"K. D. Wentworth - As You Sow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wentworth K D)

told
himself, and what was the use of upsetting Sonya until he knew for sure? "I'll
plant them this evening when I come home."

"I suppose that will have to do." Sonya rapped a wooden spoon against the side
of the soup pot, then bent down to scoop up a handful of kindling for the
fire.
"But don't be late. The sooner they're in the ground, the sooner I'll have my
birds."

A week later, the pale-green shoots pushed their rounded heads out of the
ground. Ungern studied them nervously, but could tell no difference from the
vines of previous years when they'd sown skylarks and warblers.

As they grew, the tiny plants straightened their bowed heads and stretched for
the sky, adding pointed leaves along their stems. In two weeks, they reached
the
height of his knees and were visibly bigger each morning, twining and looping
across the garden.

The rapid rate of growth troubled him. He couldn't remember any previously
purchased variety growing so fast. He knelt in the rich black soil and tugged
at
an insistent weed. Of course, on the other hand, he told himself, the added
height might be a sign of superiority. No doubt the best songbirds always came
from the tallest vines.
As they grew taller, he staked each twisting, dark-green vine and tied it
firmly
with thin strips of linen. Elongated white pods formed near the tops, two to
each vine.

One rainy, gray morning, Sonya stopped by the kitchen garden on her way to
feed
the pigs. She gazed at the sinuous vines for a long silent moment. "They
should
be hatching soon."

"Yes, soon, "Ungern murmured, keeping his eyes on the weeds.

"But why are they so big?" She balanced the bowl of slops on her jutting hip
and
fingered a pod. "Is there more than one bird in each?"

"That-- must be it, "Ungern agreed, while a little voice inside his head
nagged
he was just postponing his misery.

Sonya narrowed her eyes and went on to her pigs.

Two days later, Ungern was just tying up the last of his weekly shipment of