Читать книгу Now and Forever - Рэй Брэдбери, Ray Bradbury Philip K. Dick Isaac Asimov - Страница 12

James Cardiff stood in quiet amazement.

The front porch of the Egyptian View Arms was the longest he had ever seen. It had so many white wicker rockers he stopped counting. Occupying some of the rockers was an assortment of youngish not quite middleaged gentlemen, nattily dressed, with slicked-back hair, fresh out of the shower. And interspersed among the men were late thirties-not-yet-forty women in summer dresses looking as if they had all been cut from the same rose or orchid or gardenia wallpaper. The men had haircuts each sheared by the same barber. The women wore their tresses like bright helmets designed by some Parisian, ironed and curlicued long before Cardiff had been born. And the assembly of rockers all tilted forward and then back, in unison, in a quiet surf, as if the same ocean breeze moved them all, soundless and serene.

As Cardiff put his foot on the porch landing, all the rocking stopped, all the faces lifted, and there was a blaze of smiles and every hand rose in a quiet wave of welcome. He nodded and the white summer wickers refloated themselves, and a murmur of conversation began.

Looking at the long line of handsome people, he thought: Strange, so many men home at this hour of the day. Most peculiar.

A tiny crystal bell tinkled in the dim screen doorway.

‘Soup’s on,’ a woman’s voice called.

In a matter of seconds, the wicker chairs emptied, as all the summer people filed through the screen door with a hum.

He was about to follow when he stopped, turned his head and looked back.

‘What?’ he whispered.

Elias Culpepper was at his elbow, gently placing Cardiff’s suitcase beside him.

‘That sound,’ said Cardiff. ‘Somewhere …’

Elias Culpepper laughed quietly. ‘That’s the town band rehearsing Thursday night’s performance of the shortform Tosca. When she jumps it only takes two minutes for her to land.’

‘Tosca,’ said Cardiff, and listened to the far brass music. ‘Somewhere …’

‘Step in,’ said Culpepper, who held the screen door wide for James Cardiff.