《An Autumn Land and Other Stories 》作者：- Clifford D Simak【EPUB】

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The Autumn Land Clifford D. Simak He sat on the porch in the rocking chair with the loose board creaking as he rocked. Acrossthe street the old white-haired lady cut a bouquet of chrysanthemums in the never-endingautumn. Where he could see between the ancient houses to the distant woods and wastelands asoft Indian-summer blue lay upon the land. The entire village was soft and quiet as old thingsoften are - a place constructed for a dreaming mind rather than a living being. It was an hourtoo early for his other old and shaky neighbor to come fumbling down the grass-grown sidewalktapping the bricks with his seeking cane. And he would not hear the distant children at theirplay until dusk had fallen - if he heard them then. He did not always hear them. There were books to read but he did not want to read them. He could go into the backyard andspade and rake the garden once again reducing the soil to a finer texture to receive the seedwhen it could be planted - if it ever could be planted - but there was slight incentive in thefurther preparation of a seed bed against a spring that never came. Earlier much earlierbefore he knew about the autumn and the spring he had mentioned garden seeds to the Milkmanwho had been very much embarrassed. He had walked the magic miles and left the world behind in bitterness and when he first hadcome here had been content to live in utter idleness to be supremely idle and to feel no guiltor shame at doing absolutely nothing or as close to absolutely nothing as a man was able. Hehad come walking down the autumn street in the quietness and the golden sunshine and the firstperson that he saw was the old lady who lived across the street. She had been waiting at thegate of her picket fence as if she had known he would be coming and she had said to himYoure a new one come to live with us. There are not many come these days. That is your houseacross the street from me and I know well be good neighbors. He had reached up his hand todoff his hat to her forgetting that he had no hat. My name is Nelson Rand hed told her. Iam an engineer. I will try to be a decent neighbor. He had the impression that she stoodtaller and straighter than she did but old and bent as she might be there was a comfortinggraciousness about her. You will please come in she said. I have lemonade and cookies.There are other people there but I shall not introduce them to you. He waited for her toexplain why she would not introduce him but there was no explanation and he followed her downthe time-mellowed walk of bricks with great beds of asters and chrysanthemums a mass of coloron either side of it. In the large high-ceilinged living room with its bay windows forming window seats filledwith massive furniture from another time and with a small blaze burning in the fireplace shehad shown him to a seat before a small table to one side of the fire and had sat down oppositehim and poured the lemonade and passed