（外文电子版资料）Tanith Lee - Crying in The Rain.pdf

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Tanith%20Lee%20-%20Crying%20in%20The%20Rain.txt CRYING IN THE RAIN By Tanith Lee [19 jan 2001 - scanned for #bookz, proofread and released - v1] A moving story of a life in a world half-destroyed by military folly and the nuclear Sword of Damocles. The soaring talent of the author of The Birthgrave and the Flat Earth novels is at its best in this short but very disturbing tale. There was a weather Warning that day, so to start with we were all indoors. The children were watching the pay-TV and I was feeding the hens on the shutyard. It was about 9 a.m. Suddenly my mother came out and stood at the edge of the yard. I remember how she looked at me: I had seen the look before, and although it was never explained, I knew what it meant. In the same way she appraised the hens, or checked the vegetables and salad in their grow-trays. Today there was a subtle difference, and I recognized the difference too. It seemed I was ready. Greena, she said. She strode across to the hen-run, glanced at the disappointing hens. There had only been three eggs all week, and one of those had registered too high. But in any case, she wasnt concerned with her poultry just now. Greena, this morning were going into the Center. What about the Warning, Mum? Oh, that. Those idiots, theyre often wrong. Anyway, nothing until noon, they said. All Clear till then. And well be in by then. But, Mum, I said, there wont be any buses. There never are when theres a Warning. Well have to walk. Her face, all hard and eaten back to the bone with life and living, snapped at me like a rat-trap: So well walk. Dont go on and on, Greena. What do you think your legs are for? I tipped the last of the feed from the pan and started toward the stair door. And talking of legs, said my mother, put on your stockings. And the things we bought last time. There was always this palaver. It was normally because of the cameras, particularly those in the En