"Kate Wilhelm - The Fountain of Neptune" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

тАЬDonтАЩt be afraid, Julia,тАЭ he said. тАЬIтАЩll be here for you when you return.тАЭ

She stopped moving and for a time she did not even breathe. Dear
God, she thought then, he was part of it, part of her hallucination, no more
real than the golden water of the sea, no more real than the snorting,
neighing horses. He knew her name. Of course he did. He was her creation
and knew whatever she knew. Suddenly she wanted a cup of coffee, hot
and black and very strong coffee, but she did not move. Her vision had
become too blurred to dare take a step. Shapes that minutes before had
hard distinct edges had become shadow figures.
 тАЬNow we will have coffee,тАЭ he said at her side, his hand firm on her
arm. She did not resist, but let him lead her through a world of shadows,
around a corner, to a chair.

тАЬIt passes quickly,тАЭ she said. тАЬPlease do not concern yourself with
me.тАЭ

It was already passing. An awning overhead, tables with place mats,
an elderly gentleman reading a newspaper with an espresso before him.
He lowered the paper, smiled broadly at her companion, and spoke in
rapid-fire Italian, too fast for her to follow.

The man across the table from her returned the smile and replied
briefly. She bit her lip. Stock phrases she had memorized? Something she
had learned and consciously had forgotten?

тАЬWhy would the Roman gods alone be eternal?тАЭ she asked, and felt
that the question had come almost out of desperation for something to say,
something that was not the something that needed to be said. Was the
table, the other customer, all of it one big hallucinatory experience? Where
was the start and end of it?

тАЬNot just the Roman gods,тАЭ he said, smiling slightly at her. тАЬPerhaps
all of them. These are the gods you heard and responded to. Few hear,
fewer respond, and even fewer admit the evidence of their senses.тАЭ

тАЬIf I had responded to Vishnu, I would be in Calcutta sipping tea,тАЭ she
murmured. тАЬIs that your meaning?тАЭ

He laughed.

She looked away from him, at the street where shopkeepers were
starting to open awnings, to put out signs advertising their wares, arrange
pastries in windows, open freezer cases with gelato.... Although it all looked
real, concrete, she no longer felt any trust in the evidence of her senses.
The evidence of her senses was being warped by a growth in her head.

тАЬPerhaps it is granting you freedom to see for the first time what has
always been there,тАЭ he said.