"09 - Miracles in Maggody" - читать интересную книгу автора (09 - Miracles in Maggody)

"Who?" I asked as the last truck rolled by and the customers drifted back inside to discuss what they'd seen.

Dahlia's jaw dropped, squashing two or three of her chins. "You don't know? Malachi Hope is this really famous preacher who used to be on television on one of those cable stations. He had this show where he healed blind people and made cripples get right out of their wheelchairs and walk across the stage. Kevvie and I used to watch him every Sunday night, but then his show went off the air and we took to watching reruns of Gunsmoke. Why do you think Marshal Dillon never married Miss Kitty, Arly?"

I ignored her question, which was distressingly earnest, and frowned at Ruby Bee and Estelle. "Do you know anything about this?"

Ruby Bee gave me an innocent smile. "I may have heard some rumors, but I didn't want to bother you when you have all this laundry to do. You might even feel obliged to go run a speed trap out by the remains of Purtle's Esso station so you can get your salary this month."

"Just tell meЧokay?"

"I'll tell you, Arly," said Dahlia. "Malachi Hope's gonna have a revival out at the big pasture that belongs to Burdock Grapper. It starts on Sunday and will last for a whole week! He's gonna heal everybody and save all the sinners in Stump County. Then he's gonna build this humongous theme park, and thousands of people willЧ"

"Theme park?" I said, addressing Ruby Bee and Estelle. "On Bur's property? What's she talking about?"

Ruby Bee wiggled her eyebrows at Estelle, who snagged Dahlia's arm and propelled her inside. She paused to collect her thoughts, and said, "What I heard is he aims to lease a thousand acres with an option to buy if he works out his financing."

I stared at her. "Does Bur have that much property?"

"No, but next to the Grapper place is a two-hundred-acre tract that Jim Bob bought from Bimbo Buchanon's widow when she had to go to the old folks' home. Beyond that is the land that belongs to Lottie Estes's second cousin Wharton. All together there'd be in the range of a thousand acres, give or take."

"What's he going to do with it?"

"Build something called 'The City of Hope.' It'll be this amusement park, with a church, rides, water slides, restaurants, a campground, and I don't know what all. It's the most foolish thing I've heard since Perkin's eldest took that correspondence course in tap dancing and made everybody in town come to a recital, but Estelle keeps insisting this preacher's nigh onto a saint and we shouldn't be questioning his motives."

"Which are?" I said encouragingly.

"Did you ever see him on television?"

"I don't watch televangelists."

"Don't go thinking I do, either, Miss Masterpiece Theatre," she said, giving me an extensive view of her flared nostrils, "but a while back Estelle made me do it one night. This Malachi Hope was the smarmiest man I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot in my day. He was so oily I don't know why he didn't slip right off his stage and go flying into the laps of all those pitiful people in wheelchairs. After he got everybody all fired up, his wife floated down from the ceiling in a billow of smoke. She was dressed up like an angel and sang gospel songs. If she hasn't been to Memphis so many times she has a key to the city, then my name isn't Rubella Belinda Hanks!"

If you think I was getting all this, then you're sorely overestimating me. "This televangelist is going to build a thousand-acre religious amusement park in Maggody?"

"I said no such thing."

"Then what did you say?" I asked blankly.

"Burdock Grapper's property starts on the far side of the lowнwater bridge, and Jim Bob's and Wharton's are beyond that. It's all within spittin' distance, but not inside the town limits. I heard over at the launderette that Mr. Malachi Hope's people made real sure about that."

I wrinkled my nose as the last exhaust fumes wafted over us. "Did they?" I murmured under my breath.

"You want something to eat?" asked Ruby Bee.

"No, but I'll see you long about supper time. I think I'm going to look into this Malachi Hope business. It beats doing laundry."

"You never were much for doing laundry," she said as she went inside.

I seldom fool my mother.