"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The Final Circle of Paradise (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

going and going, and the cars kept swishing and swishing, as
though all the fifteen thousand cars were speeding by on Second
Waterway, and all the five hundred helis were hung over Number
78. The whole thing lasted about ten minutes, and the boy
seemed to cease paying attention to me while I sat and wondered
what questions I should ask of Rimeyer. Then everything
returned to its previous state, the smell of exhaust was gone,
the sky was cleared.
"Where are they all going - all at once?" I asked.
"Don't you know?"
"How would I know?"
"I don't know either, but somehow you knew about Hugger."
"About Hugger," I said. "I know about Hugger quite
accidentally. And about you I know nothing at all... how you
live and what you do. For instance, what are you doing now?"
"The safeguard is broken."
"Well then, give it to me, I'll fix it. Why are you afraid
of me? Do I look like a rat-fink?"
"They all drove off to work," he said.
"You sure go to work late. It's practically dinnertime
already. Do you know the Hotel Olympic?"
"Of course I know."
"Would you walk me there?"
He hesitated.
"No."
"Why not?" I asked.
"School is about to end - I must be going home."
"Aha! So that's the way of it," said I. "You are playing
hookey, or ditching it, as we used to say. What grade are you
in?"
"Third."
"I used to be in third grade, too," I said.
He came a bit out of the bushes.
"And then?"
"Then I was in the fourth." I got up. "Well, okay. Talk
you won't, go for a walk you won't, and your pants are wet, so
I am going back in. You won't even tell me your name."
He looked at me in silence and breathed heavily through
his mouth. I went back to my quarters. The cream-colored hall
was irreparably disfigured, it seemed to me. The huge black
clot was not drying. Somebody is going to get it today, I
thought. A ball of string was underfoot. I picked it up. The
end of the string was tied to the landlady's half-doorknob. So,
I thought, this too is clear. I untied the string and put the
ball in my pocket.
In the study, I got a clean sheet of paper from the desk
and composed a telegram to Matia. "Arrived safely, 78 Second
Waterway. Kisses. Ivan." I telephoned it to the local PT&T and
again dialed Rimeyer's number. Again there was no answer. I put
on my jacket, looked in the mirror, counted my money, and was