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

'Remember, in the olden days, when photographers took pictures, they got under
a
black cloth cape thing, and what they saw was upside down, and they had to
turn
it around in their minds.'
'Well, it seems very peculiar,' Taxi had said, 'that God or evolution should
make creatures that see upside down and then have to reverse everything. Is
there a reason?'
'It's just the way it is,' Mac had answered, smiling. 'Like life,' Taxi had
said. 'Upside down.'
Yes, she remembered.
On Sunday afternoon Camilla puttered around in her kitchen, preparing a
simple
meal for herself and Raffi, mushroom Stroganoff and a salad of green beans
and
tomatoes, which still, in October, were red and full of taste. She snipped
some
basil off a plant in the window. Raffi was as dear to her as her own
children,
although since Camilla had left New York to teach in this college, from which
she had graduated so many years ago, she had seen less of her than when they
were just a few blocks apart.
A Live Coal in the Sea-11
She set the table in her breakfast room, which was a glassed-in half-moon off
the end of the kitchen and was bright and seemed sunny even in the winter
when
the skies were grey and dull. Her table was round, with a marble top which
Mac
had given her for her fortieth birthday. When she saw Raffi coming up the
path,
she went into the living room and lit the fire at the far end. In the winter
both fireplaces were used regularly, but on this autumn evening she lit the
fire
more for pleasure than necessity.
Raffi rang the bell and pushed open the door, which Camilla locked only at
night. She gave her grandmother a hug, then shucked off her navy pea jacket
and
sat on the low bench in front of the fire. "Grandmother-" Her voice was tight.
"What's the matter?" Camilla asked, coming over to her and sitting beside her
on
the bench.
"What I want to know is-" She gasped, as though out of breath.
"Raffi, what is it?"
"What I want to know is, are you my grandmother? Or not?"
For a few moments Camilla stared into the fire, as motionless as though she
had
been petrified, like stone that was once living wood. Slowly, she turned to
look
at the girl. Raffi, as usual, wore blue jeans, and a heavy sweater which was
several sizes too large for her and completely concealed her young body. When