"Campbell, Ramsey - The Parasite 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Campbell Ramsey)

`Blue eyes, grey hair, fair skin,' Diana was saying. `You're King of Wands.' She handed him the rest of the pack. `Shuffle them how you like, then cut them three times to your left.'

When he'd chosen a heap, she began to deal from it, face up. `This covers you, this crosses you, this crowns you, this is beneath you . . . This is strange. Are you into the occult?ff

'No, not at all.'

`Maybe someone very close to you?'

'No, I can't believe that.'

`Are you sure? All the cards have several meanings, but that interpretation feels right. If it feels right it nearly always is.'

`3'm sure there's nothing of the kind.'

Diana brushed a coil of her reddish hair back from one slightly pointed ear, and continued dealing. `Well, I don't know. I'd really like to tell you how they feel to me.'

`By all means do so.'

Perhaps Diana couldn't hear that his tone was consciously patient. `The atmosphere you're in is conflict -Eight of Wands reversed,' she began. `Working against you is the Moon - occult forces. Your aim in the matter is love, friendship, union - the Two of Cups. Yet your motivation, or the motivation of the matter, is imposture, falsehood - the Two of Swords.'

An audience was gathering, as though around a poker school: would Steve McQueen have the ace in the hole? `Now this is interesting. The influence just past is the Hierophant reversed, the influence you're moving into is the Hanged Man reversed - both refer to something whose effects are far-reaching.'

Bill clearly found this less interesting than she did. She pointed at the rank of cards: Five of Cups, Knight of Wands, Three of Cups, Nine of Swords. `There's a marriage, but with frustration and bitterness. A time away from home in strange surroundings. Your hopes in the matter are victory, fulfillment. But what will come is death - of something,' she added, the impersonality leaving her voice, `it needn't mean a person. You have to remember that the cards show possibilities, not certainties. But can you relate what I've told you to anything in your life?'

'No.' After a pause he decided to go on. `Since you ask, I think it's utter nonsense.'

`I guess the cards can be read another way,' she said reluctantly. `They might mean that you and your wife are going to disagree over something - a book, let's say. The Moon could be something, say an insight, that has to be brought out. You may need to destroy some barrier to understanding. Maybe that's going to happen here in New York.'

`I'm sure they can be made to mean anything you like.'

Visibly hurt, she began to gather in the cards. The audience wandered off, disappointed or embarrassed. `I do apologize,' Bill murmured. `It's my fault. I shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place. I don't believe in that kind of thing, but I didn't realize you did - not at a party. Look, can I get you a drink?'

He hurried away on that errand, relieved. `Oh, this is awful,' Diana wailed to herself. `I didn't mean to upset him. He must think I can't relate to people at all.'

Rose sensed that Jack was wondering whether to comfort her, then shying away. `For heaven's sake don't worry, Diana,' Rose said. `He shouldn't have been rude to you.' She herself had been taken aback by the strength of his reaction.

`You don't agree with him?'

`Well, not entirely.'

`Then could I read your cards to see if they relate to his?'

Rose was both intrigued and uneasy. `All right,' she said.

Her card was the Page of Swords. When Rose had prepared the deck, Diana began to deal: Three of Swords reversed, Five of Swords reversed, Queen of Swords, the Moon, the Tower, Queen of Pentacles reversed - Abruptly she shuffled them into the deck. `Listen, I must be too tired. I'll read your cards another time, okay?'

Bill returned, looking mischievous. `Let me introduce you to an English party game where the winner is whoever thinks of the worst line from a film . . .' He'd saved the situation and revived the party, which continued until the Tierneys showed signs of tiring. Everyone agreed they'd won the game with their favourite routine from The Greatest Story Ever Told (`What's your name? `James.' `What's yours?' 'Jesus Christ.' `That's a good name.') Departing, people invited them for drinks, medals, tours of New York. Diana made Rose promise to visit her, but didn't seem put out when Bill looked less enthusiastic.

In the bathroom Rose washed quickly, wary of a lurking cockroach. She and Bill had been so popular that it seemed perverse to harbour doubts, yet in a way it was their success that troubled her. When she'd read the proofs of their latest book the text seemed unadventurous, lacking in new insights, written with an eye to popularity. Were she and Bill suffering from success?