"Kelly Link - The Girl Detective" - читать интересную книгу автора (Link Kelly)

Kelly Link - The Girl Detective

The Girl Detective's Mother is Missing

The girl detective's mother has been missing for a long time.

The Underworld

Think of the underworld as the back of your closet, behind all those
racks of clothes that you don't wear anymore. Things are always getting
pushed back there and forgotten about. The underworld is full of things
that you've forgotten about. Some of them, if only you could remember,
you might want to take them back. Trips to the underworld are always
very nostalgic. It's darker in there. The seasons don't match. Mostly
people end up there by accident, or else because in the end there was
nowhere else to go. Only heroes and girl detectives go to the underworld
on purpose.

There Are Three Kinds of Food

One is the food that your mother makes for you. One is the kind of food
that you eat in restaurants. One is the kind of food that you eat in
dreams. There's one other kind of food, but you can only get that in the
underworld, and it's not really food. It's more like dancing.

The Girl Detective Eats Dreams

The girl detective won't eat her dinner. Her father, the housekeeper Ч
they've tried everything they can think of. Her father takes her out to
eat Ч Chinese restaurants, once even a truckstop two states away for
chicken fried steak. The girl detective used to love chicken fried
steak. Her father has gained ten pounds, but the girl detective will
only have a glass of water, not even a slice of lemon. I saw them once
at that new restaurant downtown, and the girl detective was folding her
napkin while her father ate. I went over to their table after they'd
left. She'd folded her napkin into a swan. I put it into my pocket,
along with her dinner roll, and a packet of sugar. I thought these
things might be clues.
The housekeeper cooks all the food that the girl detective used to love.
Green beans, macaroni and cheese, parsnips, stewed pears Ч the girl
detective used to eat all her vegetables. The girl detective used to
love vegetables. She always cleaned her plate. If only her mother were
still here, the housekeeper will say, and sigh. The girl detective's
father sighs. Aren't you the littlest bit hungry? they ask her. Wouldn't
you like a bite to eat? But the girl detective still goes to bed hungry.

There is some debate about whether the girl detective needs to eat food
at all. Is it possible that she is eating in secret? Is she anorexic?
Bulimic? Is she protesting something? What could we cook that would
tempt her?