"Walter M. Miller - Conditionally Human" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Walter M)

Walter M Miller
Conditionally Human

HE KNEW there was no use hanging around after breakfast, but he could not bear leaving
like this. He put on his coat in the kitchen, stood uncertainly in the doorway, and twisted his ha
his hands. His wife still sat at the table, fin-gered the handle of an empty cup, stared fixedly out
window at the kennels behind the house, and pointedly ignored his small coughings and scrapin
He watched the set of her jaw for a moment, then cleared his throat.
"Anne?"
"
What?"
"I can't stand seeing you like this."
"Then go away."
"Can't I do anything—?"
"I told you what to do."
Her voice was a monotone, full of hurt. He could neither en-dure the hurt nor remove it.
gingerly crossed the room to stand behind her, hoping she'd look up at him and let her face go s
maybe even cry a little. But she kept gazing at the win-dow in accusing silence. He chuck
suddenly and touched her silk-clad shoulder. The shoulder shivered away. Her dark hair quive
as she shuddered, and her arms were suddenly locked tightly about her breasts as if she were co
He pulled his hand back, and his big pliant face went slack. He gulped forlornly.
"Honeymoon's over, huh?"
"Ha!"
He backed a step away, paused again. "Hey, Baby, you knew before you married me,"
reminded her gently.
"I did not."
"You knew I was a District Inspector for the F.B.A. You knew I had charge of a pound."
"I didn't know you killed them!" she snapped, whirling.
"I don't have to kill many," he offered.
"
That's like saying you don 't kill them very dead. "
"Look, honey, they're only animals."
"Intelligent animals!"
"Intelligent as a human imbecile, maybe."
"A baby is an imbecile. Would you kill a baby?— Of course you would! You do! That's w
they are: babies. I hate you. " He withered, groped desperately for a new approach, tried a sema
tack. "Look, `intelligence' is a word applicable only to humans. It's the name of a human functi
and . . . "
"And that makes them human!" she finished. "Murderer!"
"Baby—!"
"Don't call me baby! Call them baby!"
He made a miserable noise in his throat, backed a few steps toward the door, and beat down
better judgment to speak again: "Anne, honey, look! Think of the good things about the j
Sure—everything has its ugly angles. But just think: we get this house rent-free; I've got my o
district with no local bosses to hound me; I make my own hours; you'll meet lots of people
stop in at the pound. It's a fine job, honey!"
Her face was a mask again. She sipped her coffee and seemed to be listening. He blunde
hopefully on.
 "And what can I do about it? I can 't help my aptitudes. Place-ment Division checked them, s
me to Bio-Authority. Period. Okay, so I don 't have to work where they send me. I could ig-nore