"Madeline L' Engle - A Live Coal in the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Engle Madeleine)

him."
"I wish so, too. You're both such important parts of my life it's hard for me
to
realize he died before you were born."
"Hey, Grandmother, Dr. Rowan's here, did you know?" Camilla's face lit with
pleasure. "Luisa? Wonderful! Where?"
Raffi indicated a woman detaching herself from a small group. She wore a
beautifully cut silk suit, but her hair, red with streaks of white and grey,
was
untidy and needed trimming. She hurried over to Camilla, arms wide in
greeting.
"Hi, Raffi, Frankie, Thessaly. Especial hi, Cam. I got in halfway through the
ceremony. The traffic was terrible, I should have taken the train.
Congratulations, I'm not sure what this medal is all about, but whatever it
is,
I'm sure you deserve it."
"Lu, what a wonderful surprise! I thought you were off to Zurich."
"I know you will, Mom. You always do." Even when it's abysmally not enough.
Taxi looked around the room again. Laughed. "It seems most of your professor
pals don't watch the soaps."
"Most of them teach during the day."
"I doubt if that's what deters them. Well, their loss." "The students,
however,"
Camilla said, "are ardent admirers of yours. How many autographs have you
already signed tonight?"
"On your program," Taxi said. "They'll just lose them." "Not necessarily. You
mean a lot to them." She smiled as two more girls came up to him, one with an
autograph book, one with the evening's program. He turned away, lavishing
them
with his presence.
But he had made her feel in the wrong, something he managed to do whether she
had done or said anything wrong or not. As though she deserved to be
punished.
She shook her head. Most parents probably deserve to be punished for one
reason
or another. Mostly their children don't act on it. Frankie came over, put an
:arm about her mother. "Mom, what a terrific evening. Your medal is
impressive,
but who is that guy on the other side of it?"
"The King of Denmark."
"What on earth is the King of Denmark doing on a medal for astronomy?"
Thessaly, just behind her, said, "Maria Mitchell discovered a new comet, and
the
King of Denmark gave her a medal." "Oh. How do you know so much?" Frankie
smiled
at her sister-in-law.
"Your mother told me, of course. Maria Mitchell's big thing was studying
sunspots, and moons-satellites of planets. And she was the first woman to be
admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences."
"All I remember is that Mom admired her, and wasn't she born in Nantucket?"