Cruel Miracles by Card Orson Scott
Author:Card, Orson Scott [Card, Orson Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Age Range 2 Older Audience, Anthologies
ISBN: 9780812523041
Amazon: 0812523040
Goodreads: 92955
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 1990-01-01T08:00:00+00:00
ST. AMYâS TALE
Mother could kill with her hands. Father could fly. These are miracles. But they were not miracles then. Mother Elouise taught me that there were no miracles then.
I am the child of Wreckers, born while the angel was in them. This is why I am called Saint Amy, though I perceive nothing in me that should make me holier than any other old woman. Yet Mother Elouise denied the angel in her, too, and it was no less there.
Sift your fingers through the soil, all you who read my words. Take your spades of iron and your picks of stone. Dig deep. You will find no ancient works of man hidden there. For the Wreckers passed through the world, and all the vanity was consumed in fire; all the pride broke in pieces when it was smitten by Godâs shining hand.
Elouise leaned on the rim of the computer keyboard. All around her the machinery was alive, the screens displaying information. Elouise felt nothing but weariness. She was leaning because, for a moment, she had felt a frightening vertigo. As if the world underneath the airplane had dissolved and slipped away into a rapidly receding star and she would never be able to land.
True enough, she thought. Iâll never be able to land, not in the world I knew.
âGetting sentimental about the old computers?â
Elouise, startled, turned in her chair and faced her husband, Charlie. At that moment the airplane lurched, but like sailors accustomed to the shifting of the sea, they adjusted unconsciously and did not notice the imbalance.
âIs it noon already?â she asked.
âItâs the mortal equivalent of noon. Iâm too tired to fly this thing anymore, and itâs a good thing Billâs at the controls.â
âHungry?â
Charlie shook his head. âBut Amy probably is,â he said.
âVoyeur,â said Elouise.
Charlie liked to watch Elouise nurse their daughter. But despite her accusation, Elouise knew there was nothing sexual in it. Charlie liked the idea of Elouise being Amyâs mother. He liked the way Amyâs sucking resembled the sucking of a calf or a lamb or a puppy. He had said, âItâs the best thing we kept from the animals. The best thing we didnât throw away.â
âBetter than sex?â Elouise had asked. And Charlie had only smiled.
Amy was playing with a rag doll in the only large clear space in the airplane, near the exit door. âMommy Mommy Mamommy Mommy-o,â Amy said. The child stood and reached to be picked up. Then she saw Charlie. âDaddy Addy Addy.â
âHi,â Charlie said.
âHi,â Amy answered. âHa-ee.â She had only just learned to close the diphthong, and she exaggerated it. Amy played with the buttons on Elouiseâs shirt, trying to undo them.
âGreedy,â Elouise said, laughing.
Charlie unbuttoned the shirt for her, and Amy seized on the nipple after only one false grab. She sucked noisily, tapping her hand gently against Elouiseâs breast as she ate.
âIâm glad weâre so near finished,â Elouise said. âSheâs too old to be nursing now.â
âThatâs right. Throw the little bird out of the nest.â
âGo to bed,â Elouise said.
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