтАЩt
leave Thumper on his own. Thumper had stepped in for me once, when I
was jumped at party. I owed him, Ken knew it.
тАЬI donтАЩt know what IтАЩll do. I have to think.тАЭ
тАЬWhatever you say, Hoss.тАЭ Ken began laughing. A hoarse, gurgling,
smokersтАЩ laugh. Right from the lungs. тАЬIтАЩm just checking my calendar here.
You know that November 26 is this Thursday? WouldnтАЩt it be a kick in the
ass if it was true, the world ended?тАЭ
I had the words on my tongueтАФKeep a good thought, hey? But Ken had
what he wanted, he didnтАЩt stick around for me to change my mind.

The drive out to ThumperтАЩs momтАЩs house was a slog, but I had a good
roach in the ashtray. The talk radio was all about an asteroid, set to hit the
earth in 182 years. Scientists had already calculated the probable strike zone
in the western Pacific. The seismic wave will reach over 400 feet high. The
rain of mud and ash will obliterate all sunlight and plunge the earth into a
perpetual winter, ending all food crops, and soon after that, all life.
I mentioned the asteroid to ThumperтАЩs mom. She just looked at me. тАЬIтАЩll
mark my calendar.тАЭ


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