"James Morrow - Towing Jehovah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrow James)

Anthony's father lifted the cigarette lighter from the boat. As the greasy
brown gravy ran down his fingers, he took out his Swiss Army knife and
cut through the lighter's plastic casing. Oily butane dripped onto the linen
tablecloth. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, the Val's sprung a leak!" He plopped the
lighter back into the boat, laughing as the butane oozed into the gravy.
"Somebody must've run her into a reef! Those poor seabirds!"
"Froggy, please" wailed Tiffany.
"Them pilot whales ain't got a chance," said Frank Kolby, releasing a
boorish guffaw.
"Do you suppose the captain could've left the bridge?" asked Dad with
mock puzzlement.
"I think you've made your point," said Susan.
The old man leaned toward Lucy McDade as if about to deal her a
playing card. "This sailor lad of yours left the bridge. I'll bet he got one of
those headaches of his and, pfftt, he took off, and now all the egrets and
herons are dying. You know what your boyfriend's problem is, pretty
Lucy? He thinks the oily bird catches the worm!"
Tiffany burst into giggles.
Lucy turned red.
Kolby sniggered.
Susan got up to leave.
"Bastard," said Anthony's alter ego.
"Bastard," echoed the observer Anthony.
"Gravy, anyone?" said Christopher Van Horne, lifting the boat from its
saucer. "What's the matter, folksтАФare you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid." Kolby seized the boat, pouring polluted gravy onto his
mashed potatoes.
 "I'll never forgive you for this," seethed Susan, stalking out of the room.
Kolby shoveled a glop of potato into his mouth. "Tastes likeтАФ"
The scene froze.
The figures dissolved.
Only the waterborne feather remained.
"That was the worst part of Matagorda Bay, wasn't it?" said Raphael.
"Worse than the hate mail from the environmentalists and the death
threats from the shrimpersтАФthe worst part was what your father did to
you that night."
"The humiliation . . ."
"No," said the angel pointedly. "Not the humiliation. The brute candor
of it all."
"I don't understand."
"Four months after the wreck of the Val, somebody was finally telling
you a truth the state of Texas had denied."
"What truth?"
"You're guilty, Anthony Van Horne."
"I've never claimed otherwise."
"Guilty," Raphael repeated, slamming his fist into his palm like a judge
wielding a gavel. "But beyond guilt lies redemption, or so the story goes."
The angel slipped his fingers beneath the feathers of his left wing and
relieved himself of an itch. "After completing the mission, you will seek out
your father."