Show Me a Huia!

Начало книги

The gangly young man in T-shirt and jeans bounded two at a time up the stairs of the Geology Department, then loped along a deserted corridor lined with cases and cupboards filled with ancient rock specimens, whistling at the top of his lungs.

It was nine o’clock in the morning two weeks before Christmas at the University of Auckland. The white Italianate tower with its delicate wedding cake tracery soared into a Mediterranean-blue sky. Beneath its shade the dew still sparkled on the dark green, leathery leaves of the taraire trees, but the cicadas were singing their hearts out as they welcomed the first heat of a perfect summer’s day.

The students had all gone. Exam papers had been sat and marked, and results had been awaited and received, celebrated, rationalised or commiserated with until at last these feelings faded in the stress of finding holiday jobs. Finally, as Christmas neared, for those who had not found jobs came the delicious anticipation of holidays in the sun on far-off beaches where the long waves curled and crashed on the golden sand.

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