"Connie Willis - Fire Watch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

first. It only jarred some plaster loose.
I do not think Langby has any idea what he said. That should give me some sort of advan
now that I am sure where the danger lies, now that I am sure it will not come crashing down
some other direction. But what good is all this knowing, when I do not know what he will do
when?
Surely I have the facts of yesterday's bomb in long-term, but even falling plaster did not jar
loose this time. I am not even trying for retrieval now. I lie in the darkness waiting for the roof t
in on me. And remembering how Langby saved my life.

October 15- The girl came in again today. She still has the cold, but she has gotten her pa
position. It was a joy to see her. She was wearing a smart uniform and open-toed shoes, and her
was in an elaborate frizz around her face. We are still cleaning up the mess from the bomb,
Langby was out with Allen getting wood to board up the choir, so I let the girl chatter at me w
swept. The dust made her sneeze, but at least this time I knew what she was doing.
She told me her name is Enola and that she's working for the WVS, running one of the m
canteens that are sent to the fires. She came, of all things, to thank me for the job. She said that
she told the WVS that there was no proper shelter with a canteen for St. Paul's, they gave her a
in the City. "So I'll just pop in when I'm close and let you know how I'm making out, won't I jus
She and her brother Tom are still sleeping in the tubes. I asked her if that was safe and she
probably not, but at least down there you couldn't hear the one that got you and that was a bless

October 18 -I am so tired I can hardly write this. Nine incendiaries tonight and a land mine
looked as though it were going to catch on the dome till the wind drifted its para-chute away from
church. I put out two of the incendiaries. I have done that at least twenty times since I got here
helped with dozens of others, and still it is not enough. One incendiary, one moment of not watc
Langby, could undo it all.
I know that is partly why I feel so tired. I wear myself out every night trying to do my job
watch Langby, making sure none of the incendiaries falls without my seeing it. Then I go back t
crypt and wear myself out trying to retrieve something, anything, about spies, fires, St. Paul's i
fall of 1940, anything. It haunts me that I am not doing .enough, but I do not know what else to
Without the retrieval, I am as helpless as these poor people here, with no idea what will ha
tomorrow.
If I have to, I will go on doing this till I am called home. He cannot bum down St. Paul's so
as I am here to put out the incendiaries. "I have my duty," Langby said in the crypt.
And I have mine.

October 21 -It's been nearly two weeks since the blast and I just now realized we haven't see
cat since. He wasn't in the mess in the crypt. Even after Langby and I were sure there was no o
there, we sifted through the stuff twice more. He could have been in the choir, though.
Old Bence-Jones says not to worry. "He's all right," he said. "The jerries could bomb Lo
right down to the ground and the cats would waltz out to greet them. You know why? They
love anybody. That's what gets half of us killed. Old lady out in Stepney got killed the other
trying to save her cat. Bloody cat was in the Anderson."
"Then where is he?"
"Someplace safe, you can bet on that. If he's not around St. Paul's, it means we're for it. Tha
saw about the rats deserting a sinking ship, that's a mistake, that is. It's cats, not rats."

October 25 -Langby's tourist showed up again. He cannot still be looking for the Win
Theatre. He had a newspaper under his arm again today, and he asked for Langby, but Langby
across town with Allen, trying to get the asbestos firemen's coats. I saw the name of the pap