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

I was alone in my favorite booth at the Sparta,

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enjoying the last of my cheeseburger, when I happened to glance up.

"... and like I said before, she never listens to me- hell, she never
listens to anyone when they try to tell her something for her own good.
She's been that way all her life and look what it's got her."

She was at a booth toward the back of the restaurant, while mine was up
front on the same side; I sat facing the rear, she facing the front, so
she was looking right at me and there was no place to hide.

"I kept telling her, 'Sandy, your frame is too small to chance having
another baby. You almost didn't squeeze out little Tyler the first time,
there's no way you can have another one.' I think she knew I was right
but she wasn't about to have an abortion, not with her Ronnie being the
way he is-you know, all manly and pro-life: 'No wife of mine is going to
kill our baby. I'll not have people gossiping about me like that.'"

Her tone suggested that the two of us had just resumed a
previously-interrupted conversation. For a moment I thought she might be
talking to someone seated across from her in the booth, a short person,
or even a child- though why anyone would want to speak to a child about
abortion was beyond me. I then thought she might be wearing one of those
new cell phones, the type which you hang off your ear and have a small
fiber-optic microphone, but, no: she was looking at and talking to me.

"I know she thinks I'm a nib-shit, but that girl has no idea how
terrible he treats her. Or maybe she does and figures she ain't gonna
find a better man so she puts up with it for the kids." She was on the
verge of tears. "I mean, Ronnie forced her to have that second baby,
even though he knew there was a chance it was going to...

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y'know, mess up her insides. She almost died. They had to do an
emergency Caesarean, and by then she was so tore up there wasn't no
choice but to do a hysterectomy. She's only twenty-three and now she'll
never be able to have more children-and Sandy loves children. She spoils
that Tyler rotten, and she'll do the same for little Katherine. But she
..." The woman leaned forward; secret time. I found myself leaning
toward her, as well.

"... she bleeds a lot sometimes," she whispered. "Not her period-she
don't have those no more. It's on account of her still being raw in
there from everything. And sex- forget that. She don't even want to look
at Ronnie, let alone share her bed and body with him. But that doesn't