Джон Ирвинг – The Cider House Rules / Правила виноделов (страница 12)

“If she's in the first three months,” Homer noted, “there is no need to cut.”

“I'd recommend different sorts of apple trees,” Wally said.

“There will be some bleeding – we call it spotting, actually, because it's usually not very heavy bleeding,” Homer told Wally, “Doctor Larch knows how to use ether, so don't worry – she won't feel a thing. Of course, she'll feel something afterward,” admitted Homer. “Doctor Larch calls that psychological discomfort.”

“You could come back to the coast with us,” Wally told Homer. “We could load a truck full of baby trees, and in a day or two we could come back here and plant the orchard together. It wouldn't take too long.”

“It's a deal,” said Homer Wells. The coast, he thought. I want to see the coast. And the girl. I want to ride in that car with that girl.

“A midwife,” Wally said. “Are you going to be a doctor?” “I don't think so,” said Homer Wells. “I don't know yet.” “Well, apples are my family's business,” Wally said. “I'm going to college, but I really don't know why I bother.”

“College,” thought Homer Wells.

“Candy's father is a lobsterman,” Wally explained, “but she's going to go to college, too.”

“Lobster!” thought Homer Wells. “The bottom of the sea!”

From the bottom of the hill, Nurse Angela was waving to them.

“The woman is ready!” she called to Homer Wells.

“I have to deliver someone's baby,” Homer told Wally.

Wally didn't want to leave the hill. “I think I'll stay up here. I don't think I want to hear anything,” he added; he gave Homer a smile.

“Oh, there's not much noise,” Homer said; he wasn't thinking of the Damariscotta woman; he was thinking of Candy.

He left Wally on the hill and went toward Nurse Angela; he looked back at Wally once and waved. Wally was his age and his size! They were the same height, although Wally was more muscular – from sports, Dr Larch had guessed. “He has the body of a hero,” Dr Larch thought, remembering the heroes he had tried to help in France, in World War I. “Lean but well muscled: that was a hero's body – and full of holes,” thought Wilbur Larch. He didn't know why Wally's body reminded him of this.

Wilbur Larch was thinking about Wally's face. It was handsome in a finer way than Homer's face, which was also handsome. Although Wally's body was stronger, his bones were more delicate. There wasn't a trace of anger in Wally's eyes; they were the eyes of good intentions. “He had the body of a hero, and the face…the face of a benefactor!” concluded Wilbur Larch, performing an abortion on Candy. The beauty in her face, Larch thought, was like she was free of guilt. It surprised Larch.

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