"Wilhelm, Kate - Mrs Bagley Goes to Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

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Mrs. Bagley Goes To Mars
by Kate Wilhelm
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Copyright (c)1978 by Harper COPYRIGHTNOTICE Row


Fictionwise Contemporary
Science Fiction and Fantasy


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ON A DREARY Tuesday in March, Mrs. Bagley told her family she was going to Mars. It was a day exactly like all others -- she always got up first, shook her husband, put on her robe, went to the kitchen to make coffee, pounded on Joey's door until he grunted, and then went to shower and dress, passing her husband who by then was finished with the bathroom. While she dressed and did her hair, Mr. Bagley and Joey had breakfast: cold cereal, juice she had made the night before, toast.
When she returned to the kitchen the air was smoky; a piece of burned toast lay soaking up spilled milk on the counter.
"Better take that toaster to the shop," her husband said, not looking up.
"Mom, " Joey said, "you got that ten dollars?"
"What ten dollars?"
Mr. Bagley didn't look up.
"I told you. After school we get measured for caps and gowns. I gotta put ten down ..."
Somewhere water was falling. A silver trickle kissed mossy rocks, a thundering cascade ripped house-sized boulders loose from the cliffs, crashed them down....
" ... by six, I hope. Oh, yeah, can you spare a couple of bucks for gas?"
That was when she said, "I'm going to Mars."
Mr. Bagley, like a well-bred visitor who didn't overhear family matters, didn't look up.
Somewhere a star was going nova, a black hole was vacuuming space, a comet was combing its hair.
Mr. Bagley finished his cereal and pushed his bowl back. He had been talking " ... seven calls, at least. You won't be late if we leave now. Come on. You can eat at the cafeteria, can't you?"
"I haven't even had coffee yet!"
"You can drink it on the way to the bus. Come on or we'll both be late."
* * * *
Her supervisor, Bentsen, said, "Mrs. Bagley, this is the third time in two weeks. Why?"
"It's rained three times these two weeks."
"We don't want to have to let you go, Mrs. Bagley, but ... "
Somewhere a giraffe stretched out a purple tongue toward bright green leaves at the top of a tree. Somewhere a wound-down kitten slept on a pillow, like a fuzzy pom-pom.
At her machine she pressed a knee lever and green plastic flowed toward her. They were making tank covers, or bus covers; she was not certain just what they were making. Across from her Dolores was talking.
"Ellie and me, we're walking to catch our bus and it's warm in the terminal, you know. We're carrying our coats. And here comes this black dude, big, not really black, but like coffee that's half milk, and he's staring at Ellie's. You know? Me, I'm invisible when I'm with Ellie, like a star when the sun comes up, still there, but invisible. We're talking about killing Bentsen, that's all we ever talk about any more. And this dude is staring and grinning and making sucking faces. Ellie slows down and starts to stare too, right at his dingus, and he likes that fine, you can tell. Then Ellie starts to laugh and she laughs like she's going to bust something. And she tries to keep her eyes on him, but she can't, she's laughing too hard, and she puts her arm around me and puts her head on my shoulder, like one of them. You know? And that cat, he just vanishes, melts right into the floor. Never fails! That Ellie!"
Somewhere a father was holding up a little girl so she could glimpse a shiny train sliding silently through the silver night. Somewhere a spotted dog quivered as it listened to a school bus long before it came into sight.
"You don't feel so hot or something?"
Dolores was leaning forward, looking at her. "I'm okay. I'm going to Mars, you know."
"Like that place over in Jersey? I heard they keep you a week and do exams no one else even heard of yet. Same exams they give the astronauts, I heard. You'll be okay. It's not to worry." She glanced up and pressed her knee lever hard, causing a tidal wave of plastic to flow. Bentsen passed and Dolores said, "Tell you about this guy I met last night? Ellie and me was in this place ... "
Somewhere a pink bird picked out the pink stones on a beach and laid a wall. Somewhere red sands sifted moonlight and starlight and rose hues bathed the land.
* * * *
It rained on Wednesday, too. "Mrs. Bagley, is there a problem?" The personnel supervisor was very young and pretty. She wore her hair down her back and when she put on her glasses to glance at the file before her, she looked like a child playing grown up.
"I have sick leave coming, don't I?" Mrs. Bagley asked. The girl ran her finger down the paper before her. She had silver polish on her long nails. "You haven't had time off for six years!"
"There are examinations, like they give the astronauts, I understand, and they keep you at least a week. A place over in Jersey."
"Oh dear! I do hope it isn't serious. There's a form here somewhere you should have them fill out for us. Just routine." She rummaged in her desk, got up and opened a file drawer and extracted a paper. "Here we are. Now, let's just go over this together, shall we? You have to fill out this part, see? Your name, address, where you live at present ..."
Somewhere rising smoke became a column that supported a gray sky over a gray land. Somewhere a golden fish floated among lily pads carelessly splashed with violet flowers.