"Ian Watson - The FireWorm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

тАЬSometimes a lovely boy in DianтАЩs shape,

With hair that gilds the water as it glides,

Crownets of pearl about his naked arms,

And in his sportful hands an olive tree,

To hide those parts which men delight to see тАФтАЭ

Gavin broke off. тАЬThose parts. Do you understand that, Ted?тАЭ

тАЬSort of. HeтАЩs talking about тАж down here. Is the boy hiding behind the tree?тАЭ

тАЬNo, tree just means a bit of a tree. A bunch of leaves, to hide his parts. It has to rhyme.тАЭ

Ted grinned. тАЬMaybe the boy has a lot to hide.тАЭ

тАЬI shouldnтАЩt think so. The men want to see тАж and touch his parts. Shall we explore the tunnel down
below?тАЭ

The false castle was hollow. An empty space the size of a train tunnel circuited the square core of the
column. The entrance side was dingy, the other three sides pitch black. Ted had only once stepped
through that entrance and taken a few paces into the thickening gloom. The floor was of dry soil, and just
inside the entrance he remembered clumps of dogsтАЩ dirt, some of it white because the dog had distemper.
HeтАЩd heard Bill Gibbon say that youths took girls into the tunnel under the monument for a feel.

тАЬI brought a torch,тАЭ Gavin said. тАЬTo show those parts, down below.тАЭ From his blazer pocket he
produced a small flashlight.

Ted shook his head. тАЬDogs do their business in there. You could catch distemper from touching it. Look,
IтАЩll have to go. I said I could only stay half an hour.тАЭ

тАЬWith the torch, we can keep clean. LetтАЩs just explore quickly.тАЭ

тАЬI canтАЩt! Next week, maybe. I have to run for the bus.тАЭ

Ted dashed down the flaking stone steps away from the looming cannons.

That night Ted dreamed he was tied up, on the Lost World. It was twilight; Venus shone. He could see
the stone man looking in the wrong direction, atop his column, unable to turn round just as Ted was
unable. The rope of grass bit into his wrists which were fastened behind his back, so that he couldnтАЩt
touch those parts. Those parts itched and swelled painfully. Touch would change the pain to pleasure,
relief.

He woke, to find that heтАЩd been sleeping with his palms squashed under his buttocks. His hands were
paralysed, two dead animals fastened to his wrists. Soon they prickled and stabbed with pins and
needles.

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