Old sci fi historia om en mamma som offrar sig så att ett barn inte kommer att dö ensam i en toxisk regnskur

18

Det var en del av en antologi som krävdes att läsa i Kanada, kanske 30 år sedan.

En kvinna och hennes dotter bor på en toxisk planet. Berättelsen kan ha fått höra från dotterns POV. Mamman är kall, strikt. Huset (hi tech?) Är hermetiskt förseglat.

En toxisk regnstorm börjar. Den "kalla" mamnen ser en liten tjej ute på gatan och gråter i regnet. Ingen kommer ut i giftstormen. Alla grannar är säkra inuti och ser barnet dö. Förutom den "kalla" moderen. Hon går utåt för att hålla barnet (vet att hon själv kommer att dö) bara en liten tjej som hon aldrig mött kommer inte att dö ensam i regnet. Dottern inser att hennes mamma var full av kärlek till henne, men rädd för att känna den eller visa den i en sådan farlig värld.

    
uppsättning Jose Casillas 25.01.2018 16:46

1 svar

8

Detta är " Crying in the Rain " av Tanith Lee .

I do keep remembering one morning, that morning of a colossal rain, when I was six or seven. I was trying to look out at the forbidden world, with my nose pressed to the Sealtite. All I could see through the distorting material was a wavering leaden rush of liquid. And then I saw something so alien I let out a squeal.
[...]My mother came to see. Together we looked through the fall of rain, to where a tiny girl, only about a year old, was standing-out on the street. Not knowing how she got there--strayed from some squat, most likely. She wore a pair of little blue shorts and nothing else, and she clutched a square of ancient blanket that was her doll. Even through the sealed pane and the rainfall you could see she was bawling and crying in terror.
"Jesus Christ and Mary the Mother," said my own mother on a breath. Her face was scoured white as our sink. But her eyes were blazing fires, hot enough to quench the rain. And next second she was thrusting me into the TV room, locking me in, shouting, Stay there don't you move or I'll murder you!
Then I heard both our front doors being opened. Shut. When they opened again and shut again, I heard a high-pitched infantile roaring. The roar got louder and possessed the house. Then it fell quiet. I realized my my mother had flown out into the weather and grabbed the lost child and brought her under shelter.
Of course, it was no use. When my mother carried her to the emergency unit next day, after the All Clear, the child was dying. She was so tiny. She held her blanket to the end and scorned my mother, the nurse, the kindly needle of oblivion. Only the blanket was her friend. Only the blanket had stayed and suffered with her in the rain.

    
svaret ges 07.12.2018 11:02