День триффидов
A Light in the Night
"Silly?Romeburning?"shesaidwitharuefullittlesmile."No—sweet,"Isaid."Thankyoufordoingit.Agesture—andareminderthatwithallthefaultstherewassomuchbeauty.Youcouldn’thavedone—orlooked—alovelierthing."
Hersmilelostitsruefulness.
"Thankyou,Bill."Shepaused.Thensheadded:"HaveIsaidthankyoubefore?Idon’tthinkIhave.Ifyouhadn’thelpedmewhenyoudid
"Butforyou,"Itoldher,"Ishouldprobablybynowbelying
maudlinandsozzledinsomebar.Ihavejustasmuchto
thankyoufor.Thisisnotimetobealone."Then,tochangethetrend,Iadded:"Andspeakingofdrink,there’sanexcellentamontilladohere,andsomeprettygoodthingstofollow.Thisisaverywell-foundapartment."
Ipouredoutthesherry,andweraisedourglasses.
"Tohealth,strength—andluck,"Isaid.
Shenodded.Wedrank.
"What,"Josellaaskedaswestartedonanexpensive-tastingpate,"iftheownerofallthissuddenlycomesback?"
Inthatcasewewillexplain—andheorsheshouldbeonlytoothankfultohavesomeoneheretotellhimwhichbottleiswhich,andsoon—butIdon’tthinkthatisverylikelytohappen."
"No,"sheagreed,considering."No.I’mafraidthat’snotverylikely.Iwonder"Shelookedroundtheroom.Hereyespausedataflutedwhitepedestal."Didyoutrytheradio—Isupposethatthingisaradio,isn’tit?"
"It’satelevisionprojectortoo,"Itoldher."Butnogood.Nopower."
"Ofcourse.Iforgot.
