Eagle in the Sky - Smith Wilbur (бесплатные версии книг .txt) 📗

It's bad!  she said at last. Why do you say that!  he demanded quickly.

Because you brought me here to tell me, and because you are afraid.  No,

David denied it.

Yes.  I can feel it now, very clearly.  You are afraid for me.  It's not

true, David tried to reassure her.  I'm a little worried that's all.

Tell me, she said.

There is a small growth.  It's not dangerous, yet.

But they feel something should be done about it, I He stumbled through

the explanation he had so carefully prepared, and when he ended she was

silent for a moment.

It is necessary, absolutely necessary?  she asked.

Yes, he told her, and she nodded, trusting him completely, then she

smiled and squeezed his arm.

Don't fret yourself, David, my darling.  It will be all right.  You'll

see, they can't touch us.  We live in a private place where they can't

touch us.  Now it was she who was striving to comfort him.

Of course it will be all right.  He hugged her to him roughly, slopping

a little wine over the rim of his glass.  When?  she asked.

Tomorrow you will go in, and they'll do it the following morning.  So

soon?  'I thought it best to have it over with.  'Yes.  You are right.

She sipped her wine, withdrawn, fearful, despite her brave show.  They

are going to cut my head open?  'Yes, he said, and she shuddered against

him.  There is no risk, he said.

No.  I'm sure there isn't, she agreed quickly.

He woke in the night with the instant knowledge that he was alone, that

she was not curled warm and sleeping beside him.

Quickly he slipped from the bed and crossed to the bathroom.  It was

empty and he padded to the sitting room of the suite and switched on the

lights.

She heard the click of the switch and turned her head away, but not

before he had seen the tears glowing on her cheeks like soft grey

pearls.  He went to her quickly.

Darling, he said.

I couldn't sleep, she said.

That's all right.  He knelt before the couch on which she sat, but he

did not touch her.

I had a dream, she said.  There was a pool of clear water and you were

swimming in it, looking up at me and calling to me.  I saw your dear

face clearly, beautiful and laughing- David realized with a jolt in his

guts that she had seen him in her dream as he had been, she had seen the

beautiful dream-David, not the monstrous ravaged thing he was now.  Then

suddenly you began to sink, down, down, through the water, your face

fading and receding, Her voice caught and broke, and she was silent for

a moment.  It was a terrible dream, I cried out and tried to follow you,

but I could not move and then you were gone down into the depths.  The

water turned dark and I woke with only the blackness in my head. Nothing

but swirling mists of blackness.  'it was only a dream, he said.

David, she whispered.  Tomorrow, if anything happens tomorrow Nothing

will happen, he almost snarled the denial, but she put out a hand to his

face, finding his lips and touching them lightly to silence them.

Whatever happens, she said, remember how it was when we were happy.

Remember that I loved you.

The hospital of Gioote Schuur sits on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak,

a tall conical peak divided from the massif of Table Mountain by a deep

saddle.  Its summit is of grey rock and below it lie the dark pine

forests and open grassy slopes of the great estate that Cecil John

Rhodes left to the nation.  Herds of deer and indigenous antelope feed

quietly in the open places and the southeast wind feathers the crest

with a flying pennant of cloud.

The hospital is a massive complex of brilliant white buildings,

substantial and solid-looking blocks, all roofed in burnt red tiles.

Ruby Friedman had used all his pull to secure a private ward for Debra,

and the sister in charge of the floor was expecting her.  They took her

from David and led her away, leaving him feeling bereft and lonely, but

when he returned to visit her that evening she was sitting up in the bed

in the soft cashmere bedjacket that David had given her and surrounded

by banks of flowers which he had ordered.

They smell wonderful, she thanked him.  It's like being in a garden. She

wore a turban around her head and, with the serene golden eyes seeming

focused on a distant vision, it gave her an exotic and mysterious air.

They have shaved your head.  David felt a slide of dismay, he had not

expected that she must also sacrifice that lustrous mane of black silk.

It was the ultimate indignity, and she seemed to feel it also, for she

did not answer him and instead told him brightly how well they were

treating her, and what pains they were taking for her comfort.  You'd

think I was some sort of queen, she laughed.

The Brig was with David, gruff and reserved and patently out of place in

these surroundings.  His presence cast restraint upon them and it was a

relief when Ruby Friedman arrived.  Bustling and charmin& he

complimented Debra on the preparations she had undergone.

Sister says that you are just fine, all nicely shaved and ready.  Sorry,

but you aren't allowed anything to eat or drink except the sleeping pill

I've prescribed.  'When do I go to theatre?  We've got you down bright

and early.  Eight o'clock tomorrow.  I am tremendously pleased that

Billy Cooper is the surgeon, we were very lucky to get him, but he owes

me a favour or two.  I will be assisting him, of course, and he'll have

one of the best surgical teams in the world backing him up.  Ruby, you

know how some women have their husbands with them when they are

confined- lyes.  'Ruby looked uncertain, taken aback by the question.

, well, couldn't David be there with me tomorrow?

Couldn't we be together, for both our sakes, while it happens?  With all

due respects, my dear, but you are not having a baby.  Couldn't you

arrange for him to be there?  Debra pleaded, with eloquent eyes and an

expression to break the hardest heart.  I'm sorry, Ruby shook his head.

It's completely impossible, then he brightened.  But I tell you what.

I could get him into the students room.  It will be the next best thing

in fact he would have a better view of the proceedings than if he were

in theatre.  We have closed-circuit television relayed to the students

room and David could watch from there.  Oh, please!  Debra accepted

immediately.  I'd like to know be was close, and that we were in

contact.  We don't like being parted from each other, do we, my darling?

She smiled at where she thought he was, but he had moved aside and the

smile missed him.  It was a gesture that wrenched something within him.

You will be there, David, won't you?  she asked, and though the idea of

watching the knife at work was repellent to him, he forced himself to

reply lightly.

I'll be there, and he almost added, always, but he cut off the word.

This early in the morning there were only two others in the small

lecture-room with its double semi-circular rows of padded chairs about

the small television screen, a plump woman student with a pretty face

and shaggydog hairstyle and a tall young man with a pale complexion and

bad teeth.  They both wore their stethoscopes dangling with calculated

nonchalance from the pockets of their white linen jackets.  After the

first startled glance they ignored David, and they spoke together in

knowing medical jargon.  The Coops doing an exploratory through the

parietal.  'That's the one I want to watch - The girl affected blue