День триффидов
The End begins
AccountsarrivedfromalloverthePacificofanightmadebrilliantbygreenmeteorssaidtobe"sometimesinsuchnumerousshowersthatthewholeskyappearedtobewheelingaboutus."Andsoitwas,whenyoucometothinkofit.
Asthenightlinemovedwestwardthebrillianceofthedisplaywasinnowaydecreased.Occasionalgreenflashesbecamevisibleevenbeforedarknessfell.Theannouncer,givinganaccountofthephenomenoninthesixo’clocknews,advisedeveryonethatitwasanamazingsceneandonenottohemissed.Hementionedalsothatitseemedtobeinterferingseriouslywithshort-wavereceptionatlongdistances,butthatthemediumwavesonwhichtherewouldbearunningcommentarywereunaffected,as,atpresent,wastelevision.Heneednothavetroubledwiththeadvice.Bythewayeveryoneinthehospitalgotexcitedaboutit,itseemedtomethattherewasnottheleastlikelihoodofanybodymissingit-exceptmyself.
Andasiftheradio’scommentswerenotenough,thenursewhobroughtmemysupperhadtotellmeallaboutit.
"Thesky’ssimplyfullofshootingstars."shesaid."Allbrightgreen.Theymakepeople’sfaceslookfrightfullyghastly.Everybody’soutwatchingthem,andsometimesit’salmostaslightasday-onlyallthewrongcolor.Even’nowandthenthere’sabigonesobrightthatithurtstolookatit.It’samarveloussight.’Theysaythere’sneverbeenanythinglikeitbefore.Itissuchapityyoucan’tseeit,isn’tit?"
"Itis,"Iagreedsomewhatshortly
"We’vedrawnbackthecurtainsinthewardssothattheycanallseeit,"shewenton."Ifonlyyouhadn’tthosebandagesyou’dhaveawonderfulviewofitfromhere."
