"Archer, Geoffrey - The Burma Legacy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Archer Geoffrey)

do. The only possible way to see out a century that had ended so badly.
As they set about the task of getting drunk, easing the wine's impact with
plates of chicken, prawns, noodles and rice, Sam did his best to lighten the
mood by indulging in a little mild flirtation. This was a woman who'd
shared his bed and shown no interest in having sex with him - a challenge,
if ever there was. But Midge didn't respond to his gentle advances. Hardly
noticed them, her mind firmly elsewhere.
Soon the TV in the corner began emitting whoops and cries as people
closer to the international dateline began welcoming the new century.
Midge glanced at the screen and raised her glass.
"To a better world," she said sombrely.
"Fat chance," Sam replied, emptying his again.
At 9.00 p.m. Bangkok time, it was Australia's turn to enter the year 2000
and they swung their chairs towards the screen. Midge hugged herself and
bit her lip as the Sydney Harbour Bridge erupted with fireworks. A few
moments later she fell apart, tears streaming down her cheeks. Sam moved
his chair next to hers and put an arm round her shoulder. She sobbed into
his shirt.
"Shit! I'm not going to do this . . ." She dried her face on one of the
napkins that had come with the food, then cut the TV sound and turned
her back on the set. "Jee-sus! They're only bloody fireworks"
As the hours ticked on towards their own midnight, she drank with a
growing determination. Her conversation began to ramble. Sam got an
impression of a life peopled by bosses out to get her and by male colleagues
jealous of her success.
Before long the name "Barry" began featuring in her babble. Sam soon
twigged the man had been a teenage sweetheart, but was now dead. A
"loveable loser" she called him, someone who'd dropped out of the rat race
just when she began winning heats.
"So your ways parted," Sam suggested.
"I guess we had different expectations of life."
"But you went on loving him?"
"Sure I did." She chewed her lip again. "Then he passed away. In a squat.
Poisoned by contaminated heroin."
"I'm sorry." Now he understood why her pursuit of Jimmy Squires had
become a crusade.
"It's history," she insisted, but Sam knew it was her present too. He felt
powerfully drawn to her. Women with tortured pasts were as tempting to
him as caviar.
By the time Bangkok's midnight approached they were both extremely
sozzled. When the hour struck and the city beyond the hotel windows
began clattering with firecrackers, they slumped together in a Millennium
embrace. Midge made no attempt to end it this time, so he kissed her.
When she still didn't push him away, he put a hand on her breast and was
encouraged by the sound of her breath quickening.
Her face was a blur to him. He cupped it in his hands and tried to
articulate his feelings.
"Wanna go to bed with you."
"I guessed."
"Make love."