"Laura Resnick - A Fleeting Wisp of Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

"Cooked so that the flesh fell off the bone and melted in your mouth,"
Jackie says, looking hungry all of a sudden.
"And there were a thousand kinds of fruit in as many different colors,
with smooth shiny skins and firm, sweet flesh." Now I'm getting hungry, too,
so I decide to get to the next part of the story. "But this kingdom needed a
leader, and so a brave warrior came from the north, from the port of the
hyannis, and with the strength of his sword Excalibur, he made himself the
ruler of this land from sea to shining sea."
I look to Jonah, and he nods to let me know I'm doing all right so far.
"King Kennedy was young and handsome, and he took a beautiful woman to be his
queen."
"Her name was Jacqueline," Jackie interrupts. I've been expecting this.
She always interrupts Jonah at this point.
"Jacqueline was the daughter of..." I'm not sure, and Jonah doesn't
help me this time. "The daughter of Lot," I say at last, hoping I'm right,
"and she came from the north, too. Her dowry was a round table, and when
Kennedy saw it, he invited knights from all over the land to come to Camelot,
where he lived in a big white palace, and he asked them to pledge allegiance
to the flag and join the round table. No one could sit at the head or the foot
of the round table, and Kennedy said that made it perfect for a democracy."
Jonah once said that a democracy is like a family after the children
have become as big as their parents and can argue instead of just doing what
they're told.
"Many knights came to Camelot. Sir MacNamara, Sir Rusk, Sir Galahad,
Sir Warren, and Sir Bobby, who was the king's brother and most special
advisor. Bobby and Kennedy were educated by a wizard named Merlin, so they
knew more than other people." I stop again, thinking I've forgotten someone
important.
"Who was the best knight?" Jonah asks softly.
"Oh! Sir Launcelot. He came from France, like Sir Salinger, but he was
very brave even so."
"Tell about the Lady of Shallot," Jackie says.
"No, that part's stupid."
"Bobby!" She gets all huffy about it, so I decide to let her have her
way.
"Her name was Marilyn, and she was a famous movie star." I'm not sure
what that means. Jonah once said it meant Marilyn was a kind of storyteller,
but she lived in a much better place than this cave. "She had hair the color
of the sun, and she was every man and woman's ideal of beauty and grace.
Kennedy and Sir Bobby both loved her, but she fell in love with Launcelot,




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like girls always did. But then she got half sick of shadows and..." I shrug.
"And I guess she got the Sickness."
"No." Jonah shakes his head. "People didn't get the Sickness then. The
Sickness came after the Armageddon."
"Oh, right. Anyhow, she died, and then Launcelot fell in love with the