"Connie Willis - Jack" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

warden, had had him transferred to his own post.
"I hope the new man's not any good," Swales said. "Or Nelson will steal him."
"I saw Olmwood yesterday," Morris said. "He looked like Renfrew, only worse.
He told me Nelson keeps them out the whole night patrolling and looking for
incendiaries."
There was no point in that. You couldn't see where the incendiaries were falling
from the street, and if there was an incident, nobody was anywhere to be found. Mrs
Lucy had assigned patrols at the beginning of the Blitz, but within a week she'd
stopped them at midnight so we could get some sleep. Mrs Lucy said she saw no
point in our getting killed when everyone was already in bed anyway.
"Olmwood says Nelson makes them wear their gas masks the entire time they're
on duty and holds stirrup-pump drills twice a shift," Morris said.
"Stirrup-pump drills!" Swales exploded. "How difficult does he think it is to learn
to use one? Nelson's not getting me on his post, I don't care if Churchill himself
signs the transfer papers."
The pantry door opened. Mrs Lucy poked her head out. "It's half past eight. The
spotter'd better go upstairs even if the sirens haven't gone," she said. "Who's on
duty tonight?"
"Vi," I said, "but she hasn't come in yet."
"Oh, dear," she said. "Perhaps someone had better go look for her."
"I'll go," I said, and started pulling on my boots.
"Thank you, Jack," she said. She shut the door.
I stood up and tucked my pocket torch into my belt. I picked up my gas mask
and slung it over my arm in case I ran into Nelson. The regulations said they were to
be worn while patrolling, but Mrs Lucy had realized early on that you couldn't see
anything with them on. Which is why, I thought, she has the best post in the district,
including Admiral Nelson's.
Mrs Lucy opened the door again and leaned out for a moment. "She usually
comes by underground. Sloarie Square," she said. "Take care."
"Right," Swales said. "Vi might be lurking outside in the dark, waiting to pounce!"
He grabbed Twickenham round the neck and hugged him to his chest.
"I'll be careful," I said and went up the basement stairs and out on to the street.
I went the way Vi usually came from Sloane Square Station, but there was no one
in the blacked-out streets except a girl hurrying to the underground station, carrying a
blanket, a pillow, and a dress on a hanger.
I walked the rest of the way to the tube station with her to make sure she found
her way, though it wasn't that dark. The nearly full moon was up, and there was a fire
still burning down by the docks from the raid of the night before.
"Thanks awfully," the girl said, switching the hanger to her other hand so she
could shake hands with me. She was much nicer-looking than Vi, with blonde, very
curly hair. "I work for this old stewpot at John Lewis's, and she won't let me leave
even a minute before closing, will she, even if the sirens have gone."
I waited outside the station for a few minutes and then walked up to the Brompton
Road, thinking Vi might have come in at South Kensington instead, but I didn't see
her, and she still wasn't at the post when I got back.
"We've a new theory for why the sirens haven't gone," Swales said. "We've
decided our Vi's set her cap at the Luftwaffe, and they've surrendered."
"Where's Mrs Lucy?" I asked.
"Still in with the new man," Twickenham said.
"I'd better tell Mrs Lucy I couldn't find her," I said and started for the pantry.