"Kathleen Ann Goonan - The String (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goose Mother)

wrapped around a stick, from her hand. The dragon hung suspended for a
moment,
then zigzagged and plummeted into an oak tree.
"Oh no," said Jessica, looking stunned.
"It's okay," he said. He climbed the tree, cut the string with his penknife,
pulled it the kite from the branches, and tossed it down to the ground. It was
a
little ripped up, but he thought he could fix it.
When he was almost down, he saw the tangled string, stuck in a lower branch.
He
reached over, worked it loose, and stuck it in his pocket. Then, holding
hands,
he and Jessica walked back to the old house he'd lived in since he was a
child.
#

Later that night, when he finished putting the dishes away and Jessica was in
bed, he remembered the string, and got it out of his pocket. Anita, on one
side
of the huge kitchen which served as sort of a living room too, was entrenched
in
her CAD, working on some specs she'd brought home. She was so good her firm
had
paid to have the computer assisted design setup here at home as well as at
the
office.
She looked up. "What's that?" she asked.
"Just the kite string."
"Well, we don't need any more clutter around here. Throw it away."
Instead, Dan sat down at the table and studied it. "Look," he said, "it's not
really a knot."
"You couldn't get much more knotted than that," Anita said.
"No, look: one end stayed attached to the stick. One end stayed attached to
the
kite. It's not a knot. The ends never crossed. Theoretically, it's just a
perfectly straight string."
"Right," said Anita. "Sure. That's exactly what it looks like to me. Well,
I've
got to get to bed. I guess it's my turn to take Jessica to physical therapy
tomorrow," she said, with that familiar resentful edge to her voice.
"I would, but I've got a meeting in the afternoon." He was a structural
engineer. He was aware that Anita, a brilliant, moody architect, sometimes
found
his methodical, dogged approach to life dull. He often wished he were more
spontaneous, but he couldn't help himself. He had long since resigned himself
to
being in the background and assisting her rapidly advancing career in any way
he
could.
Dan sat at the table for half an hour, studying the string. Finally, he got