"Jack Dann - A Quiet Revolution for Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dann Jack)

тАЬYou shouldnтАЩt talk about your mother that way,тАЭ Roger says as he
opens the trunk of the car and hands everyone a picnic basket.
тАЬBut mother is old-fashioned,тАЭ Bennie says as they walk toward the
elevators. тАЬShe thinks everyone must conform to society to tame the world.
But she is committed only to appearances; she cares nothing for
substance.тАЭ
тАЬYou think your fatherтАЩs so modern?тАЭ Sandra says to Bennie, who is
walking behind her like a good son.
тАЬYouтАЩre an antique,тАЭ Bennie says. тАЬYou donтАЩt understand right-brain
living. You canтАЩt accept death as an ally.тАЭ
тАЬThen what am I doing here?тАЭ
тАЬYou came because of Dad. You hate cemeteries.тАЭ
тАЬI certainly do not.тАЭ
But the argument dies as the silvery elevator doors slide open to take
them all away from left-brain thinking.



тАЬLetтАЩs take a stroll around the cemetery,тАЭ Roger says as they pass under
a portiere which is the cemeteryтАЩs flag and insignia. Roger pays the
gateman who wears the cemeteryтАЩs colors on the sleeves and epaulets of
his somber blue uniform.
тАЬThatтАЩs fifty-three dollars, sir,тАЭ says the gateman. He points at Bennie
and says, тАЬI must count him as an adult; itтАЩs the rules.тАЭ
Roger cheerfully pays and leads his noisy family through the open
wrought-iron gates. Before him is Chastellain Cemetery, the тАЬreal thing,тАЭ
he tells himselfтАФthere it is, full of movement and life, neighbor beside
neighbor, everyone eating, drinking, loving, selling, buying, and a few are
even dying. It is a world cut off from the world.
тАЬThis is the famous Avenue dтАЩAuvergne,тАЭ Roger says, for he has
carefully studied HodelтАЩs Guidebook to Old and Modern Cemeteries. тАЬHere
are some of the finest restaurants to be found in any cemetery,тАЭ he says as
they pass under brightly colored restaurant awnings.
тАЬI want to go in here,тАЭ Rose Marie says as she takes a menu card from
a doorman and holds it to her nose. тАЬI can smell aubergine fritters and
pigтАЩs fry and paupiette de veau and IтАЩm sick of MommyтАЩs cooking. I want
to go in here.тАЭ
The doorman grins (probably thinking of his commission) and hands
Roger a menu card.
тАЬWe have a fine picnic lunch of our own,тАЭ Roger says, and he reminds
himself that heтАЩs sick of French food anyway.
As they stroll north on the beautiful Avenue dтАЩAuvergne which is
shaded by old wych-elms, restaurants give way to tiny shops. Farther
north, the avenue becomes a dirty cobblestone street filled with beggars
and hawkers pushing wooden handcarts.
 тАЬI donтАЩt like it here,тАЭ says Rose Marie as she stares at the jettatura
charms and lodestone ashtrays which are arrayed behind a dirty
shop-window.
тАЬYou can find all manner of occult items in these little shops,тАЭ Roger
says. тАЬThis cemetery is a sanctuary for necromancy. Some of the finest