"Harry Harrison - By the Falls (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

heavy door swung open and a man appeared in the open-
ing. He examined his visitor wordlessly.
The man was much like the building and the cliffs be-
hind it solid, no-nonsense, worn, lined and graying. But
he had resisted the years even as he showed 'their marks
upon him. His back was as straight as any young man's
and his knob-knuckled hands bad a look of determined
strength. Blue were his eyes and very much the color of
the water falling endlessly, thunderously, on the far side
of the building. He wore knee-high fisherman's boots,
plain corduroy pants and a soiled gray sweater. His face
did not change expression as he waved Carter into the
building.
When the thick door had 'been swung shut and the
many sealing bars shoved back into place the silence in
the house took on a quality of its own. Carter had known
absence of sound elsewhere here was a positive state-
ment of no-sound, a bubble of peace pushed right up
against the very base of the all-sound of The Falls. He
was momentarily deafened and he knew it. But he was
not so deaf that he did not know that the hammering
thunder of The Falls bad 'been shut 'outside. The other
man must have sensed how 'his visitor felt. He nodded in
a reassuring manner as he took Carter's coat, then painted
to a comfortable chair set by the deal table near the fire.
Carter sank gratefully into the cushions. His host turned
away and vanished, to return a moment later with a tray
bearing a decanter and two glasses. He poured a measure
of wine into each glass and set one down before Carter,
who nodded and seized it 'in both hands to steady their
shaking. After a first large gulp he sipped at it while the
tremors died and his hearing slowly returned. His host
moved about the room on various tasks and presently
Carter found himself much recovered. He looked up.
"I must thank you for your hospitality. When I came
in I was shaken."
"How are you now? Has the wine helped?" the man
said loudly, almost shouting, and Carter realized that his
own words bad not 'been heard. Of course, the man must
be hard of hearing. It was a wonder he was not stone deaf.
"Very good, thank you," Carter shouted back. "Very

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kind of you indeed. My name is Carter, I'm a reporter,
which is why I have come to see you."
The man nodded, smiling slightly.
"My name is Bodum. You must know that 'if you have
come here to talk to me. You write for the newspaper?"