"Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

in DavidтАЩs, but she didnтАЩt protest. No one protested.
тАЬTheyтАЩll try to take the mill,тАЭ Clarence went on. тАЬThey probably think thereтАЩs wheat there,
or something.тАЭ A dozen men volunteered to stand guard at the mill. Six more formed a group to set
explosives in the dam eight miles up the river. Others formed a scouting party.
David and Celia left the meeting early. He had volunteered for everything, and each time had
been turned down. He was not one of the expendable ones. The rains had become тАЬhotтАЭ again, and the
people were all sleeping in the cave. David and Celia, Walt, Vlasic, the others who worked in the
various labs, all slept there on cots. In one of the small offices David held CeliaтАЩs hand and
they whispered before they fell asleep. Their talk was of their childhood.


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Long after Celia fell asleep he stared into the blackness, still holding her hand. She had
grown even thinner, and earlier that week when he had tried to get her to leave the lab to rest,
Walt had said, тАЬLeave her be.тАЭ She stirred fitfully and he knelt by the side of her cot and held
her close; he could feel her heart flutter wildly for a moment. Then she was still again, and
slowly he released her and sat on the stone floor with his eyes closed. Later he heard Walt moving
about, and the creaking of his cot in the next office. David was getting stiff, and finally he
returned to his own bed and fell asleep.
The next day the people worked to get everything up to high ground. They would lose three
houses when the dam was blown up, the barn near the road, and the road itself. Nothing could be
spared, and board by board they carried a barn up the hillside and stacked the pieces. Two days
later the signal was given and the dam was destroyed.
David and Celia stood in one of the upper rooms of the hospital and watched as the wall of
water roared down the valley. It was like a jet takeoff; a crowd furious with an umpireтАЩs
decision; an express train out of control; a roar like nothing he had ever heard, or like
everything he had ever heard, recombined to make this noise that shook the building, that vibrated
in his bones. A wall of water, fifteen feet high, twenty feet high, raced down the valley,
accelerating as it came, smashing, destroying everything in its path.
When the roar was gone and the water stood high on the land, swirling, thick with debris,
Celia said in a faint voice, тАЬIs it worth this, David?тАЭ
He tightened his arm about her shoulders. тАЬWe had to do it,тАЭ he said.
тАЬI know. But it seems so futile sometimes. WeтАЩre all dead, fighting right down the line, but
dead. As dead as those men must be by now.тАЭ
тАЬWeтАЩre making it work, honey. You know that. YouтАЩve been working right there. Thirty new
lives!тАЭ
She shook her head. тАЬThirty more dead people. Do you remember Sunday school, David? They
took me every week. Did you go?тАЭ
He nodded.
тАЬAnd Wednesday-night Bible school? I keep thinking of it now. And I wonder if this isnтАЩt
GodтАЩs doing after all. I canтАЩt help it. I keep wondering. And I had become an atheist.тАЭ She
laughed and suddenly spun around. тАЬLetтАЩs go to bed, now. Here in the hospital. LetтАЩs pick a fancy
room, a suite. . . .тАЭ
He reached for her, but suddenly a violent gust of wind drove a hard blast of rain against
the window. It came like that, without preliminary, just a sudden deluge. Celia shuddered. тАЬGodтАЩs
will,тАЭ she said dully. тАЬWe have to get back to the cave, donтАЩt we?тАЭ
They walked through the empty hospital, through the long, dimly lighted passage, through the
large chamber where the people were trying to find comfortable positions on the cots and benches,