Часть 5

Глава 4

'I'm very grateful to you, Mr Malter. ' Danny said. 'For everything. '

'There is nothing to be grateful for, Danny, ' my father told him. 'You asked me for books and I made recommendations. Soon you will be able to read on your own and not need anyone to make recommendations. If you continue to come to the library I will show you how to use a bibliography. '

'I'll come, ' Danny said. 'Of course I'll come: 'I am happy to hear that, ' my father told him smiling.

'I -I think I'd better go now. It's very late. I hope the examination goes all right tomorrow, Reuven: I nodded.

'I'll come over to your house Saturday afternoon. Where do you live? '

I told him.

'Maybe we can go out for a walk, ' he suggested.

'I'd like that, ' I said eagerly.

'I'll see you, then, on Saturday. Goodbye, Mr Malter. '

'Goodbye, Danny. '

He went slowly up the hall. We watched him stop at the elevator and wait. Then the elevator came, and he was gone.

My father coughed into his handkerchief. 'I am very tired, ' he said. 'I had to rush to get here. Faculty meetings always take too long. When you are a professor in a university, you must persuade your colleagues not to have long faculty meetings. I must sit down. '

We sat down on the bench near the window. It was almost dark outside, and I could barely make out the people on the sidewalk below.

'So, ' my father said, 'how are you feeling? '

'I'm all right, abba. I'm a little bored. '

'Tomorrow you will come home. Dr Snydman will examine you at ten o'clock, and I will come to pick you up at one. If he could examine you earlier, I would·pick you up earlier. But he has an operation in the early morning, and I must teach a class at eleven. So I will be here at one. '

'Abba, I just can't get over that you've known Danny for so long. I can't get over him being the son of Reb Saunders. '

'Danny cannot get over it, either, ' my father said quietly.

My father shook his head and waved my unasked question away with his hand. He coughed again and took a deep breath. We sat for a while in silence. Billy's father came out of the ward. He walked slowly and heavily. I saw him go into the elevator.

'My father took another deep breath and got to his feet.

'Reuven, I must go home and go to bed. I am very tired. I was up almost all last night finishing the article, and now rushing here to see you after the faculty meeting… Too much. Too much. Come with me to the elevator. '

We walked up the hall and stood in front of the double doors of the elevator.

'We will talk over the Shabbat table, ' my father said. He had almost no voice left. 'It has been some day for you. '

'Yes, abba. '

The elevator came, and the doors opened. There were people inside. My father went in, turned, and faced me. 'My two baseball players, ' he said, and smiled. The doors closed on his smile.

I went back up the hall to the eye ward. I was feeling very tired, and I kept seeing and hearing Danny and my father talking about what had been going on between them in the library. When I got to my bed, I saw that not only was the curtain still around Mr Savo's bed, there was now a curtain around Billy's bed, too.

I went up to the glass-enclosed section under the blue light where two nurses were sitting and asked what had happened to Billy.

'He's asleep, ' one of the nurses said.

'Is he all right? '

'Of course. He is getting a good night's sleep. '

'You should be in bed now, young man, ' the other nurse said. I went back up the aisle and got into my bed.

The ward was quiet. After a while I fell asleep.

The windows were bright with sunlight. I lay in the bed a while, staring at the windows. Then I remembered it was Friday, and I sat up quickly. I heard someone say, 'Good to see you again, Bobby boy. How've you been? ' and I turned, and there was Mr Savo, lying on his pillow, the curtains no longer drawn around his bed. His long, stubbed face looked pale, and he wore a thick bandage over his right eye in place of the black patch. But he was grinning at me broadly, and I saw him wink his left eye.

'Had a bad night, kid. Comes from playing ball. Never could see anything in chasing a ball around. '

'It's wonderful to see you again, Mr Savo! '

'Yeah, kid. Been quite a trip. Gave the Doc a real scare. '

'You had Billy and me worried, too, Mr Savo. ' I turned to look at Billy. I saw the curtains had been pulled back from his bed. Billy was gone.

'Took him out about two hours ago, kid. Big day for him. Good little kid. Lots of guts. Got to give him that three-rounder one day. '

I stared at Billy's empty bed.

'I got to take it real easy, kid. Can't do too much talking. Have the old ring post down on my back. '

He closed his eye and lay still.

When I prayed that morning it was all for Billy, every word. I kept seeing his face and vacant eyes. I didn't eat much breakfast. Soon it was ten o'clock, and Mrs Carpenter came to get me. Mr Savo lay very still in his bed, his eye closed.

The examination room was down the hall, a few doors away from the elevator. Its walls and ceiling were white, its floor was covered with squares of light and dark brown tile. There was a black leather chair over against one of the walls and instrument cabinets everywhere. A white examination table stood to the left of the chair. Attached to the floor at the right of the chair was a large, stubby-looking metal rod with a horizontal metal arm. Some kind of optical instrument formed part of the end of this metal arm.

Dr Snydman was in the room, waiting for me. He looked tired.

He smiled but didn't say anything. Mrs Carpenter motioned me onto the examination table. Dr Snydham came over and began to take the bandage off. I looked up at him out of my right eye. His hands worked very fast, and I could see the hairs on his fingers.

'Now, son, listen to me, ' Dr Snydman said. 'Your eye has been closed inside the bandage all the time. When the last bandage comes off, you may open it. We'll dim the light in here, so it won't hurt you. '

The Chosen

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Chaim Potok

Глава 4

Часть 5

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