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— Да он же просто болван и гад.

“A stupid slob,” she said, “who's trying to prove something and is not entirely sure what he wants to prove.”

“That he has more muscle...”

“No,” she told me, “that's not it at all.”

— Но этот болван и гад что-то хочет доказать всему свету, а что — и сам не знает.

— Что у него силы, как у быка...

— Нет, — сказала Нэнси, — совсем не в том суть.

Two kids came tearing out of the garden and vanished down the street. There was no sign of Hiram. And no more hollering. He had done his job; he had chased them off.

I sat down on the step beside her.

“Brad,” she said, “it's not going well. I can feel it isn't going well.”

Из сада во весь дух выбежали два мальчугана и мигом скрылись в конце улицы. Хайрама не было видно. И вопли затихли. Он свое дело сделал: прогнал мальчишек.

Я сел на ступеньку рядом с Нэнси.

— Брэд, — сказала она. — Все очень нехорошо. Все идет как-то не так.

I shook my head, agreeing with her.

“I was down at the village hall,” she said. “Where that terrible, shrivelled creature is conducting a clinic.

Daddy's down there, too. He's helping out. But I couldn't stay. It's awful.”"

"“What's so bad about it? That thing—whatever you may call it fixed up Doc. He's up and walking around and he looks as good as new. And Floyd Caldwell's heart and...”

Я только головой мотнул: конечно, она права.

— Я была в муниципалитете, — продолжала Нэнси. — Там это ужасное существо, эта сморщенная обезьяна всех лечит. Папа тоже там. Помогает.

А я просто не могла оставаться. Это невыносимо.

— Ну, что уж тут такого плохого? Этот... это существо — называй как хочешь, — вылечил нашего дока Фабиана. Док опять на ногах, бодрый, будто заново родился. И у Флойда Колдуэлла больше не болит сердце, и...

She shuddered. “That's the terrible thing about it. They are as good as new. They're better than new. They aren't cured, Brad; they are repaired, like a machine. It's like witchcraft. It's indecent. This wizened thing looks them over and he never makes a sound, but just glides around and looks them over and you can see that he's not looking at the outside of them but at their very insides.

I don't know how you know this, but you do. As if he were reaching deep inside of them and...”

She stopped. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I shouldn't talk this way. “ It's not very decent talk.”

Ее передернуло.

— Вот это и ужасно. Они все как будто заново родились. Стали крепче и здоровей, чем когда-либо.