"Robert A. Heinlein - Methuselahs Children" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

„The hell you say! Well, I won’t go that way. When the Old Boy comes to get
me, he’ll have to drag me-and I’ll be kicking and gouging eyes every step of
the way!“
She smiled lopsidedly. „It does me good to hear you talk that way. Lazarus, I
wouldn’t let my guards down this way with anyone younger than myself. But
your example gives me courage.“
„We’ll outlast the lot of ‚em, Mary, never you fear. But about the meeting
tonight: I haven’t paid any attention to the news and I’ve only recently come
earthside-does this chap Ralph Schultz know what he is talking about?“
„I think he must. His grandfather was a brilliant man and so is his father.“
„I take it you know Ralph.“
„Slightly. He is one of my grandchildren.“
„That’s amusing. He looks older than you do.“
„Ralph found it suited him to arrest his appearance at about forty, that’s all.
His father was my twenty-seventh child. Ralph must be-let me see-oh, eighty
or ninety years younger than I am, at least. At that, he is older than some of
my children.“
„You’ve done well by the Families, Mary.“
„I suppose so. But they’ve done well by me, too. I’ve enjoyed having children
and the trust benefits for my thirty-odd come to quite a lot. I have every luxury
one could want.“ She shivered again. „I suppose that’s why I’m in such a
funk-I enjoy life.“
„Stop it! I thought my sterling example and boyish grin had cured you of
that nonsense.“
„Well you’ve helped.“
„Mmm . . . look, Mary, why don’t you marry again and have some more
squally brats? Keep you too busy to fret.“
„What? At my age? Now, really, Lazarus!“
„Nothing wrong with your age. You’re younger than I am.“ She studied him
for a moment. „Lazarus, are you proposing a contract? If so, I wish you would
speak more plainly.“
His mouth opened and he gulped. „Hey, wait a minute! Take it easy! I was
speaking in general terms . . . I’m not the domestic type. Why, every time I’ve
married my wife has grown sick of the sight of me inside of a few years. Not
but what I-well, I mean you’re a very pretty girl and a man ought to-„
She shut him off by leaning forward and putting a hand over his mouth, while
grinning impishly. „I didn’t mean to panic you, cousin. Or perhaps I did-men
are so funny when they think they are about to be trapped.“
„Well-„ he said glumly.
„Forget it, dear. Tell me, what plan do you think they will settle on?“
„That bunch tonight?’
„Yes.“
„None, of course. They won’t get anywhere. Mary, a committee is the only
known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain. But presently
somebody with a mind of his own will bulldoze them into accepting his plan. I
don’t know what it will be.“
„Well . . . what course of action do you favor?“
„Me? Why, none. Mary, if there is any one thing I have learned in the past
couple of centuries, it’s this: These things pass. Wars and depressions and
Prophets and Covenants- they pass. The trick is to stay alive through them.“