Текст книги "Eagle in the Sky"

Автор книги: Wilbur Smith

Соавторы: Wilbur Smith
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degree of atrophy, Dr. Friedman?  I think we can confidently expect good

recovery of function.  Despite the masked features, the triumphant

attitude of the two men was easily recognized, and watching them, David

felt his own emotions at war.

With a weight upon his spirits he watched Cooper close up, replacing the

portion of Debra's skull that he had removed, and once the flap of scalp

was stitched back into place there was little external evidence of the

extent and depth of their penetration.  The image on the screen changed

to another theatre where a small girl was to receive surgery for a

massive hernia, and the fickle interest of the watching students changed

with it.

David stood up and left the room.  He rode up in the elevator and waited

in the visitors room on Debra's floor until the elevator doors opened

again and two white uniformed male nurses trundled Debra's stretcher

down the corridor to her room.  She was dead] pale, y with dark

bruised-looking eyes and lips, her head swathed in a turban of white

bandages.  There was a dull brown smear of blood on the sheets that

covered her and a whiff of anaesthetic hung in the corridor after she

was gone.

Ruby Friedman came then, changed from the theatre garb into an expensive

light-weight grey mohair suit and a twenty-guinea Dior silk tie.  He

looked tanned and healthy, and mightily delighted with his achievement.

You watched?  'he demanded, and when David nodded he went on

exuberantly, It was extraordinary.  He chuckled, and rubbed his hands

together with glee.

My God, something like this makes you feel good.

Makes you feel that if you never do another thing in your life, it was

still worthwhile.  He was unable to restrain himself any longer and he

threw a playful punch at David's shoulder.  Extraordinary, he repeated,

drawing it out into two words with relish, rolling the word around his

tongue.

When will you know?  David asked quietly.  I know already, I'll stake my

reputation on it!  'She will be able to see as soon as she comes around

from the anaesthetic?  David asked.

Good Lord, no!  Ruby chuckled.  That nerve has been pinched off for

years, it's going to take time to recover.  'How long?

It's like a leg that has gone to sleep when you sit wrongly.  When the

blood flows back in, it's still numb and tingling until the circulation

is restored How long?  'David repeated.

Immediately she wakes, that nerve is going to start going crazy, sending

all sorts of wild messages to the brain.  She's going to see colours and

shapes as though she is on a drug hinge, and it's going to take time to

settle down, two weeks to a month, I would guess then it will clear, the

nerve will have recovered its full and normal function and she will

begin having real effective vision.

Two weeks, David said, and he felt the relief of a condemned man hearing

of his reprieve.

You will tell her the good news, of course.  Ruby gave another buoyant

chuckle, shaped up to punch David again and then controlled himself.

What a wonderful gift you have been able to give her.  No, David

answered him.  I won't tell her yet, I will find the right time later.

You will have to explain the initial vision she will experience, the

colour and shape hallucinations, they will alarm her.  We will just tell

her that it's the normal after-effect of the operation.  Let her adjust

to that before telling her.

David, I – Ruby began seriously, but he was cut off by the savage blaze

of blue in the eyes that watched him from the mask of scarred flesh.

I will tell her!  The voice shook with such fury, that Ruby took a step

backwards.  That was the condition, I will tell her when I judge the

time is ripe.

Out of the darkness a tiny amber light glowed, pale and far off but she

watched it split like a breeding amoeba and become two, and each of

those split and split again until they filled the universe in a great

shimmering field of stars.  The light throbbed and pulsed, vibrant and

triumphant, and it changed from amber to brightest purest white like the

sparkle from a paragon diamond, then it turned to the blue of sunlight

on a tropical ocean, to soft forest greens and desert golds, an endless

cavalcade of colours, changing, blending, fading, flaring in splendour

that held her captive.

Then the colours took shape, they spun like mighty Catherine wheels, and

soared and exploded, showered down in rivers of flame that burst again

into fresh cascades of light.

She was appalled by the dimensions of shape and colour that engulfed

her, bewildered by the beauty of it and at last she could bear it no

longer in silence and she cried out.

Instantly there was a hand in hers, a strong hard familiar hand, and his

voice, dearly beloved, reassuring and firm.

David, she cried with relief.

Quietly, my darling.  You must rest.

David.  David.  She heard the sob in her own voice as new torrents of

colour poured over her, insupportable in their richness and variety,

overwhelming in their depth and range.

I'm here, my darling.  I'm here.  What's happening to me, David? What's

happening?  'You are all right.  The operation was a success.  You are

just fine.

Colours, she cried.  Filling my whole head.  I've never known it like

this.  It's the result of the operation.  It shows that it was a

success.  They removed the growth.  'I'm frightened, David.  'No, my

darling.  There is nothing to be afraid of Hold me, David.  Hold me

safe.  And in the circle of his arms the fear abated, and slowly she

learned to ride the oceanic waves and washes of colour, came gradually

to accept and then at last to look upon them with wonder and with

intense pleasure.

It's beautiful, David.  I'm not frightened any more, not with you

holding me.  It's wonderful.  'Tell me what you see, he said.  I

couldn't.  It's impossible.  I couldn't find the words.  'Try!

he said.

David was alone in the suite, and it was after midnight when the call

that he had placed to New York came through.

This is Robert Dugan, to whom am I speaking?  Bobby's voice was crisp

and businesslike.  It's David Morgan.  'Who?  'Debra Mordecai's husband.

Well, hello there, David.  The agent's voice changed, becoming

expansive.  It's sure nice to talk to you.  How is Debra?  It was

obvious that Dugan's interest in David began and ended with his wife.

That's why I am calling.  She's had an operation and she's in hospital

at the moment.  'God!  Not serious, is it?  She's going to be fine.

She'll be up in a few days and ready for work in a couple of weeks.

'Glad to hear it, David.  That's great.  Loo ere, I want you to go ahead

and set up that script-writing contract for A Place of Our Own.  'She's

going to do it?

Dugan's pleasure carried six thousand miles with no diminution.  She'll

do it now.  'That's wonderful news, David.  'Write her a good contract.

Depend on it, boyo.  That little girl of yours is a hot property.

Playing hard to get hasn't done her any harm, I tell you!  How long will

the script job last?  They'll want her for six months, Dugan guessed.

The producer who will do it is making a movie in Rome right now.  He'll

probably want Debra to work with him there.  Good, said David.  She'll

like Rome.  You coming with her, David?  No, David answered carefully.

No, she'll be coming on her own.  Will she be able to get by on her own?

Dugan sounded worried.

From now on she'll be able to do everything on her own Hope you are

right, Dugan was dubious.

I'm right.  David told him abruptly.  One other thing.

That lecture tour, is it still on?  They are beating the door down.

Like I said, she's hotter than a pistol.  'Set it up for after the

script job.  Hey, David boy.  This is the business.  Now we are really

cooking with gas.  We are going to make your little girl into one very

big piece of property.  Do that, said David.  Make her big.  Keep her

busy, you hear.  Don't give her time to think.  I'll keep her busy. Then

as though he had detected something in David's voice.  Is something

bugging you, David?  You got some little domestic problem going there,

boy?  You want to talk about it?

No, I don't want to talk about it.  You just look after her.  Look after

her well.

I'll look after her, Dugan's tone had sobered.  And David What is it?

I'm sorry.  Whatever it is, I'm sorry.  That's okay.  'David had to end

the conversation then, immediately.  His hand was shaking so that he

knocked the telephone from the table and the plastic cracked through. He

left it lying and went out into the night.

He walked alone through the sleeping city, until just before the morning

he was weary enough to sleep.

The streams of colour settled to steady runs and calmly moving patterns,

no longer the explosive bursts of brightness that had so alarmed her.

After the grey shifting banks of blindness that had filled her head like

dirty cotton wool for those long years, the new brightness and beauty

served to buoy her spirits, and after the main discomfort of her head

surgery had passed in the first few days, she was filled with a wondrous

sense of wellbeing, a formless optimistic expectation, such as she had

not experienced since she was a child anticipating the approach of a

long-awaited holiday.

It was as though in some deep recess of her subconscious she was vaguely

aware of the imminent return of her sight.  However, the knowledge

seemed not to have reached her conscious mind.  She knew there was a

change, she welcomed her release from the dark and sombre dungeons of

nothingness into the new brightness, but she did not realize that there

was more to come, that after colour and fantasy would follow shape and

reality.

Each day David waited for her to say something that might show that she

had realized that her sight was on the way back, he hoped for and at the

same time dreaded this awareness, but it did not come.

He spent as much of each day with her as hospital routine would allow,

and he hoarded each minute of it, doling out time like a miser paying

coins from a diminishing hoard.  Yet Debra's ebullient mood was

infectious, and he could not help but laugh with her and share the warm

excitement as she anticipated her release from the hospital and their

return together to the sanctuary of Jabulani.

There were no doubts in her mind, no shadows across her happiness, and

gradually David began to believe that it would last.  That their

happiness was immortal and that their love could survive any pressure

placed upon it.  It was so strong and fine when they were together now,

carried along by Debra's bubbling enthusiasm, that surely she could

regain her sight and weather the first shock of seeing him.

Yet he was not sure enough to tell her yet, there was plenty of time.

Two weeks, Ruby Friedman had told him, two weeks before she would be

able to see him and it was vitally important to David that he should

extract every grain of happiness that was left to him in that time.

In the lonely nights he lay with the frantic scurryings of his brain

keeping him from sleep.  He remembered that the plastic surgeon had told

him there was more they could do to make him less hideous.  He could'go

back and submit to the knife once more, although his body cringed at the

thought.  Perhaps they could give Debra something less horrifying to

look at.

The following day he braved the massed stares of hundreds of shoppers to

visit Stuttafords Departmental Store in Adderley Street.  The girl in

the wig department, once she had recovered her poise, took him into a

curtainedoff cubicle and entered into the spirit of finding a Wig to

cover the domed cicatrice of his scalp.

David regarded the fine curly head of hair over the frozen ruins of his

face, and for the first time ever he found himself laughing at it,

although the effect of laughter was even more horrifying as the tight

lipless mouth writhed like an animal in a trap.

God!  he laughed.  Frankenstein in drag!  'and for the sales girl who

had been fighting to control her emotions this was too much.  She broke

into hysterical giggles of embarrassment.

He wanted to tell Debra about it, making a joke of it and at the same

time prepare her for her first sight Of his face, but somehow he could

not find the words.

Another day passed with nothing accomplished, except a few last hours of

warmth and happiness shared.

The following day Debra began to show the first signs of restlessness.

When are they going to let me out, darling?  I feel absolutely

wonderful.  It's ridiculous to lie in bed here.  I want to get back to

labulani, there is so much to do.  Then she giggled.  And they've had me

locked up here ten days now.  I'm not used to convent Ille, and to be

completely honest with you, my big lusty lover, I am climbing the wall

We could lock the door, David suggested.

God, I married a genius, Debra cried out delightedly, and then later.

That's the first time it ever happened for me in Technicolor.  I think I

could get hooked on that That evening Ruby Friedman and the Brig were

waiting for him when he returned to his suite, and they came swiftly to

the reason for their visit.

You have already left it too long.  Debra should have been told days

ago, the Brig told him sternly.

He is right, David.  You are being unfair to her.  She must have time to

come to terms, latitude for adjustment.

I'll tell her when I get the opportunity, David muttered doggedly.

When will that be?  the Brig demanded, the gold tooth glowing angrily in

its hirry nest.

Soon.

David, Ruby was placatory, it could happen at any time now.  She has

made strong and vigorous progress, it could happen much sooner than I

expected.  I'll do it, said David.

Can't you stop pushing me?  I said I'll do it, and I will.  just get off

my back, won't you.

Right.  The Brig was brisk now.  You've got until noon tomorrow.  If you

haven't told her by then, I'm going to do it.

You're a hard old bastard, aren't you.  David said bitterly, and anger

paled the Brig's lips and they could see the effort he made to force it

down.

I understand your reluctance, he spoke carefully.  I sympathize.

However, my first and only concern is for Debra.  You are indulging

yourself, David.  You are wallowing in self-pity, but I am not going to

allow that to hurt her more.  She has had enough.  No more delay.  Tell

her, and have done.

Yes, David nodded, all the fight gone out of him.  I will tell her.

When?  the Brig persisted.

Tomorrow, said David.  I will tell her tomorrow morning.

It was a bright warm morning, and the garden below his room was gay with

colour.  David lingered over breakfast in his suite, and he read all of

the morning papers from end to end, drawing out the moment to its

utmost.  He dressed with care afterwards, in a dark suit and a soft

lilac shirt, then, when he was ready to leave, he surveyed his image in

the full-length mirror of the dressing-room.

It's been a long time, and I'm still not at ease with you, he told the

figure in the mirror.  Let's pray that somebody loves you more than I

do.

The doorman had a cab ready for him under the portico, and he settled in

the back seat with the leaden feeling in his stomach.  The drive seemed

much shorter this morning, and when he paid off the cab and climbed the

steps to the main entrance of Groote Schuur, he glanced at his

wrist-watch.  It was a few minutes after eleven o'clock.  He was hardly

aware of the curious glances as he crossed the lobby to the elevators.

The Brig was waiting for him in the visitors room on Debra's floor.  He

came out into the corridor, tall and grim, and unfamiliar in his

civilian clothes.

What are you doing here?  David demanded, it was the ultimate intrusion

and he resented it fiercely.  I thought I might be of help.

Good on you!  said David sardonically, making no effort to hide his

anger.

The Brig let the anger slide past him, not acknowledging it with either

word or expression as he asked mildly, Would you like me to be with you?

No.  David turned away from him as he spoke.  I can manage, thank you,

and he set off along the corridor.

David!  the Brig called softly, and David hesitated and then turned

back.

What is it?  he asked.

For a long moment they stared at each other, then abruptly the Brig

shook his head.  No, he said.  It's nothin&'and watched the tall young

man with the monstrous head turn and walk swiftly towards Debra's room.

His footsteps echoed hollowly along the empty corridor, like the tread

of a man upon the gallows steps.

The morning was warm with a light breeze off the sea.  Debra sat in her

chair by the open window, and the warm air wafted the scent of the pine

forests to her.

Resinous and clean-smelling, it mingled with the faint whiff of the sea

and the kelp beds.  She felt quiet and deeply contented, even though

David was late this morning.  She had spoken to Ruby Friedman when he

made his rounds earlier, and he had teased her and hinted that she would

be able to leave in a week or so, and the knowledge rounded out her

happiness.

The warmth of the morning was drowsy, and she closed her eyes subduing

the strong rich flow of colour into a lulling cocoon of soft shades

which enfolded her, and she lay on the downy edges of sleep.

David found her like that, sitting in the deep chair with her legs

curled sideways under her and her face side-lit by the reflected

sunlight from the window.  The turban of white bandages that swathed her

head were crisp and fresh and her gown was white as a bride's, with

cascades of filmy lace.

He stood before her chair studying her with care, her face was pale, but

the dark bruises below her eyes had cleared and the set of her full lips

was serene and peaceful, With infinite tenderness he leaned forward and

laid his open hand against her cheek.  She stiffed drowsily, and opened

eyes that were honey brown and flecked with bright flakes of gold.  They

were beautiful, and vague, misty and sightless, then suddenly he saw

them change, the look of them was sharp and aware.  Her gaze focused,

and steadied.  She was looking at him, and seeing him.

Debra was roused from the warm edge of sleep by the touch upon her

cheek, as light as the fall of an autumn leaf.  She opened her eyes to

soft golden clouds, then suddenly like the morning wind slashing away

the sea mist, the clouds rolled open and she looked beyond to the

monster's head that swam towards her, a colossal disembodied head that

seemed must arise from the halls of hell itself, a head so riven with

livid lines and set with the bestial, crudely worked features of one of

the dark hosts, that she flung herself back in her chair, cringing away

from the terror of it, and she lifted her hands to her face and she

screamed.

David turned and ran from the room, slamming the door behind him, his

feet pounded down the passage and the Brig heard him coming and stepped

into the corridor.

David!  He reached out a hand to him, to hold him back, but David struck

out at him wildly, a blow that caught him in the chest throwing him back

heavily against the wall.  When he regained his balance, and staggered

from the wall clutching his chest, David was gone.  His frantic

footsteps clattered up from the well of the stairs.

David!  he called, his voice croaking.  Wait!  But he was gone, his

footsteps fading, and the Brig let him go.

instead he turned and hurried painfully down the corridor to where the

hysterical sobs of his daughter rang from behind the closed door.

She looked up from her cupped hands when she heard the door open, and

wonder dawned through the terror in her eyes.  I can see you, she

whispered, I can see.  He went to her quickly and took her in the

protective circle of his arms.

It's all right, he told her awkwardly, it's going to be all right.  She

clung to him, stifling the last of her sobs.

I had a dream, she murmured, a terrible dream, and she shuddered against

him.  Then suddenly she pulled away.

David, she cried, where is David?  I must see him.  The Brig stiffened,

realizing that she had not recognized reality.

I must see him, she repeated, and he replied heavily, You have already

seen him, my child.  For many seconds she did not understand, and then

slowly it came to her.

David?  she whispered, her voice catching and breaking.  That was David?

The Brig nodded, watching her face for the revulsion and the horror.

oh dear God, Debra's voice was fierce.  What have I done?  I screamed

when I saw him.  What have I done to him?  I've driven him away.  So you

still want to see him again?  the Brig asked.

How can you say that?  Debra blazed at him.  More than anything on this

earth.  You must know that!

even the way he is now?

If you think that would make any difference to me then you don't know me

very well.  Her expression changed again, becoming concerned.  Find him

for me, she ordered.  Quickly, before he has a chance to do something

stupid.

I don't know where he has gone, the Brig answered, his own concern

aroused by the possibility which Debra had hinted at.

There is only one place he would go when he is hurt like this, Debra

told him.  He will be in the sky.  'Yes, the Brig agreed readily.

Get down to Air Traffic Control, they'll let you speak to him.  The Brig

turned for the door and Debra's voice urged him on.

Find him for me, Daddy.  Please find him for me.

The Navajo seemed to come around on to a southerly heading under its own

volition.  It was only when the sleek, rounded nose settled on course,

climbing steadily upwards towards the incredibly tall and unsullied blue

of the heavens that David knew where he was going.

Behind him, the solid flat-topped mountain with its glistening wreaths

of clouds fell away.  This was the last of the land, and ahead lay only

the great barren wastes of ice and cruel water.

David glanced at his fuel gauges.  His vision was sully blurred, but he

saw the needles registering a little over the half-way mark on the

dials.

Three hours flying perhaps, and David felt a chill relief that there was

to be a term to his suffering.  He saw clearly then how it would end

down there in the wilderness below the shipping lanes.  He would

continue to bore for height, climbing steadily until at last his engines

starved and failed.  Then he would push the nose down into a vertical

dive and go in hard and fast, like the final suicide stoop of a maimed

and moribund eagle.

It would be over swiftly, and the metal fuselage would carry him down to

a grave that could not be as lonely as the desolation in which he now

existed.

The radio crackled and hummed into life.  He heard Air Traffic snarl his

call sign through the static crackle, and he reached for the switch to

kill the set, when the well-remembered voice stayed his hand.

David, this is the Brig.  The words and the tone in which they were

spoken transported him back to another cockpit in another land.

You disobeyed me once before.  Don't do it again.  David's mouth

tightened into a thin colourless line and again he reached for the

switch.  He knew they were watching him on the radar plot, that they

knew his course, and that the Brig had guessed what he intended.

Well, there was nothing they could do about it.

David, the Brig's voice softened, and some sure instinct made him choose

the only words to which David would listen.  I have just spoken to

Debra.  She wants you desperately.  David's hand hovered over the

switch.

Listen to me, David.  She needs you, she will always need you.  David

blinked, for he felt tears scalding his eyes once more.  His

determination wavered.  Come back, David.  For her sake, come back.  out

of the darkness of his soul, a light shone, a small light which grew and

spread until it seemed to fill him with its shimmering brightness.

David, this is the Brig.  Again it was the voice of the old warrior,

hard and uncompromising.  Return to base immediately.  David grinned,

and lifted the microphone to his mouth.  He thumbed the transmit button,

and spoke the old acknowledgement in Hebrew.

Beseder!  This is Bright Lance leader, homeward bound, and he brought

the Navajo around steeply.

The mountain was blue and low on the horizon, and he let the nose sink

gradually towards it.  He knew that it would not be easy, that it would

require all his courage and patience, but he knew that in the end it

would be worth it all.  Suddenly he needed desperately to be alone with

Debra, in the peace of Jabulani.