"David Garnett - Off The Track (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Garnett David)

rag. He began to clean the windscreen -- and Michael slowly exhaled.
He seemed quite old; but his face was so lined and weatherbeaten, it
was
hard to be sure of his true age. His hair was still thick, although
almost
totally grey.
"Out of here!" he yelled at the children, flicking water at them.
They ran off, laughing, and Angela climbed out of the Volkswagen. The
man's eyes followed as she walked over towards the dog. Michael wanted
to
tell her not to touch the animal, but he knew it would make no
difference.
She stroked the dog's head, and its tail began to beat lazily against
the
ground, sending up clouds of dust.
"What's his name?" she asked.
"Dunno," said the man.
Angela glanced up at him.
"But I call him Duke," he added, and he smiled.
"Dook? Oh, Duke!" She laughed and rubbed at the dog's ears. "Are you a
good boy, Duke? Are you? Aren't you handsome? Yes, you are. Yes, you
are."

Angela was crazy about dogs. Michael had married her five years ago,
and
her boxer had been the dowry. It had taken a long time for Michael to
persuade her to leave the animal in kennels so they could go away for
foreign holidays. These three weeks were the longest time she had ever
been separated from her dog -- and this would probably be the last time
Michael and Angela would be alone together for a very long time. Their
first child was due in six months.
The dog rolled over onto its back, its legs in the air. The man looked
at
Michael, then back at Angela.
"Yessir," he said, as he finished washing the screen, "I've got gas.
Even
got an electric pump. You got vouchers?"
Michael nodded and reached for his wallet, pulling out several petrol
vouchers. They had been overprinted in red: Tourist Issue Only Federal
Penalty For Illegal Use. He'd had to buy them at the border, paying in
 advance for any fuel he would use. He had tried to calculate how many
gallons they might need, converting imperial gallons and estimating
fuel
consumption, only to discover that he had to buy a minimum number of
vouchers.
The same was true of the currency; both of them had exchanged
travellers
cheques for the minimum of twenty thousand dollars in cash. Once they
returned to the frontier, they would have to surrender any dollars and
fuel vouchers they had left. There were no refunds.