"Barry N. Malzberg - Closing the Deal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Malzberg Barry N)

"She flies," the father said, indicating the little girl dangling uncomfortably midway between a baroque
chandelier and the rather mottled carpeting. "And she has for more than five years. You can imagine that
it gave us quite a turn when we saw this three-year-old just swoop up from her toys and begin to bat
around the room, but after a while you can become accustomed to almost anything. That's the human
condition, am I right?" He spread his hands and looked at the guest directly, gave a little laugh. "Actually,
she's a very sweet, unspoiled little child and I've tried to give her a healthy, wholesome upbringing to
make her take her gift in stride. Never in front of anyone other than me without permission and double
never out of the house. All right dear," he said, "our guest has seen everything he needs, I'm sure. Come
down now."
The little girl bobbled near ceiling level. "I can turn over in the air," she said to the guest. "I can do
dips and floats and even pirouettes. If I went to ballet school like I wanted to I could do even the better
stuff but he won't let me."
"I'm sure he would," the guest said gently. He opened the loose-leaf binder on his knee, took a pen
from his suit pocket and made a note. "You have a very kind and understanding father."
"I have a very kind and under standing father but he won't let me go to ballet school and he won't
even let me fly unless he wants to show me off," the girl said. "I don't think that's right, do you? Not
letting someone do what they really do best except when he wants me to." She revolved slowly, drifted
toward the floor headfirst, reversed herself clumsily near the prospective point of impact and landed,
wobbling, on her feet. "I'll go and watch television," she said. "I know you want me out of the room now.
He always wants to show me off and then throw me out."
"That's not necessary, Jessica," her father said uncomfortably, "and you know perfectly wellтАФ"
"But it's true," the girl said. She nodded at the guest. "Actually I can't fly all the time," she said, "you
ought to know the truth; I can't even do it every time I want to. Actually it's a very tiring thing. No more
than fifteen or twenty minutes and then I have to rest for a whole day." She walked to the door, as
clumsy on her feet as in the air, attempted a curtsy and left, closing the door not too gently.
The guest and her father sat in the living room, looking at one another rather uneasily for a time. The
clock banged out four syllables, or then again the guest thought that it might have been five; it was very
hard to keep track of the sounds which were swallowed by carpeting and then too, this was a peculiar
household. Nothing was quite as it seemed to be. Four or five, however, it was certainly late afternoon
and he wanted to complete his business and go on his way.
Idly, the guest imagined a large frosted cocktail glass before him. Around him was a large roadhouse,
quiet conversation. He could ask this man for a drink, of course. But that would only compromise their
dealings. A drink could cost him a hundred dollars in this living room. I must get hold of myself, the
guest thought rather frantically, this is only a job and I ought to be glad to have it, everything
considered Involvement, pressures are on the agency, not on me. "Remarkable child," he said
hoarsely, scribbling something else and then slamming the binder closed, reinserting pen in pocket. "Very
intelligent for her age. Of course extremely undeveloped as both you and she know. Her management of
distancesтАФ"
"Well," her father said, Spreading his hands again, "I have tried. The fact that she has one remarkable
talent doesn't excuse her, after all, from living in the world. She's in an accelerated program at school
where they take her to be simply a bright, normal child and I've also arranged for reading tutorials at
home and music lessons twice a week. She's studying the violin, my favorite instrument. Frankly, the
child has almost no ability but the cultural backgroundтАФ"
"I understand," the guest said rather hurriedly, "you're doing an excellent job within the limitsтАФ"
"It isn't easy in a motherless household you know. I've had to be both parents to Jessica, which
would be difficult with even a dull child, and she has to be shielded and educated carefully." The man
paused, wiped a hand across his streaming forehead. "It's really been quite difficult," he said, "I'm sure
that my wife had her reasons for leaving me and I was right to insist upon custody and I'll concede too
that it was a relief when she walked out, but all of this has descended on me and I've had very little help
from the woman or anyone else for that matter. She was always selfish and inconsiderate, her mother,