"Bennett, Cherie - Sunset Island 012 - Sunset Surf" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bennett Cherie)

"Atonal music for the post-industrial age," Donald Zuckerman singsonged, rolling his eyes heavenward.
"That's right," lan approved. "You can't think of these hulked-out appliances we play as appliances or you miss the whole point!"
"What is the point?" Becky demanded, her hands on her hips. "I hope you figure it out before I reach middle age."
"Let me review," lan said, ignoring Becky and folding his arms superciliously. The entire group groaned. "Who formed this band, brought you all into it, picked the music, and then led this band to its first success, the gig at Cleve Parker's party?" lan asked.
"You did," the whole band chanted, sounding bored to death.
Sam recalled that the Zit People had played at a birthday party for a thirteen-year-old kid earlier in the summer, and
that they actually sounded almost okay on one song, an industrialized version of "Motherless Child."
"Then for the moment, and for the foreseeable future," lan said, "I continue to be the Sultan of Selection. That is, I choose the tunes."
"Your dad's going to lose it," Becky warned.
"Yeah," Allie agreed. "When he hears 'I Run for Cover' done the Zit People way, we are history."
"We wouldn't want to tick off your dad," Mark Woods said nervously, biting at a hangnail.
lan's face got bright red. "Look, if you guys are in this band just because of my dad, then you should get out right now. Well?"
"No Д . . uh, it's cool," Donald assured him nervously. "You know your dad better than we do, I guess."
"Am I getting this right?" Sam whispered to Carrie. "The Zits here are planning to cover Graham's number one hit?"
"Looks like it," Carrie winced. "God, I hope Graham doesn't have a fit."
"Well, I'd have a fit if I heard my biggest hit played on a broken-down washing machine and a Cuisinart!" Sam exclaimed.
"Okay everyone, we're about to make 'I Run for Cover' ours!" lan declared, standing in front of the cassette player. "We're doing it the Zit People way! Places, everyone!"
Sam and Carrie watched as Allie and Becky slunk back to their spots at the backup singers' microphone, and each boy took his place behind a hulked-out appliance.
"Okay, one . . . two . . . one, two, three, fourЧ" lan counted off and then flipped the switch on the tape deck. Then he ran to take his place in front of the microphone. The opening strains of his father's smash hit filled the room:
"I run for cover Under cover of darkness You shine your lovelight In a spotlight so heartless"
Within seconds, Graham's gorgeous rock baritone was completely drowned out by
the sound of metal pipes banging on a microwave oven, a Cuisinart, a washing machine and a Mr. Coffee, and by Allie and Becky Jacobs repeating the words "Under cover, under cover, under cover," again and again.
"Uh, let's make our escape!" Carrie yelled into Sam's ear. Sam nodded emphatically, and the two girls slipped out of the basement while the song was still playing.
They ran into the Templeton's den, Sam shaking her head and laughing hysterically. The sounds of the Zit People could still be faintly heard, but the Templeton's basement was pretty much soundproof. Thank God, Sam thought.
"They've got a ways to go, don't you think?" Carrie asked, as she and Sam settled down on the Templeton's couch and Sam flipped on MTV. As fate would have it, the music video of the original "I Run for Cover" was just beginning. Sam and Carrie laughed until their sides hurt.
"Uh, yeah," Sam replied, when the song was over, still shaking her head back and forth. "They've got a ways to go. And at the rate they're going, they'll never get there!" Both girls cracked up again.
"Listen, I hate to break into this levity, but what did you decide about Josh and Billy?" Sam asked, becoming serious. She reached for some candy in a dish on the coffee table.
"I've basically made a decision about it," Carrie told Sam.
"So?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows.
"It's over with Josh," Carrie said, sighing, "so I'm going to make it really over."
"No way!" Sam exclaimed.
"Yep," Carrie said, staring at the television with a faraway look in her eyes. "I'm going to write to Josh, wish him the very best and tell him that I hope we can stay friends in the future."
"You told him that before but you couldn't stick to it," Sam reminded her friend.
"Well, this time I'm determined," Carrie declared. "I'm sticking to it."
"Whoa, baby!" Sam exclaimed. "A real life Dear John letter! Lemme read it before you actually send it. Then again, don't bother. That's one kind of letter 111 never be sending. Two guys for every girl are odds I can live with."
Carrie smiled grimly. "I've got to do what's fair. It's not going to be easy, but I'm going to do it anyway."
"Hope it's not a letter you're going to regret," Sam said lightly.
"I'll never know till I do it, will I?" Carrie asked.
All Sam could do was nod in reply.
Three hours later, rehearsal over, Sam and the twins returned to the Jacobses' house. It was midafternoon, and the mail had arrived, per usual, around one o'clock. While the twins went into the kitchen to fix themselves a snack, Sam flipped through the stack of correspondence. There were the usual bills for Dan Jacobs, the twins' father, a sweepstakes announcement, a copy of Newsweek magazine, and at the bottom of the pile, a letter addressed to Sam with a return address in Oakland, California.
A letter from my birth mother, Sam thought to herself, and as usual when she saw the now-familiar return address, she had mixed emotions.
It had been devastating to find out at the age of nineteen, purely by chance, that she
was adopted. Adopted! And her parents had never told her! It was the biggest shock of her life. For a while she'd been so angry with her parents that she'd barely spoken with them. How could she possibly trust them after such a major betrayal?
Sam decided to search for her birth mother, and through an organization called the Adoption Finders Agency, Sam had discovered that at the very same time her birth mother was searching for her!
As Sam stared at Susan's letter, she recalled how her birth mother had flown to Sunset Island from her home in Oakland, California to meet Sam. Sam had fantasized that her birth mother would be tall, gorgeous and glamorous, but Susan had turned out to be short and only moderately attractiveЧin a quiet sort of way.
During Susan's visit, Sam got the second biggest shock of her lifeЧSusan told her the story of how and why she'd given Sam up for adoption.
She explained to Sam that she'd already been married at the time, and had been told she could never conceive a child, so she and her husband, Carson, had adopted a
baby. A few years later, Susan's marriage was breaking up and she went to Israel to be alone and to think. There she met and fell in love with an Israeli soldier named Michael Blady.
When she returned to California with the intention of ending her marriage, she found out her son, Adam, was gravely ill. She also found out that she could get pregnant, because she was. Somehow while Susan and Carson kept up their vigil at Adam's bedside, they put their marriage back together. When Carson found out Susan was pregnant by another man, he insisted that Susan have an abortion or give the child up for adoption. If she refused, their marriage would be over.
Susan chose to have the child and put it up for adoption. Sam had bitterly asked Susan why she bothered to give birth to her at all, and Susan explained that she always prayed that one day she would find Sam and get to know her, and now her prayers had come true.