День триффидов
Evacuation
There’sawholelotofpeopledon’tseemtounderstandthatyouhavetotalktoamaninhisownlanguagebeforehe’lltakeyouseriously.IfyoutalktoughandquoteShelleytheythinkyou’recute,likeaperformingmonkeyorsomething,buttheydon’tpayanyat-tendontowhatyousay.Youhavetotalkthekindoflingothey’reaccustomedtotakingseriously.Anditworkstheotherwaytoo.Halfthepoliticalintelligentsiawhotalktoaworkingaudiencedon’tgetthevalueoftheirstuffacross—notsomuchbecausethey’reovertheiraudience’sheads,asbecausehalfthechapsarelisteningtothevoiceandnottothewords,sotheyknockabigdiscountoffwhattheydohearbecauseit’sallabitfancy,andnotlikeordinary,normaltalk.SoIreckonedthethingtodowastomakemyselfbilingual,andusetherightoneintherightplace—andoccasionallythewrongoneinthewrongplace,unexpectedly.Surprisinghowthatjolts‘em.Wonderfulthing,theEnglishcastesystem.SincethenI’vemadeoutquitenicelyintheoratingbusiness.Notwhatyou’dcallasteadyjob,butfullofinterestandvariety...WilfredCoker.Meetingsaddressed.Subjectnoobject.That’sme."
"Howdoyoumean—subjectnoobject?’Iinquired.
"Well,Ikindofsupplythespokenwordjustlikeaprintersuppliestheprintedword.Hedoesn’thavetobelieveeverythingheprints."
Ileftthatforthemoment."How’sithappenyou’renotliketherest?"Iasked."Youweren’tinhospital,wereyou?"
"Me?No.
