"The Planners by Kate Wilhelm" - читать интересную книгу автора (1969)

The telephone rang for him while he was showering. It was
Stu Evers. Darin stood dripping water while he listened.
"Have you seen the evening paper yet? That broad made
the statement that conditions are extreme at the station, that
our animals are made to suffer unnecessarily."
Darin groaned softly. Stu went on, "She is bringing her
entire women's group out tomorrow to show proof of her
claims. She's a bigwig in the SPCA, or something."
Darin began to laugh then. Mrs. Whoosis had her face
pressed against one of the windows, other fat women in
flowered dresses had their faces against the rest. None of
them breathed or moved. Inside the compound Adam laid
Hortense, then moved on to Esmeralda, to Hilda . . .
"God damn it, Darin, it isn't funny!" Stu said.
"But it is. It is."
Clams at the Ritters' were delicious. Clams, hammers,
buckets of butter, a mountainous salad, beer, and finally
coffee liberally laced with brandy. Darin felt cheerful and
contented when the evening was over. Ritter was in Med.
Eng. Lit. but he didn't talk about it, which was merciful. He
was sympathetic about the stink with the SPCA. He thought
scientists had no imagination. Darin agreed with him and
soon he and Lea were on their way home.
"I am so glad that you didn't decide to stay late," Lea said,
passing over the yellow line with a blast of the horn. "There
is a movie on tonight that I am dying to see."
She talked, but he didn't listen, training of twelve years
drawing out an occasional grunt at what must have been
appropriate times. "Ritter is such a bore," she said. They were
nearly home. "As if you had anything to do witli that incred-
ible statement in tonight's paper."
"What statement?"
"Didn't you even read the article? For heaven's sake, why
not? Everyone will be talking about it . . ." She sighed
theatrically. "Someone quoted a reliable source who said that
within the foreseeable future, simply by developing the leads
you now have, you will be able to produce monkeys that are
as smart as normal human beings." She laughed, a brittle
meaningless sound.
"I'll read the article when we get home," he said. She
didn't ask about the statement, didn't care if it was true or
false, if he had made it or not. He read the article while she
settled down before the television. Then he went for a swim.
The water was warm, the breeze cool on his skin. Mosquitoes
found him as soon as he got out of the pool, so he sat behind
the screening of the verandah. The bluish light from the living
room went off after a time and there was only the dark night.
Lea didn't call him when she went to bed. He knew she went
very softly, closing the door with care so that the click of the
latch wouldn't disturb him if he was dozing on the verandah.