"Lisa Goldstein - Fools Road" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldstein Lisa)

The woman laughed. "Come-- I don't tell you the answer," she said. "You tell
me."

"I don't know," Amanda said.

"Let's go," the man said. Others in the hand joined them, crowded around her.
"Let's go, let's go," they said.

"You don't want to know," a woman said.

"To know, to know," they echoed. "Let's go, let's go."

They pushed and prodded her toward the door. The woman with the pearl necklace
and the man with the umbrella were coming into the room. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh
dear," said the man holding her hand. He looked around him uncertainly, caught
between the newcomers and the small brown woman.

"What now?" a woman asked.

"Oh dear," the man said again.

"Upstairs," the woman said decisively. "Come on."

They moved toward the stairs, walking quickly and then running. Amanda looked
back; the fat woman was watching them with level brown eyes.

The stairs curved upward, white as bone. They hurried on. A few did handstands
up the stairs; one moved toward the banister as if to slide down it and was
pulled back roughly by his companions.

They came to a landing and scurried off in several directions down the corridor.
One pulled open a door and stood as if transfixed by what he saw. Amanda moved
behind him, looking over his head.

There was a pedestal in the center of the room, and on the pedestal a purse made
of silver rings that glistened like a waterfall. She jerked back as if the sight
had hurt her. Someone had once had a purse like that, but who....

The next room held nothing but a scent, lemons and something more elusive,
something sweet. Someone had once worn a scent like that....

In the third room a woman was singing a wordless melody like a lullaby. Someone
had once sung a tune like that....
She turned and ran for the stairs. Four or five of the wild band stood there,
blocking her way. "No no no no no," one said. "You can't go there."

She pulled away from them. "I'm not staying here," she said.

"No, of course not. Come follow, come follow."