"Robin Hobb - Wizard Of The Pigeons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

so much for me. Kids were always a damn nuisance anyway,
but it hurts her when they don't call or write."

The bus pulled into Wizard's stop. He kept his seat with
his jaw set against the grumbling of his stomach. As soon as
the bus lurched forward again, the old man resumed.

"I guess I wasn't around that much when they were growing
up. 1 guess I didn't put as much into them as she did; maybe
I didn't give them as much as I should have. So perhaps it's
only fitting that they aren't around when I'm feeling my years.
But what about Mother? She gave them her years, and now
they leave her alone. Can you beat that?"

Just as the old man's voice trailed out, the Knowing came
to Wizard. He always wondered how the talkers knew to come
to him, how they sensed that he had something to tell them.
Even Cassie had no answer to that question. "Every stick has
two ends." she had mumbled when he had asked her. "Mumbo-
jumbo!" he had replied derisively. But now he had something
for the old roan, and it must be delivered. He took his eyes
from the window, to stare at the seat back with the old man.

Wizard of the Pigeons 7

He whispered as huskily as a priest giving absolution in a
confessional.

"Buy the turkey and the trimmings. Tell her that with or
without kids at the table, you wouldn't miss her holiday cook-
ing. Your eldest son got some leave time, and he'll be flying
in from Germany. But he wants to surprise her. So keep it to
yourself, but be ready to go to the airport on Thanksgiving
morning. Don't spill the beans, now."

He never looked at Wizard. At the next stop the old man
rose and made his slow way to the door in the side of the bus.
Wizard watched him go and wished him well. At the next stop
he hopped off himself and went looking for the right sort of
restaurant.

It took him a moment to get his bearings, and men he
recalled a littk place he had used before. He mussed his hair
slightly, took his newspaper from his shopping bag and tucked
it under his arm, and clutched the plastic bag by its handles.
His stomach made him hurry the block and a half to the re-
membered location.

With a flash of light and a roar of wind, he appeared in me
door of the restaurant. A secretary hurrying through her half-