"Gaskell, Jane - Atlan Saga (Cija) 05 - Some Summer Lands UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gaskell Jane)

My Grandmother's
Hygienic Palace

THIS PALE YOUNG woman, looking romantically out of win-
dows, is my earliest memory.

My mother lived a lot of her life at windows. As she was
cautious and sensible, a natural observer of life unless forced
to be a protagonist, and a coward too, windows were abso-
lutely her element- I remember her at the windows of the
castle where I was born. They were high-beamed, bleak
windows, empty of all but sky with gales in it. "Watch here,
Seka," she would say to me. "Watch and see if your father
arrives over the hill." She said it as though it would be an
interesting treat for me if he did, something to make my day
exciting before supper-time. Those were the very early days,
before 1 lost my voice without hope of Finding it again But
even then, when I could have spoken to her, I didn't say to
her: "He won't come. He doesn't arrive. He never does
arrive."

She knew that. She didn't say it.

I knew it. Why should I say it?

When we reached my grandmother's safe little palace, the
comfort lapped us round like warm bath-waters, warm wines.
Suddenly, after the long chilly greasy travels, we were part of
a long gold summer. We ate such nice things. We wore clean
soft clothes. Instead of those gentlemen with greedy busy
faces and bodies who used always to be pulling and pushing
us around, here loving sentimental women with their heads
sweetly to one side smiled at me and clucked at me as they
rolled us into the food and the comforts. And there were quiet
languorous decorative easy scenes for my mother to watch
unfolding beneath her window.

And then she stopped watching. One day she was as usual

IS

16 SOME SUMMER LANDS

sitting for hours looking at it all out there. The next day she
wouldn't go near the window. She made detours round our
furniture so she could keep well away from her golden win-
dows (with their pierced screens made to deflect assassin-
arrows, and with luck the plerodactyla which still sometimes
scavenged around the high turrets of my grandmother's king-