"Ian Watson - Early in the Evening" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

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Early, in the Evening - a story by Ian Watson


Even early in the morning St Thomas's Church consisted of a nave and
chancel. However, Father Hopkins waited until almost noon before
delivering his Snowdrop Sermon. By then the church had undergone
numerous extensions and renovations. A south aisle had been added,
followed by a north aisle. The chancel had been rebuilt. Then a tower had
arisen -- otherwise how could Hopkins have rung a bell to summon his
flock? North doorway and chancel arch were remodelled. A south porch
was added. Windows became larger as the sun rose higher. Buttresses
strengthened the walls.

A substantial setting for his sermon!

From the pulpit Hopkins proclaimed to his congregation: "Snowdrops
push up spears through iron soil. They enter a world which is, as yet, so
scantily populated. There's so much free space wherein to be the first to
flower, thus the first to die.

"What does the snowdrop know of the riot of Summer?" he preached.
"What does it know of the subsequent heat? Would that hot riot of the mid-
months be a snowdrop's idea of hell? Or does the snowdrop inhabit an
eternally recurring hell of vacant cold?

"How time-bound is the snowdrop, never to know the full cycle of the
year in the way that people perceive a full year -- !" He faltered, perplexed
by which tense to adopt. "In the way that people used to perceive..."

Those in the congregation -- the Lucases and the Randalls, the Smiths and
the Bakers and the Baxters and others -- were tired from their morning's
toil. Since it would be another five hours or so until the development of
radio, let alone television, Hopkins was their consolation, even if the bleak
cheer which he offered lacked entire conviction.

"Used to perceive," Hopkins repeated. "Time has betrayed the Earth, and
all thereon who dwell -- who evolved here throughout millions of years --
"

Maybe it was a little early in the day for talk of evolution. Yet several in
his audience nodded understandingly.

Jonathon and Margaret Lucas, the eleven years old twins, fidgeted.
Jonathon complained to his father Richard: "Why do I have to gather


file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ian%20Watson%20-%20Early%20in%20the%20Evening.html (2 of 11) [1/3/2005 10:52:00 PM]
Early, in the Evening - a story by Ian Watson