"Nicola Griffith - Yaguara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith Nicola)

villagers I mean, that the logging operation went bust when it did,
just a mile from the site.тАЭ
 тАЬLuck? IтАЩm not sure I believe in luck.тАЭ CleisтАЩs long hands
hung loosely between her knees. тАЬLook into IxbalumтАЩs face and tell
me you still believe it was just bad luck that the skidders kept
breaking down, that the bridges collapsed, that every worker who
didnтАЩt get bitten by a fer-de-lance ran off in ones and twos babbling
about the jungle cat that was out to get them.тАЭ
Jane remembered driving along the logging track, her feeling
that the jungle was breathing on the back of her neck, stalking her
like a big cat.


Jane listened to the steady, still-awake breathing of Cleis in
the other bunk. She could see the next few weeks unrolling before
her like sticky flypaper, the jungle whispering to her Let go, let go,
thereтАЩs no one here to care, but if she let go now, if she let her armor
slip just once, the damage would be permanent: she would have
been seen, known. Cleis was always there.
Jane turned on her side, careful not to make any noise or
disturb the sheet that was pulled up to her shoulders. She thought
about CleisтАЩs toffee-colored eyes, the way they watched her all the
time. What did they see?


At mid-afternoon the sun was still strong and heat wrapped
around Jane like a thick tongue. A hundred yards away, the
waterfall roared, tossing spray into the already humid air. The light
was perfect: green-gold and viscous as honey, seeping into every
crevice and old chisel cut, easing out details ordinarily invisible.
With luck, she would be able to photograph this whole section
while the light lasted. She set up her specially adapted tripod and
tilted the camera up to the next section of curtain wall. More
jaguars, more pictures of the plant that Cleis did not recognize.
тАЬI just donтАЩt know what it is,тАЭ Cleis had said the night before,
and pulled out four Polaroids she had taken days earlier. тАЬAnd itтАЩs
depicted exactly the same in each glyph, always bent with these six
fronds outward to show the spiderweb veins. ThatтАЩs significant. It
suggests ritual function. And itтАЩs always in conjunction with these
glyphs here.тАЭ She tilted the pictures toward the feeble light of the
Coleman lamp streaming through their doorway, so that Jane could
see.
тАЬJaguars and women?тАЭ
тАЬJaguars, yes, but theyтАЩre not portrayed symbolically. ItтАЩs
almost as if theyтАЩreтАж pets or something.тАЭ She sighed and rubbed
her eyes. тАЬAnd these women are all young. You can tell by their
clothes.тАЭ Jane took CleisтАЩs word for it. тАЬIf I didnтАЩt know better, IтАЩd
say these glyphs represented some kind of purdah, spent behind the
curtain walls. Though what that has to do with the jaguars I donтАЩt
know. ItтАЩs so frustrating! If only these people would talk to me!тАЭ