"Resnick, Mike - Bibi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

"Because you're antithetical to her. She's magic brought forth from the spirit of this land, and you're science and logic and doubt educated thousands of miles away."
"Science will save a lot more people than _she_ can once I find out just what it is that she does," said Elizabeth.
He shook his head sadly. "You still don't see, do you?"
"See what?"
"Science _needs_ her," said Jeremy. "_She_ doesn't need science. Never has, never will." He sighed deeply. "You and she are oil and water, and your worlds touch only briefly in passing. That's why you'll never find her."
"We'll see," said Elizabeth grimly.
* * *
They spent the next three months following up every rumor, every imagined sighting of an old woman who performed feats of medical magic.
They scoured the Virunga Volcanos and came away empty-handed. They thought they found her tracks in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon, but they never saw her. They stopped back at camp only long enough to take on fresh supplies, then went to the arid semi-desert in the north of the Karamojong country, and west to the aptly-named Impenetrable Forest. They spent a week at Murchison's Falls, only to discover that the old lady they were tracking was a Buganda witch woman who was missing an eye and part of an ear.
Everywhere they went they questioned the local people. Far from showing the symptoms of the "Thinning Disease", almost all of them glowed with health and fervently denied ever having seen anyone who remotely resembled Bibi. Jeremy got the distinct impression that they were secretly laughing at the two relief workers.
Finally Elizabeth admitted defeat and returned to camp. Jeremy tended the sick and the dying for another week, and then asked to see her privately.
"Well?" she said, when the two of them were alone in her tent.
"I've made up my mind," he announced. "I'm leaving."
"You mean you're going home?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm staying in Uganda."
"Then I don't understand..."
"All we're doing here is prolonging doomed lives," said Jeremy. "I came here to _save_ some."
Suddenly Elizabeth's eyes widened with comprehension. "You're going out after Bibi!"
"That's right."
"But we've just spent three months looking for her. What makes you think _you_ can find her?"
He didn't want to answer that, for fear of hurting her, but finally he did. "I'll be alone."
"You think that makes a difference?" she said caustically.
"Yes, I do." _Okay, so you can't be hurt if you don't believe._
"You're a fool!" she snapped. "Where will you go? In what direction will you look? How will you feed yourself?"
"I'll get by," he said. "And I won't have to find her. _She'll_ find _me_."
"You'll starve to death, or run into a leopard or a hyena, or drink the wrong water or eat the wrong food," said Elizabeth. "You can't survive alone in the bush."
"I didn't realize you thought so little of me," he said wryly.
"It's because I think so much of you that I don't want you dead."
"It's my decision -- and if AIDS can't kill me, neither will anything else this land has to offer." He withdrew a handwritten document and placed it on her table. "This turns over all my investments to the camp." Suddenly he grinned. "The Notary Public's hut wasn't open for business today, but I think it'll stand up in court."
Elizabeth walked to the door of the tent and looked out at the busy camp, then turned back to Jeremy. "You're giving everything up for a dream. Won't you reconsider?"
He shook his head. "If I reconsidered, I might agree that it was nothing but a dream and stay here. And then I'd miss the chance to help her perform her magic."
"We don't need magic," she replied impatiently. "If this crisis is solved, it will be solved by science."
"To me it's _all_ magic, and who's to say that yours is any more potent than theirs? Science couldn't cure me, but Bibi could."
"Damn it, Jeremy, you're chasing a will-o-the-wisp. She's just an old woman, not some mythical creature with awesome powers of healing."
"She cured me with a bite," he said. "How can I not believe in that?"
"We don't know that that's what cured you," insisted Elizabeth. "She could have administered any number of medications while you were delerious."
"She could have," he agreed. "But she didn't."
Elizabeth paused and look at him sadly. "Isn't there anything I can say?"
"Yes," he replied. "Say 'Good luck'."
She was still staring at him silently as he left her tent.
* * *
_Bibi walked through the bush, senses alert to the hidden presence of predators. There were so many children, far more than she dreamed possible. She could feel their cries, their hunger, their pain, and she knew that she had much work to do before she could rest again._
_Suddenly she heard a twig break, and she crouched, ready to race to safety. A man was approaching noisily, making no attempt to hide his presence, frightening birds and monkeys with every step._
_Her first inclination was to run, but some secret instinct made her stay -- and then she saw a familiar face, a face that reflected the unselfish love that was written across her own._
_"Hi, Mom," said the man, holding a dried apricot out to her. "I've brought you a present."_

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