Читать книгу Apocalypse 2012: An optimist investigates the end of civilization - Lawrence Joseph E. - Страница 21

I once was jilted for Mr. Spock, the supremely logical Star Trek character from the planet Vulcan, by Barbara Wetzel, the prettiest math whiz Junior High School 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, had ever seen. Barbara, who lived with her aunt and her sister in an apartment above an embalming parlor, and who had the faint, sweet scent of formaldehyde in her long blonde hair, informed me that she had lost all interest in human men.

I continued to watch Star Trek, though now in the way that my father used to follow the New York Yankees, rooting for them to lose. The best hope of seeing Mr. Spock, Captain Kirk, and all their cohorts fry was if the starship Enterprise came under ferocious attack when its protective shields were down. This did happen from time to time, with Klingons, Romulans, and all manner of other angry aliens pounding away, though invariably by the end of the hour crew and ship escaped intact. The difference, of course, is that spaceships can fly. We landlubbers have no choice but to stick around and take our beating.