"Murphy, Pat - Departure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Murphy Pat)

through her without touching her as they passed. She ate lunch alone, sitting by
the window of the coffee shop and trying to think of nothing. She made it
through the day.

That evening she met her friend Marsha after work. Jan and Marsha had attended
the same small college in upstate New York. Jan had called Marsha when Dennis
first said he was leaving. After Jan moved out, Marsha had insisted on getting
together at least once a week. Marsha had been through a divorce and she said
she knew what Jan was going through. Marsha bullied Jan to a certain extent, but
Jan tolerated that with good grace: she liked the flamboyant dark-haired woman.

She met Marsha at an Italian restaurant. Marsha, who was perpetually dieting,
ordered pasta, then agonized over her decision. "You'll have to eat half of it,"
she told Jan. "You must have dropped ten pounds since you left Dennis. You're so
lucky." Marsha regarded any weight loss as fortunate, whatever the cause.

"I haven't been hungry lately," Jan said.

"I can always eat," Marsha claimed. "Especially when I'm miserable."

Jan shook her head. "I just don't feel like eating."

Marsha studied Jan's face. "You've got to get your mind off him. Get out and do
things. Meet new people."

"I don't think about him much," Jan said, and it wasn't really a lie. She lay
awake at night not thinking her mind filled with white noise. She did not think
about anything.

Jan drank too much red wine and listened to Marsha's heartfelt advice. After a
few bites of pasta she felt nauseous, but the wine eased the tension that
knotted her stomach. The wine made talking easier, shrinking the world to an
intimate circle that included only her, Marsha, and the waiter who refilled
their glasses.

"I can't sleep at night," Jan told Marsha. "I hear sounds in the street."

"What kind of sounds?"

Jan hesitated, then plunged ahead. "The other night, I heard wolves howling."

"A neighbor was probably watching a horror movie on TV," Marsha said. "That's
all."

"There was a blackout," Jan said stubbornly. "No TV."

"Then it was teenagers howling under your window. Or a bunch of drunks, trying
to sing. You hear all kinds of weird stuff in New York at night. Nothing to
worry about."