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

go to city council and get an ordinance passed."

"The bus station's only a block down that way," Annie said
to Jake, pointing. "They could just as easily route their coaches
along Mansmann Boulevard, but they send them through this residential
area instead. They say it saves time."

Malcolm Senior snorted. "Eleven minutes! It saves them
eleven minutes exactly. And we get stuck with the noise and the
fumes. Well, we'd better get going." Everyone seemed to head for
whatever car was nearest.

"Er, should I drive?" Jake asked.

Only Cousin Rathbone heard him. "Hey," he yelled, "do we
need The FiancВ's car?" Replies of "No" and "Plenty of room"
floated back.

Jake followed Annie into the backseat of someone's Buick,
taking care not to bump her broken arm as he settled in. A fat
man sat wedged behind the driver's wheel, needlessly revving the
engine. The straw-haired woman sitting next to him turned and
smiled. "It's so good to see you again, Little Annie."

"And it's good to see you, Cousin Philippa. It's been a
while." Then she noticed the expression on Jake's face and explained,
"I was always called Little Annie to distinguish me from Mama's sister.
I was named after Aunt Annie."

"Who died just last year," Cousin Philippa added with a sigh.
"We all miss her."

The fat man behind the wheel pulled the car away from the curb.
"Damned stupid way to go, if you ask me," he muttered.

"Now, William," Cousin Philippa said.

"Brother" William, Jake remembered, and asked, "How did she
die?"

"She shoulda had that old furnace replaced years ago," Brother
William growled.

"It blew up?" Jake asked, alarmed.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Annie said. "My, you are jumpy,
Jake."

Cousin Philippa said, "Aunt Annie's house had a big old-
fashioned coal furnace, and during the winter months she or Uncle