"John Meaney - Blood and Verse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

The crew are smiling as we take our leave, but they make no smart remarks.
They are boisterous or quiet by turns, these people of the sea; and they have a
sensitivity which would not be out of place among poets.

This is an insight which I must remember. It will inform each verse which
describes Quinv├иreтАЩs people, and the boat-crews in particular, as they react to their
QueenтАЩs unexpected death.

тАЬLook.тАЭ Shera takes my arm. тАЬThereтАЩs room over there.тАЭ
 We sit facing each other at a long trestle-table, among a noisy group of diners.
The other tables are full, and it takes a while for the overworked serving-girls to take
our order. Neither Shera nor I mind the delay.

There are jugglers and acrobats, performing around the hallтАЩs periphery, while
the diners eat in the centre, marvelling at their balletic expertise. Shera and I hold
hands across the table, watching. My own training keeps me as limber as most
professional gymnasts, but these people can execute moves which are beyond me.

See: the placement of balance for a one-hand handspring, twisting the torso
thusтАФIтАЩm making small twitches, kinaesthetically memorizing the movement, and I
realize suddenly that Shera is doing the same.

тАЬLook.тАЭ

ThereтАЩs a flamboyant trick which takes two people: opposing somersaults
between each otherтАЩs legs.

Shera: тАЬSome dayтАФтАЭ

Me: тАЬтАФweтАЩll try that.тАЭ

We smile.

The main course arrives, and we work our way through it. The performance
continues, but IтАЩm more interested in conversation. Afterwards, when Shera excuses
herself for a few minutes, the hall seems to dim, the polished dishes to lose their
lustre, and the other peoplesтАЩ conversation to degenerate into noisy graceless gabble.

Then she returns, making her way among the tables, and the world seems real
again.

тАЬYou look at me like a drowning man who sees a lifeline.тАЭ She smiles, but it is
no joke, and I feel the truth of it.

тАЬI am drowning.тАЭ

After a moment, she nods. Then, with utmost seriousness: тАЬSo am I.тАЭ

Dessert is served. There is no need for us to speak, as we pick at the fruit
bowls and stare at each other. No need for words at all.