"Thomas F. Monteleone - Tales of Terror and Madness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Monteleone Thomas F)

things also have seventy-two forms. Like the face of Jesus, for example."
"You're telling me that Christ has been portrayed as having seventy-two
faces?"

"No, whiz-kid, I'm telling you that Christ had seventy-two faces. Every
picture you see is nothing more than a variation on one of them. Faces
change over the course of a lifetime, dear boy. All in all, each of us
wears seventy-one."

"I thought you just said-"

"-I know what I said, I recognized my voice. There is one face we
possess that is never worn-at least, not in the sense that the world can
see it. The best way I can explain it is to say that it's the face you
had before your grandparents were born. That is the face I need from
you. It exists here-" He cupped one of his hands and covered his face
from forehead to upper lip. "-in the Rami Temporalis."

"In the muscles around the eyes?"

17

"No, those are part of the Rami Zygomatici, an area controlled by the
Temporalis, which is a much larger and influential group in the
temporo-facial division of-oh, for goodness' sake! Are you in the mood
for an anatomy lesson? Are you worried that I'm going to pull out a
scalpel and cut away? I'm not a graduate of the Ed Gein School of
Cosmetology, so put that notion out of your head this instant."

I stopped at a red light on 21st Street. "Then I guess I don't
understand what you mean at all."

"Perhaps we need to expedite things a bit. Turn left."

The light changed and I made the turn. Even though the entrance to the
park should have been a good six miles farther, here we were. I pulled
into the parking area and we climbed out.

"I have some luggage in your trunk," said Listen. "If you wouldn't mind
... ?"

It was a large, bulky square thing that reminded me of a salesman's
sample case. I lifted it out of the trunk and damn near snapped my
spine. "What's in here, the population of a small Third-World nation?"

"A tad on the heavy side, isn't it? Sorry." Listen took the case from me
and dangled it from one hand as if it weighed no more than a tennis
racket. "Do you have a favorite spot here?"

"You already know the answer."