"The Giver Quartet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowry, Lois)

“Of course,” Mother said, and Jonas and Lily nodded. They had heard Father complain about the night crew be-fore. It was a lesser job, night-crew nurturing, assigned to those who lacked the interest or skills or insight for the more vital jobs of the daytime hours. Most of the people on the night crew had not even been given spouses because they lacked, somehow, the essential capacity to connect to others, which was required for the creation of a family unit.



“Maybe we could even keep him,” Lily suggested sweetly, trying to look innocent. The look was fake, Jonas knew; they all knew.



“Lily,” Mother reminded her, smiling, “you know the rules.”



Two children — one male, one female — to each family unit. It was written very clearly in the rules.



Lily giggled. “Well,” she said, “I thought maybe just this once.”



Next, Mother, who held a prominent position at the Department of Justice, talked about her feelings. Today a re-peat offender had been brought before her, someone who had broken the rules before. Someone who she hoped had been adequately and fairly punished, and who had been restored to his place: to his job, his home, his family unit. To see him brought before her a second time caused her overwhelming feelings of frustration and anger. And even guilt, that she hadn’t made a difference in his life.



“I feel frightened, too, for him,” she confessed. “You know that there’s no third chance. The rules say that if there’s a third transgression, he simply has to be released.” Jonas shivered. He knew it happened. There was even a boy in his group of Elevens whose father had been released years before. No one ever mentioned it; the disgrace was unspeakable. It was hard to imagine.



Lily stood up and went to her mother. She stroked her mother’s arm.



From his place at the table, Father reached over and took her hand. Jonas reached for the other.



One by one, they comforted her. Soon she smiled, thanked them, and murmured that she felt soothed.



The ritual continued. “Jonas?” Father asked. “You’re last, tonight.”



Jonas sighed. This evening he almost would have preferred to keep his feelings hidden. But it was, of course, against the rules.



“I’m feeling apprehensive,” he confessed, glad that the appropriate descriptive word had finally come to him.