Green shadows, white whale v5 by Ray Bradbury Read Free Book Online Page A

know it has!"
    "And the champagne?"
    "The worst, but it's here."
    "Better get hold of Heeber at his pub. Tell him to bring in the best. God, I'll pay for it. It's time Tom scared the moths out of his wallet, but hell! Call Heeber!"
    "The alien from Mars just did that—"
    "Is he there? Put him on!"
    Ricki threw the phone at me. I dodged but caught.
    "John, I've finished the Saint Elmo's fire scene and—"
    "To hell with that, kid. I've fallen—"
    "With whom!" I said automatically.
    "No, no, for Christ's sake, no woman] This is more important. Off a horse\"
    "Fell off?"
    "Shh! Don't let Ricki hear! She'd cancel the hunt! I'm okay. Just some pulled ligaments. Unconscious five minutes and limping like mad. The Gimp, by God, the Gimp. But I'll be home late today. Check the last flight from London. I rode at Longchamps at dawn two days ago."
    "I thought you were casting—"
    "Sure! But the damn horse jumped when some car horn blew. I flew a mile high. I'm okay now. With a slight tendency, without warning, to fall down and writhe in agony when my back gives. Don't let me scare you, kid."
    "I'm scared, John. If you die, I'm dead!"
    "Nice sentiment. You're the screwed-tight optimist. Just tell me I won't fall down and writhe with Saint Vitus at the wedding."
    "Heck, you'd do it just to steal the show."
    "Why not! Hire a cab, pick me up at the airport tonight, tell me the Saint Elmo's fire scene on the way. Can I stay in your room at the Royal Hibernian overnight? I should be walking without crutches by morning."
    "Holy God, John, crutches?"
    "Pipe down! Is Ricki in the room, for Christ's sake?"
    "She went to answer the door. Wait ..."
    Ricki stood in the hall looking at a piece of paper in her hand. Her face was a fall of snow and her eyes were beginning to drop tears. She came and handed me the paper.
    John's voice said, "I hear someone crying."
    "They are, John."
    I read from the scribbled note.
    " 'Alma Kimball O'Rourke fell under her horse today. She was killed instantly and the horse was destroyed.' "
    "Omigod," said John, five hundred miles away in Paris.
    "She was the wife of the Kildare Hunt's captain, wasn't she?" I asked.
    "Jesus, yes," said John quietly.
    I finished reading the note. " The funeral's day after tomorrow. The entire hunt will be there.' "
    "My God," murmured John, growing quieter still.
    "That means . . . ?" I said.
    "The hunt wedding," Ricki said, "must be called off."
    John heard and said, "No, no. Only delayed."
    Mike drove me into Dublin to find Tom, who had taken a room at the Russell Hotel. He and Lisa had fought about that too. He wanted to stay at Huston's with her. But the Catholics and the Protestants, she pointed out, were both watching. So it was the hotel for Tom until the ceremony. Besides, he could play the stock market better, alone in his Dublin hotel room. That cinched it. Tom checked in.
    I found Tom in the lobby of the hotel, mailing some letters.
    I handed him the note and said nothing.
    There was a long pause, and then I could see the thin transparent inner lids of Tom's eyes, his eagle's eyes or his lizard's eyes or his cat's eyes, slide down between us. They did not slam like the great gates of Kiev, but it was just as final, just as definite, just as complete. The noise his eyelids made closing, while he continued to stare at me, was awful in its silence. I was outside in my world, if my world existed at all, and Tom was inside his.
    "She's dead, Tom," I said, but that was useless. Tom had switched off whatever batteries kept him tuned to the audible universe, to any air that held words and phrases. I said it again. "She's dead."
    Tom turned and strode up the stairs.
    I spoke to Mike at the door. "The minister? The Unitarian. We'd better go tell him."
    Behind me, I heard the elevator door open.
    Tom was there in the doorway. He did not step out. I hurried over.
    "Yes, Tom?"
    "I was just thinking," said Tom. "Someone should cancel the wedding cake."
    "Too late. It arrived as I was