"Brooks, Terry - Knight of the Word 02 - A Knight of the Word 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)
They stood in the middle of the sidewalk staring at each other. People walked by, a few glancing over curiously, but neither one paid the least attention. For Nest, it was as if time had stopped completely. She wasn't prepared for how good it was to see him. She wasn't prepared far haw good it made her feel. She had come looking for John Ross because she believed she must if she did not want his death on her conscience, and not because she felt she needed to see him. She had lived five years with such ambivalent feelings about him that she could not come to terms with whether she ever wanted to see him again. Now, in an instant in time, five hears of uncertainty were swept away, and she knew that coming to find him, that seeing him, was exactly the right thing.
'I just can't believe that you're standing here' He opened his arms to emphasize the extent of his amazement, ░I suppose I should have written you or called, but I wasn't sure . . . well, that you would want to speak to me'
She smiled sadly. `Neither was I. Not until right now.'
'How did you ever find me?'
She shrugged. 'I had some help:
`I didn't think anyone knew where I was. I haven't talked to anyone, told anyone here about. .
`I know. They told me you've kept your life a mystery'
'You've been inside already:' He glanced toward the doorway. `You met Simon?' She nodded. `And Stef?' She nodded again. `Ray, Carole, all the others?'
'Some of them, anyway. The lady at the reception desk, Della, sent me downstairs to wait far you. I met everyone there. They were amazed you had any friends from the past: She gave him a meaningful look. 'They were amazed you even had a past'
He nodded slowly, 'I expect so. I dart ever talk about it' He hesitated. `I don't know what to say. Or where to begin. Things have changed for me, Nest. A lot of things'
'I know that, too; she said..
He looked closely at her now, and suddenly there was suspicion as well as curiosity mirrored in his eyes. `I've read some articles about you; he said, his words tentative, cautious. `I know you're a student at Northwestern University, that you're still running competitively, that you're good enough that you're expected to represent the United States in the next Olympics! He hesitated. 'Is that why you're here?'
She waited a heartbeat, meeting his intense gaze.. `No. I came here looking for you. I was sent. By the Lady'
He stared at her, astonishment filling his eyes. When he spoke, his void was unsteady. `The Lady sent you?'
'Is there somewhere we could talk about it?' she asked, no longer comfortable standing out in the open where they could be heard. ░Just for a little while:
He seemed distracted, uncertain. `Sure. of course' He glanced toward the building.
`No, not in there; she said quickly. 'Somewhere else, please:
He nodded slowly, All right. It's almost noon. Why don't we go down to the waterfront, and I'll buy you a northwest kind of lunch. Some clam chowder, some fish and chips. How would that be?
`That would be good' she said.
He didn't bother with going in to tell anyone he was leaving. He didn't even pause to consider doing so. He simply motioned her toward the direction from which she had come, and they began to walk. They crossed Second Avenue, passed by Waterfall Park, and moved over to the island platform in the center of Main where the trolley stopped on its way down to the waterfront. They sat together an the wrought-iron bench and stared out over the cobblestones of Occidental Park, waiting.
`Do you know what I do now?' he asked after a minute. His tone of voice was distant and weary, as if he were at the start of a long journey.
'I know You work for Simon Lawrence at Fresh Start' she replied. `I know about the work Fresh Start does'
He nodded. 'It's important work, Nest. The most important work I've done in a long time. Maybe ever' He paused. `Did the Lady tell you about me?'
Nest nodded, saying nothing.
She nodded a second time. It's what you believe anyway, she thought, but she didn't speak the words.
They didn't say anything further for a time, wrapped in their separate thoughts amid the jumbled noise of traffic and people's voices. This is going to be hard, Nest thought. He was not going to want to hear what she had to say. Maybe he would simply refuse to listen. Maybe he would just walk away. She could see him doing that. He had walked away already from the mast important part of his life.
`Do you still live on the park?' he asked finally.
'Yes. 'She glanced at him. 'But Grandpa died last May, so I live
there alone'
She could sec the pain reflect in his face. He was remembering the time he had spent in their house, pretending to be someone he was not. He was remembering how he had left things with her grandfather 'I'm sorry he's gone' he said finally. 'I liked him very much'
Nest nodded. `Everybody did. Pick is still there, looking after the park. He wants the to come back and help him like I used to'
`That would be very hard for you now, I expect,' he said.
'It is,' she agreed.
`Things change. Life changes. Nothing stays the same'
She wasn't sure she agreed with this, but she nodded anyway, not wanting to get into a debate about it.
A few moments later, the trolley arrived and they boarded. Ross gave the conductor two tokens, and they took a seat near the front. They rode the trolley down a hill between rows of buildings, under a two-tiered viaduct that supported an expressway, over some railroad tracks, and then turned right on Alaskan Way to follow the waterfront north. It was too noisy inside the open-air trolley for conversation, so they rode in silence.
At the Madison Street stop, they got off and walked across Alaskan Way to the piers. Orange cranes stretched steel limbs skyward at &e edges of the loading docks along Elliott Bay, dominating the skyline. Huge container ships piled with freight sat at rest beneath their cabled lifts, some being unloaded of the shipments they had brought from abroad and others loaded with whatever was being exported. Trawlers were tied up at the ends of several piers, winches cinched, nets drawn up and folded. To their immediate left, a terminal buttressed by huge clumps of wooden pilings provided docking slips for the ferries that serviced the islands and the Olympic Peninsula. Tour boats filled with passengers :nosed their way along the waterfront, poking into the channels that ran back to the ends of the docking slips of Harbour Island and iota the Duwamish Rover.. Small sailboats with brightly coloured,, grind-filled spinnakers rode the crest of the silver-tipped blue waves, and tine fishing boats dotted the bay, straddling the shipping lanes on the open water.
The piers closest to where they departed the trolley were dominated by long, Wooden buildings housing shops and restaurants. The one to which John Ross took Nest was painted yellow with red letters that identified it as Pier 56. They navigated the noonday" crowd strolling the walkways out front and pushed through the doors of a glassed-in entryway beneath a sign that announced they were guests of Elliott's Oyster House. The entryway was stuffy and hot. A hostess greeted them and led them to a booth near the back of the dining area, further out on the pier toward the water. Nest seated herself across from Ross and looked out at the view. The sun shone brightly through scattered clouds, and the sky was azure and depthless. In the distance, beyond the bay and the sound, the peaks of the Olympics gleamed whitely against the horizon.
The waitress brought them water and menus and asked if they were ready to order. Nest glanced at the menu, then at Ross, arching one eyebrow. `Two bowls of chowder, two orders of the fish and chips, and two iced teas; he told the waitress, and she picked up the menus and left.
Nest looked out the window again. `This is a wonderful city,' she told him.
`People who visit when it's not raining always say that,' he advised, shrugging.
`I guess I'm lucky to be here now'
`Stay a few more days, and you can see what it's like the rest of the time:
She looked out at the tour boats, which were anchored right next to where they were sitting. A small crowd of tourists was boarding one of two tied up in the docking slips. filing through the interior and out onto the upper and lower decks. They were bundled up against the chill, and they all carried cameras at the ready". Nest thought she would like to be going out with them. She would like to look back at the city from the water, see if the view was as spectacular from that direction. Maybe she would do so later,
`Sa you like your new life," she said to him, looking for a place to start.
He nodded slowly. ░I like what I do at Fresh Start. I like Simon Lawrence and the others who work for him. I've met someone I'm very much in love with, and who is Very much in love with me-something I thought would never happen. Yes, I like my life. I'm happy'
'Stefanie is beautiful' she said.
`She is. But she's more than that. A lot mare. She saved me when I thought there wasn't anything left worth saving. After San Sobel'
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