"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Roadside Picnic (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

like he worked in the Zone.
He entered his garage through the hidden passage, noiselessly lifted
the old seat, carefully pulled the roll of paper from the bag in the basket,
and slipped it inside his shirt. He took an old worn leather jacket from a
hook, found a greasy cap in the corner, and pulled it down over his eyes.
The cracks in the door let narrow rays of light with dancing dust into the
gloomy garage, and kids were yelling and playing outside. As he was leaving,
he heard his daughter's voice. He put his eye against the widest crack and
watched Monkey wave two balloons and run around the swings. Three old women
with knitting in their laps were sitting on a nearby bench, watching her
with pursed lips. Exchanging their lousy opinions, the dried-up hags. The
kids were fine, playing with her as though she were just like them. It was
worth all the bribery--he bull; them a slide, and a doll house, and the
swings--and the bench that the old biddies were on. "All right, he said,
tore himself away from the crack, looked around the garage one more time,
and crawled into the hole.
In the southwest part of town, near the abandoned gas station at the
end of Miner Street, there was a phone booth. God only knew who used it
nowadays--all the houses around it were bearded up and beyond it was the
seemingly endless empty lot that used to be the town dump. Redrick sat down
in the shade of the booth and stuck his hand into the crack below it. He
felt the dusty wax paper and the handle of the gun wrapped in it; the lead
box of bullets was there, too, as well as the bag with the bracelets and the
old wallet with fake documents. His hiding place was in order. Then he took
off his jacket and cap and felt inside his shirt. He sat for a minute or
more, hefting in his hand the porcelain container and the invincible and
inevitable death it contained. And he felt the nervous tic come back.
"Schuhart," he muttered, not hearing his own voice, "what are you
doing, you snake? You scum, they can kill us all with this thing." He held
his twitching cheek, but it didn't help. "Bastards," he said about the
workers who had been loading the TV sets. "You got in my way. I would have
thrown it back into the Zone, the bitch, and it would have been all over.
He looked around sadly. The hot air was shimmering over the cracked
cement, the hoarded-up windows looked at him gloomily, and tumbleweed rolled
around the lot. He was alone.
"All right," he said decisively. "Every man for himself, only God takes
care of everybody. I've had it."
Hurrying, so as not to change his mind, he stuffed the container into
the cap, and wrapped the cap in the jacket. Then he got On his knees, and
leaned against the booth. It moved. The bulky package fit in the bottom of
the pit under the booth, with room to spare. He carefully replaced the
booth, shook it to see how steady it was, and got up, brushing off his
hands.
"That's it. It's settled."
He got into the heat of the phone booth, deposited a coin, and dialed.
"Guta," he said. "Please, don't worry. They caught me again." He could
hear her shuddering sigh. He quickly added: "It's a minor offense, six to
eight months, with visiting rights. We'll manage. And you'll have money,
they'll send it to you." She was still silent. "To- morrow morning they'll
call you down to the command post, we'll see each other then. Bring Monkey."