"Nancy Kress - Nano Comes to Clifford Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

dog!"

Emma laughed. "It can't do that, Will. Nobody but God can make a living thing."

I said, "Then how can it make a tomato? A tomato's living."

Emma said, "No, it's not. It's dead after you pick it."
"But it was living."

Emma got that look in her eyes that I seen there ever since the third grade: Don't argue with me
because you'll regret it. Will jumped up and down screaming, "A dog! A dog! I want a dog!" The
people around the dais were pushed back by Barry Anderson and his deputy, but they didn't stop
shouting at Mayor Johnson. I grabbed Will, smiled hard at Emma, and started home.

Nanotech wasn't going to put Kimee down for a nap or breast-feed Jackie. And it sure as hell wasn't
going to get my bastard husband back to help me do those things.

Not that I wanted him.
****
I waited for nano to make Clifford Falls look like the places in the TV shows. What surprised me was
that it did.

I didn't see anything for a few weeks because both Kimee and Will came down with some sort of bug.
Diarrhea and cramps. The doctor I got on the computer told me which chemicals to squirt over samples
of their shit and when I told him what colors the shit turned, he said it wasn't serious but I should keep the
kids in, make them drink a lot of water, and keep them away from the baby. In a two-bedroom rented
house, that alone took a lot of my time. But we managed. Emma bought the medicine I needed at
Merkelson's and left it on the doorstep. She left three casseroles, too, and some chocolate-chip cookies.

Ten days later, when they were better, I baked Emma a sponge cake to thank her. After the kids were
dressed and the stroller packed up, we went outside and I had to blink hard.

"Wow!" Will said. "Mommy, look at that!"

Parked in Bob McPhee's driveway was the reddest car I ever seen, low and smooth and shiny. It
looked fast. Will ran over to it and I called, "Don't touch, Will!"

"Oh, he can't hurt it," Bob said with a sort of fake casualness. He was bursting with pride. "And if he did
hurt it, I'll just wait until my turn comes up on the Big Gray and order me another one."

The Big Gray--that must be what they were calling the largest nanomachine. Stupid name. It sounded like
a sway-backed horse.

Bob leered at me. "Wanna go for a ride, baby?"

"Why don't you take your wife?" I said, but I smiled when I said it because I'm a wuss who likes to stay
on good terms with my neighbors.

"Oh, I did," Bob said, waving his hand airily, "but there's always room for one more, if you know what I
mean."