"Connie Willis - Daisy, in the Sun" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

тАЬI think you should hear it from me,тАЭ her father said. тАЬThe sun is going to go nova.тАЭ

Her mother gasped, a long, easy intake of breath like a sigh, the last easy breath her mother would take.
Her brother closed his book. Is that all? Daisy thought, surprised.

тАЬThe sun has used up all the hydrogen in its core. ItтАЩs starting to burn itself up, and when it does, it will
expand andтАФтАЭ he stumbled over the word.

тАЬItтАЩs going to swallow us up,тАЭ her brother said. тАЬI read it in a book. The sun will just explode, all the way
out to Mars. ItтАЩll swallow up Mercury and Venus and Earth and Mars and weтАЩll all be dead.тАЭ
Her father nodded. тАЬYes,тАЭ he said, as if he was relieved that the worst was out.

тАЬNo,тАЭ her mother said. And Daisy thought, This is nothing. Nothing. Her motherтАЩs talks were worse than
this. Blood and darkness.

тАЬThere have been changes in the sun,тАЭ her father said. тАЬThere have been more solar storms, too many.
And the sun is releasing unusual bursts of neutrinos. Those are signs that it willтАФтАЭ

тАЬHow long?тАЭ her mother asked.

тАЬA year. Five years at the most. They donтАЩt know.тАЭ

тАЬWe have to stop it!тАЭ DaisyтАЩs mother shrieked, and Daisy looked up from her place in the sun, amazed at
her motherтАЩs fear.

тАЬThereтАЩs nothing we can do,тАЭ her father said. тАЬItтАЩs already started.тАЭ

тАЬI wonтАЩt let it,тАЭ her mother said. тАЬNot to my children. I wonтАЩt let it happen. Not to my Daisy. SheтАЩs
always loved the sun.тАЭ

At her motherтАЩs words, Daisy remembered something. An old photograph her mother had written on,
scrawling across the bottom of the picture in white ink. The picture was herself as a toddler in a yellow
sunsuit, concave little girlтАЩs chest and pooching toddlerтАЩs stomach. Bucket and shovel and toes dug into
the hot sand, squinting up into the sunlight. And her motherтАЩs writing across the bottom: тАЬDaisy, in the
sun.тАЭ

Her father had taken her motherтАЩs hand and was holding it. He had put his arm around her brotherтАЩs
shoulders. Their heads were ducked, prepared for a blow, as if they thought a bomb was going to fall on
them.

Daisy thought, All of us, in a year or maybe five, surely five at the most, all of us children again, warm and
happy, in the sun. She could not make herself be afraid.



It was the train again. The strangers moved up and down the long aisle of the dining car, knocking against
each other randomly. Her grandmother measured the little window in the door at the end of the car. She
did not look out the window at the ashen snow. Daisy could not see her brother.