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

believe it. Whenever his parents had taken him and Helen for a walk along to the lighthouse of a sunny
Sunday afternoon, the passage under crane and jib was fraught with terror. He was sure that the craneтАЩs
many wheels might creak into life, and start rolling, that the jib would duck down, dangling chains like
octopus arms, to snatch him, crush him. HeтАЩd endured several nightmares about that iron giant which
brooded over the pathway out to sea.

He imagined a therm-o-nuclear explosion hurling that metal monster into the bay where river met
sea-tide, drowning it safely, though bits might still protrude.

TedтАЩs Dad had told him that a tunnel ran all the way along inside the pier; thatтАЩs why there were those
opaque green glass slabs set periodically in the concrete path. But how, even in a dream, did you get
inside the tunnel which would protect you from the crane?

The ostrich ducked its head into the glass of water, rose erect, ducked, arose, hypnotically.

тАЬI just saw the H-bomb test,тАЭ Ted told Gavin and imitated the rush of a hurricane, as he imagined it.

тАЬOh,тАЭ said Gavin. тАЬAre you walking home or catching the bus?тАЭ

Buses departed from beside the clock tower. A crowd from the matin├йe horsed around the bus stop; a
m├кl├йe. Ted knew that Gavin wouldnтАЩt want to mingle with that.

тАЬMay as well walk and save the fare,тАЭ said Ted.

So they strolled away together from the hidden sea, past a closed fish and chip shop with amber Tizer
bottles lining the window, past a barberтАЩs dustily advertising Durex sheaths, a gaunt Congregational
church, a small shrubby park with floral clock. Then came a dingy pub, The Dolphin, smelling of stale
beer with a blue star mounted outside on a bracket; next to a grocerтАЩs and a greengrocerтАЩs. The plate
glass reflected Ted and Gavin both dressed in dark blue blazers with crimson badges framing three black
anchors, both wearing grey flannel trousers, in TedтАЩs case short ones тАФ but heтАЩd been promised long
ones when his next birthday came around. Both with close-cropped haircuts: TedтАЩs hair chestnut, GavinтАЩs
gingery. Gavin was slightly plump; Ted was slim. GavinтАЩs face was freckled; Ted had the complexion of
an angel, so his mother said embarrassingly. She used to say cherub, which was worse.

They entered the wrought-iron and dirty glass cavern of the small railway station and climbed the wooden
bridge over the rails, pausing at the summit to watch an electric train pull in below. Gavin produced a
red-bound school book from his blazer pocket and showed it:Edward the Second by Marlowe.

тАЬWeтАЩve started reading this for the exams.тАЭ

тАЬA play.тАЭ Ted regarded the volume with mild disgust.

тАЬItтАЩs exciting. ItтАЩs the best play IтАЩve ever read. Part of it happens right here тАФ down by the Castle.
EdwardтАЩs best friend sailed from France and landed here to meet the king.тАЭ

France seemed a great distance from this northern port. Such a voyage тАФ in an ancient sailing tub тАФ
made very little sense. If the kingтАЩs friend had been coming from Norway, that would have been a
different kettle of fish. But then, old plays often didnтАЩt make sense either.

тАЬAll sorts of things happen. Do you want to know how the king gets killed? HeтАЩs in a dungeon up to his