"Terry Dowling - La Profonde" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dowling Terry)

La Profonde
TERRY DOWLING

Terry Dowling is one of Australia’s most awarded, versatile and
internationally acclaimed writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He is
author of nine books, among them the award-winning Tom Rynosseros
saga and the critically praised collections Blackwater Days and Basic
Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear, as well as three computer adventures.
Terry’s stories have appeared in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The
Year’s Best SF, The Year’s Best Fantasy, The Best New Horror and many
times in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, as well as in anthologies as
diverse as Dreaming Down Under, Centaurus, Wizards and The Dark.

Holding a doctorate in Creative Writing, he is also editor of Mortal
Fire: Best Australian SF, The Essential Ellison and The Jack lance
Treasury, and has been genre reviewer for The Weekend Australian for
the past eighteen years. His homepage can be found at
www.terrydowling.com

‘La Profonde’ is the result of Terry’s fascination with the landscapes
around Perth’s suburban railway stations under that unique western light,
and his chance discovery of the name for those special pockets in a
magician’s coat.

****



T
here was no mistaking how surprised Derwent was when he saw Jay
walking along the railway tracks towards him. Jay’s one-time business
partner was wearing sunglasses, so his eyes were hidden, but his mouth
actually fell open. Then, in true Derwent fashion, his surprise and fear
turned immediately to anger.

“Fuck, Jay, what is all this?” he shouted. “This ‘meet me at the station’
stuff?”

Jay just smiled and waved, then waited till he’d reached the end of the
otherwise deserted platform, and Derwent was glowering down at him over
the safety rail.

“Tell me, Dee” - Jay deliberately used the unwelcome nick-name -
“Do you know what a profonde is?”

But Derwent wasn’t up for any of Jay’s smart-ass questions. He was
hot and sweating, clearly upset. Though only thirty-seven, two years
younger than Jay, red-faced and agitated like this he looked ten years
older. One well-timed email had turned Derwent’s world upside-down.