"Gene Wolfe - Endangered Species" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolfe Gene)

had awakened before he had and gone out for an early dip.
He had done the same thing himself the morning before.
The little patches of green cloth that were her bathing suit
were hanging over the back of a rickety chair, but then they
were still damp from last night. Who would want to put on
a damp, clammy suit? She had gone in naked, just as he had.

He looked out the other window, wanting to see her splash-
ing in the surf, waiting for him. The ship was there, closer
now, rolling like a derelict. No smoke came from its clumsy
funnel and no sails were set, but dark banners hung from
its rigging. Then there was no ship, only wheeling gulls and
the empty ocean. He called her name, but no one answered.

He put on his trunks and a jacket and went outside. A
wind had smoothed the sand. The tide had come, obliterating
their fire, reclaiming the driftwood he had gathered.

For two hours he walked up and down the beach, calling,
telling himself there was nothing wrong. When he forced
himself not to think of Lissy dead, he could only think of the
headlines, the ninety seconds of ten o'clock news, how Ryan
would look, how Pat-all his brothers-would look at him.
And when he turned his mind from that, Lissy was dead
again, her pale hair snarled with kelp as she rolled in the
surf, green crabs feeding from her arms.

He got into the Triumph and drove to town. In the little
brick station he sat beside the desk of a fat cop and told his
story.

The fat cop said, "Kid, I can see why you want us to keep
it quiet."

Tim said nothing. There was a paperweight on the desk
-a baseball of white glass.

"You probably think we're out to get you, but we're not.
Tomorrow we'll put out a missing persons report, but we
don't have to say anything about you or the senator in it, and
we won't."

"Tomorrow?"

"We got to wait twenty-four hours, in case she should show
up. That's the law. But kid-" The fat cop glanced at his
notes.

"Tim."