"Robert A. Heinlein - A tenderfoot in space (original version)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

A TENDERFOOT IN SPACE
When this book was in process, Dr. Kondo asked me whether there
were any stories of Robert’s which had not been reprinted. On
looking over the list of stories, I found that “A Tenderfoot in Space”
had never been printed in anything except when it originally
appeared in Boys’ Life. All copies in our possession had been sent to
the UCSC Archives, so! asked them to Xerox those and send them to
me. And found this introduction by Robert, which he had added to the
carbon in the library before he sent it down there. I was completely
surprised, and asked Dr. Kondo whether he would like to use it? Here
it is.
• Virginia Heinlein


This was written a year before Sputnik and is laid on the Venus
earthbound astronomers inferred before space probes. Two hours of
rewriting—a word here, a word there—could change it to a planet
around some other star. But to. what purpose? Would The Tempset
be improved if Bohemia had a sea coast? If! ever publish that
collection of Boy Scout stories, this story will appear unchanged.
Nixie is (of course) my own dog. But in 1919, when I was 12 and a
Scout, he had to leave me—a streetcar hit him.
If this universe has any reasonable teleology whatever (a point on
which I am unsure), then there is some provision for the Nixies in it.

I
“Heel, Nixie,” the boy said softly, “and keep quiet.”
The little mongrel took position left and rear of his boy, waited. He
could feel that Charlie was upset and he wanted to know why—but
an order from Charlie could not be questioned.
The boy tried to see whether or not the policeman was. noticing
them. He felt light-headed—neither he nor his dog had eaten that
day. They had stopped in front of this supermarket, not to buy for the
boy had no money left, but because of a “BOY WANTED” sign in the
window.
It was then that he had noticed the reflection of the policeman in
the glass.
The boy hesitated, trying to collect his cloudy thoughts. Should he go
inside and ask for the job? Or should he saunter past the policeman?
Pretend to be just out for a walk?
The boy decided to go on, get out of sight. He signalled the dog to
stay close and turned away from the window. Nixie came along, tail
high. He did not care where they went as long as he was with
Charlie. Charlie had belonged to him as far back as he could
remember; he could imagine no other condition. In fact Nixie would
not have lived past his tenth day had not Charlie fallen in love with
him; Nixie had been the least attractive of an unfortunate litter; his
mother was Champion Lady Diana of Ojai—his father was unknown.
But Nixie was not aware that a neighbor boy had begged his life from
his first owners. His philosophy was simple: enough to eat, enough