"Laura Resnick - No Room for the Unicorn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

Copyright © 1992 by Laura Resnick, All rights reserved. First appeared in Horse
Fantastic; also appeared in Pulphouse #12-13. For the personal use of those who have
purchased the ESF 1993 Award anthology only.



NO ROOM FOR THE UNICORN

Laura Resnick

I wanted the unicorn to come along, despite what some have said. My father
Lamech, may he rest peace, never liked the unicorn, this is true, but then he was not
a man who was widely known for his tolerant views. Before I was married, he would
bang his shepherd's staff on my head if I even looked at the pretty Hittite girls on the
other side of the valley. This taught me to be more lenient when my son Ham
brought home a girl who didn't keep kosher. In any case, Lamech gave up the ghost
long before I built the ark, so it's not as if his opinion on the subject was of great
concern to me then, what with the end of the world bearing down on us, and all.
No, as far as I was concerned, the unicorn was welcome.
In case you didn't know, by the way, there was only one unicorn. Some have
said that unicorns were as numerous in those days as the cedars of Lebanon, as the
lilies of the field, as the children of Adam, but that's a lot of hazarai. There was only
the one.
He lived near us in the land of Nod, east of Eden. At least, we always figured the
unicorn was a he, but who can tell for sure? Like I said, there was only one, and he
wasn't built precisely like a stallion or a mare, if you take my meaning.
There were giants in the earth in those days, as well as a unicorn. Those were the
days of heroes and men of great renown: Methuselah, Seth, Adam, Jared, Enoch.
Men lived for centuries, and they took as many wives as they pleased. Everyone
spoke one language, so travel wasn't such a hassle. Interest rates were low, and a
father could afford decent weddings for all his daughters, so long as he didn't have
too many. Yes, times were good. But then a few bad apples had to go and spoil it
for everyone.
In these heathen times, you might think it strange that I took Yahweh at His word
the first time He told me He was going to make it rain for forty days and forty nights,
but we were used to the strange and magical powers that ruled our lives then.
Yahweh's awesome miracles were a daily occurrence for us, so commonplace that
we often scarcely noticed them -- and perhaps that was one of the things that made
Him really mad. He told me that mankind was irredeemable, and that He would
destroy the world and start anew.
His instructions were very specific. I was to take my wife, my children, and their
spouses on board an ark of my own construction, and we would stay aboard until
the rain was over and the sun had dried up the land. As for the animals, I was
supposed to find one pair, a male and a female, of every species. He was very clear
on this point: two of every kind.
Well, it was a tall order, especially considering that Yahweh didn't give me a
whole lot of time to accomplish all this -- not that I'm criticizing. But I was a
shepherd, not a naval architect. I mean, I had never even seen a boat, much less
learned how to build one. So, after watching me struggle futilely for a few days,
Yahweh heaved a sigh that shook the pillars of the earth and told me how to do it.