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

really want? How about one of those plastic birds that bobs up and down
into a glass of water! Fucking bird, manтАФthatтАЩs science!тАЭ
Ken spluttered. Katy put her hand to her mouth. My father didnтАЩt know
what to say. He held the jacket out, looking for whatтАФthe flaw he had
missed? His hands snapped open and closed, and the fiber filled sleeves
made crunch-sounds. тАЬI didnтАЩt get you anything else,тАЭ he said, like the
jacket was part of some larger negotiation between us.
He looked around at Katy and Ken, as if heтАЩd only just realized they
were in the room with us.
Katy had put a hand on his arm as the talk had gotten mean. Now he
shrugged away from her. He swept back his little sweaty ringlets and
peered at her. тАЬAre you high on something?тАЭ As if he could have picked a
drug user out of a police lineup. This was an accusation heтАЩd gotten out of
ReadersтАЩ Digest, was all. Something to whip out on The Kids when theyтАЩve
got you cornered.
For years after that, I would start to feel bad about my father, and then
remember him all wild-haired and sweaty, threatening Katy of all people,
with the police. Katy, who had done nothing but feel sorry for him.
тАЬYou people need to be in school, or some place, and youтАЩre obviously
on drugs. IтАЩm going to call the police.тАЭ What he did, of course, was go in the
house and drink himself to sleep.
I remember Katy hiccupping with terror that her mom would have her
drug tested for mushrooms. The drug testтАФthis too was part of my fatherтАЩs
Age of Miracles. Like the cream depilatory, an expression of technology,
purified of any cultural contextтАФAnd crude, but only in the engineering
sense. Like the $300 pocket calculator, it was barely more than a prototype.


Polyphony 6
286
 ORANGE GROVES OUT TO THE HORIZON


But it whispered of a world to come.

тАЬHoss, I know youтАЩve gotta get back to your life. But I have a favor to
ask.тАЭ Cigarette smoke thickened his voice. тАЬIтАЩve got some friends down in
your neck. Acolytes, you might say. You actually know themтАФThumper
and his lady, Agnes Something? Yeah, you remember. Somehow they got
this fool ideaтАФfrom where, who knows? тАФ тАЬ Phoo phoo phoo. тАЬThat the
world is supposed to end at 3:15 AM on November 26.тАЭ
I got a flash. This was why Ken had called.
тАЬThat stuff in the coffee grinder, that was for them?тАЭ
Came this aspirated breath, like Ken was drawing oxygen through his
cigarette.
тАЬYou need to be careful what you say on the phone, Hoss. Call from
prison, you never know who might be listening.тАЭ
тАЬI understand,тАЭ I said. тАЬI was only speaking hypothetically.тАЭ
тАЬHypothetically. There you go. All this apocalyptic shit was just
hypothetical. I mean, it was always sort of a game, anyway, you know what