"Kit Reed - The Last Big Sin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Kit)

waffles, Mom nudged me into the Barcalounger. She tipped me back and flipped on the tube. "Be good.
Have fun." She stuck the remote in her pocketbook and left. If you want to know the truth at that angle I
had leverage issues. I couldn't get up to change the channel. I was stuck in the recliner until she got back,
staring at hours and hours of the Hour of Power, featuring the Reverend Earl.
This is how he works you, the unconverted. He rubs your nose in it. The way you look. "You're
disgusting." Every bite you ever ate. "Stop," I said; I would have done anything to cut him off but the
recliner kept my feet higher than my head. I struggled but I was stuck, looking up at the Reverend Earl
between my feet. I threw my can of beer nuts at him, begging. "Please stop." My five-pound fruitcake
missed the screen. "Stop it. Just stop."

It went on for hours.

"You can do it." The Reverend Earl bored right into me. "But you need my help."

By the time the sun came up over the Crystal Cathedral, I was shaking. I could swear somebody had
oiled the choir and dusted them with gold. Good thing my Nokia was charged. Nelda was still on my
Speed dial. Late as it was, she picked up.

I was raging. I shouted into the phone. тАФNelda, was this your idea?

She tried to get off the line. тАФOh, Jerry. I was just тАж She couldn't think of an excuse.

тАФWas it?

тАФCan't talk now, I have to see a person about a thing.

тАФNelda, it's the middle of the night!

тАФNot really. They're waiting, gotta go.

I said to Nelda, тАФWhat can I do to get you back? Mind you, Nelda was not the first, she was just the
next.

тАФLose the weight, she said, and I am here because she made it so clear that she didn't much care: that
sigh, right before she finished and hung up, like, what's the use. тАФJust lose the weight.

I shook the phone, we were in separate states of mind at the moment, so she has no idea how mad I
was. тАФThat's easy for you to say.

What are the stages of death? I went through denial and rage to acceptance. By the time Mom came
home I was in tears.

"Well Jerry," she said, "Did you like the show?"

I was too beat up to speak. "OK," I said. "OK."

I sent for the brochure.

You know how sometimes you decide do a thing just because they say it's going to be hard? Like hard is
a religion. I sold everything and came here. Who knew it would be this bad? Think maximum security.