"Thomas Easton - Organic Future 03 - Woodsman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Easton Thomas A)

the left of the stage. "Freddy? Would you stand up, please?" The man who had
been sitting all this time between Kimmer Peirce and Calla Laffiter stood up.
He offered the reporters a slight bow.

Total silence greeted him. Freddy straightened and aimed his blunt-nosed
face at the audience. His nostrils pointed forward just a little more than was
usual for a human face, as if the ESRP had been unable to erase all vestiges
of his origins. He stepped forward, and Franklin relinquished the microphone.

"Call me," he said when he had positioned the microphone to his liking.
"Call me Frederick, now."

"Do you have a last name?" asked the woman from the Enquirer .

"Suida. The scientific name of the pig family." A titter of laughter ran
among the reporters. "It recognizes my origins, but it is now only my legal
name." He stressed the "legal."

"Frederick Suida. But you're still Freddy."

He nodded. "To my friends."

"Can you still sing?"

"Yes! Give us a song! A song for your public!" For a long moment, Freddy
stared at the reporters, his face blank. Franklin Peirce was just beginning to
step toward the podium, ready to intervene, when the ex-pig's mouth shaped a
curve of pain, he shrugged, and he said, "I haven't sung since..."

"Then it's time you did. C'mon." Franklin looked at the woman from the
Enquirer , his face grim. "Enough," he said. "He's been through too much to
play with him."

"Our readers and viewers will want to know."

Freddy laid one hand on the curator's sleeve. "No," he said. "There's no
point in refusing to remember. I can stand it. I'll sing."

Franklin stepped aside. He looked at his wife and Calla Laffiter, who had
slid closer together to fill the gap Freddy had left on the couch. He smiled
uneasily at them, and then he gave Freddy a "go ahead" gesture with one open
palm.

Freddy took a deep breath, said, "There's no accompaniment," and began to
sing, "I was born about ten thousand years ago..."

Franklin winced. Kimmer began to weep. The woman from the Enquirer smirked
as if she were satisfied that her prejudices were so vindicated. Several of
the other reporters sighed in sympathy, and the ready lights on most of the
veedo cameras quietly winked out.