"HOMEBODS" - читать интересную книгу автора (Paul Barbara)

H O M E B O D I E S


by Barbara Paul



(Published in MALICE DOMESTIC 1, Pocket Books,
Copyright 1992 by Barbara Paul.)



Annie broke her arm the day before they were to leave, trying
to drag a trunk down from the attic. The trunk got away from her and
bounced once off her forearm on its unaccompanied journey down the
stairs.

"Why didn't you call me?" Jake demanded. "You shouldn't have
tried it by yourself."

"Oh, you live so far away, and I didn't think it was that
heavy," Annie explained. "Don't fuss so, Jake."

"What did you need the trunk for anyway? We were just going
for the weekend."

"Mama wants to borrow it. She needs an extra one."

Jake thought the accident meant their trip was off, but Annie
wouldn't hear of it. She'd rescheduled all her Friday clients (Annie
was a speech therapist) just to make the trip, and make it she would.
So she was wearing a blue canvas sling on her arm and a brave smile on
her face when he picked her up early Friday morning. Jake wedged the
bonecrunching trunk into the back of his car and they were on their way.

Jake wasn't as sanguine about the trip as Annie. It wasn't the
best of conditions for meeting her family; they were going to a funeral.
Annie's grandfather had died, the nearest thing to a patriarch her
extensive family had had. Jake would have preferred the introductions
to take place under less gloomy circumstances, but no sooner had the
two of them agreed to marry than Annie started talking about taking
him home to meet the folks. Then word came that Grandpa Kirkland had
died.

Home was a town called Wrightsville, a place Jake had been
only vaguely aware of before he met Annie. Annie said everyone from
both sides of the family had been born there, Kirklands and Pooles
alike. She wanted _their_ children to be born there. Jake had said
"Ah" and "Um" and coughed discreetly. Annie went on that people liked