"Andrews, V C - crystal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andrews V.C)

Kari's side; I thought. Before I could ask about he
side, she volunteered the mformation.
"I don't have any brothers or sisters," Thelna
said. "^mother wasn't supposed to have an
children. She had breast cancer when she was onl
seventeen, and the doctors advised her not to have
children.Theо, late in life, when she was in he

14

CRYSTAL
early thirties, she became pregnant with me. My
father was forty-one at the time. Now my mother
is fifty-eight and my father is sixty-nine.
"I bet you're wondering why we don't have any
children of our own. Before you, I mean," she
added quickly,
"It's none of my business," I said.
"Oh, sure it is. Everything that's our business is
your business now. We're going to be a family, so
we have to share arid be honest with each other,
right, Kari?" "Absolutely,"
he said, signaling to change lanes
and pass the car ahead of us.
"Karl's sperm count is too low," she said with a
smile, as if she were delighted about it.
"I don't know if we should talk about that,
Thelma." The back pf Karl's neck turned pink
with embarrassment.
"Oh, of course we can. She's old enough and
probably knows everything, there is to know. Kids
today are very advanced-How can they not help
it, with all that's on television? Do you watch
television much. Crystal?"
"No," I answered. ;
"Oh," she said, the excitement fading in her
face for the first time since we had met. Her eyes
looked like tiny flashlights with weakened batteries.
Then she thought of something and smiled
again. "Well, that's probably because you didn't
have much opportunity in a home with so many

(5

V. C.ANDREWS
other children. Anyway, we did try to have children.
As soon as Kari determined it was financially
sensible for us, we tried, right, Kari?"
He nodded.
"Nothing happenedno matter how we planned