"Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - Left Behind Series 1 - Left Behind" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

woman going from very pregnant to nearly flat stomached, as if she had
instantaneously delivered. “Now, watch with us again,” the newsman intoned, “and
keep your eyes on the left edge of your screen, where a nurse appears to be reading
a printout from the fetal heart monitor. There, see?” The action stopped as the
pregnant woman's stomach deflated. “The nurse's uniform seems to still be standing
as if an invisible person is wearing it. She's gone. Half a second later, watch.” The
tape moved ahead and stopped. “The uniform, stockings and all, are in a pile atop
her shoes.”
Local television stations from around the world reported bizarre occurrences,
especially in time zones where the event had happened during the day or early
evening. CNN showed via satellite the video of a groom disappearing while slipping
the ring onto his bride's finger. A funeral home in Australia reported that nearly
every mourner disappeared from one memorial service, including the corpse, while
at another service at the same time, only a few disappeared and the corpse remained.
Morgues also reported corpse disappearances. At a burial, three of six pallbearers
stumbled and dropped a casket when the other three disappeared. When they picked
up the casket, it too was empty.
Rayford was second in line for the phone, but what he saw next on the screen
convinced him he would never see his wife again. At a Christian high school soccer
game at a missionary headquarters in Indonesia, most of the spectators and all but
one of the players disappeared in the middle of play, leaving their shoes and
uniforms on the ground. The CNN reporter announced that, in his remorse, the
surviving player took his own life.
But it was more than remorse, Rayford knew. Of all people, that player, a student at
a Christian school, would have known the truth immediately. The Rapture had taken
place. Jesus Christ had returned for his people, and that boy was not one of them.
When Rayford sat at the phone, tears streamed down his face. Someone said, “You
have four minutes,” and he knew that would be more than he needed. His answering
machine at home picked up immediately, and he was pierced to hear the cheerful
voice of his wife. “Your call is important to us.” she said. “Please leave a message
after the beep.”
Rayford punched a few buttons to check for messages. He ran through three or four
mundane ones, then was startled to hear Chloe's voice. “Mom? Dad? Are you there?
Have you seen what's going on? Call me as soon as you can. We've lost at least ten
students and two profs, and all the married students' kids disappeared. Is Raymie all
right? Call me!” Well, at least he knew Chloe was still around. All he wanted was to
hold her.
Rayford redialed and left a message on his own machine. “Irene? Ray? If you're
there, pick up. If you get this message, I'm at O'Hare and trying to get home. It may
take a while if I don't get a copter ride. I sure hope you're there.”
“Let's go, Cap,” someone said. “Everybody's got a call to make.”
Rayford nodded and quickly dialed his daughter's dorm room at Stanford. He got
the irritating message that his call could not be completed as dialed.
Rayford gathered his belongings and checked his mail slot. Besides a pile of the
usual junk, he found a padded manila envelope from his home address. Irene had
taken to mailing him little surprises lately, the result of a marriage book she had
been urging him to read. He slipped the envelope into his case and went looking for
Hattie Durham. Funny, he had no emotional attraction whatever to Hattie just now.
But he felt obligated to be sure she got home.
As he stood in a crowd by the elevator, he heard the announcement that a helicopter