"Mercedes Lackey & Ellen Guon - Knights of Ghosts and Shadows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

I was a street busker, that was how we met! Right at the
downtown YMCA. I was playing the street; she was com-

KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS 11

ing back from a rehearsal at the Pavilion. She knew exactly
the kind of guy I am, from the minute she met me."

"Allow the Great Madame Zarathustra to read the past,"
Beth intoned in a cheap gypsy accent. "Tell me, in the
past several weeks has she, or has she not, been making
hints about how you should go do some serious auditions?"

"Well, yeah ..." The eyes were warier.

"Has she not, in fact, set up a couple of auditions? Like
the one you were telling me about a few weeks back, with
that chamber orchestra?"

"Well, yeah ..." He wouldn't look at her.

"Did you not, in fact, go to those auditions? And get job
offers?" Taking the line of least resistance, you lazy
sonuvabitch. Avoiding a confrontation, and inadvertantly
leading her onтАФ

"Well, yeahтАФbut I didn't take any of those jobs!"

"Which looked like what? That you weren't interested?
Hell no! Like you were waiting for something better."
Beth ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. Banyon
actually looked perplexed. "Look, dummy, anybody with
half an ear knows how good you are. Madame Butterfly
has considerably more than half an ear. She figured you
saw how well those piddly auditions were going, and you
were gonna go for something bigтАФand then settle down
with her."

"Aw, come on, BethтАФI neverтАФ I meanтАФshe's the one
that moved in, she's the one that started the thing in the
first place. It's not my fault, dammit! You know it isn't!
Come on, Beth ..."

He finally wound down, and sighed. "Shit. I did let her
think I was planning to stick around and take a serious gig,
didn't I?"

No shit, Sherlock. "I think that's a pretty fair assessment."

He looked down at the dirt of the path for a moment,