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

Jake followed Annie from room to room, pursuing a labyrinthine
path he wasn't sure he could retrace on his own. At least three
generations were in the house, from old folks to running children.
The mood was surprisingly cheerful, as if they were all gathered for
a family reunion party instead of a funeral. Jake met Aunt Dottie,
Young Herbert, Grandma Kirkland (the new widow), Brother William,
Malcolm Senior (who, oddly, had an ear missing), Cousin Oliver, and
a number of others whose names he desperately tried to remember.
There was even a Sister Kate--_whose_ sister, Jake couldn't quite
figure out. But he understood why Annie's mother said calling her
Mama Sue would be easier; there were also a Mama Marcie and a Mama
June.

Jake's stomach growled; it had been a long time since breakfast.
"Uncle _Ted_ward?" Jake said questioningly to a distinguished-looking
man wearing an eyepatch.

"My name's Edward, so of course I was called Teddy," the man
explained pleasantly. "Somehow that eased over into Tedward as I grew
older. I'm so used to `Uncle Tedward' now that at times I forget what
my real name is."

Jake looked around for Annie; he seemed to have lost her.
"Uncle Tedward, I wonder if you could point me toward a bathroom. We
were in the car for five hours and -- "

"Say no more, my boy. This way." Uncle Tedward led him to a
narrow door opening off a landing separating two floor levels by only
one step each way. Behind the narrow door was a rather spacious
old-fashioned bathroom.

When he came out, Jake looked for Annie again but still couldn't
spot her. He shook hands with an old man called Grandpa Poole who
peered at him myopically and murmured something that sounded like
"Oh yes, June's boy" and then wandered away. Jake's stomach growled
again. He stopped a child running by, a little girl with a Mickey
Mouse Band-Aid across her nose, and asked her to take him to the dining
room; on his first trip through he'd spotted a sideboard there loaded
with sandwiches.

The girl led him to the food and then darted off. Jake helped
himself to a tunafish sandwich and was chewing contentedly when a man
about Jake's age stepped up to the sideboard and looked over the
sandwiches. He glanced at Jake and said, "You must be The FiancВ.
I'm Young Malcolm." He held out his left hand.

"Jake Dietrich," Jake said, shaking his hand awkwardly.

"Sorry about the left hand, but..." Young Malcolm held up