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

queen." I hesitate, feeling confused. I realize suddenly that the story hasn't
always been the same. When I was just a kid, it was different somehow. Bit by
bit, it's changed. "Have I got something wrong?"
"No, no, you're doing fine," Jonah says.
I guess he should know. "So Launcelot was afraid for his honor, because
it was wrong to love the king's wife, so he went off to find the Holy Grail.
All the other knights decided they should do good work, too, so they went off
to far foreign lands like Africa and Asia and Thailand where they taught
ignorant people to be just like them."
"And the women," Jackie adds. "Women went, too."
"Yes, and the women, too." She looks really impressed now, even though
she keeps interrupting. "And the men and women of the round table taught
people how to do all the wonderful, miraculous things that people in Camelot
knew how to do. They taught them how to make water flow into their homes, how
to build smooth shiny roads, how to make the Sickness go away -- "
"Not the Sickness," Jonah says. "Just diseases."
"And they taught them how to make food like the people had in Camelot,"
Jackie says wistfully.
"I guess so."
"So everything was perfect in Camelot?" Jonah asks.
I know the answer to this. "It was perfect for a while, and people
thought they were living in Paradise. Kennedy had many friends, like Sir
Peter, who was a famous storyteller like Lady Marilyn, and King Pellinore who
came from... the north, I guess. But Pellinore never stayed long, because he
was always looking for the Questing Beast.
"Kennedy had an evil sister though, a sorceress named Morgause, and a
child was born to their... their..." It's a big word, I know that.
"Their incestuous union," Jonah says.
"Their incestuous union. His name was Khrushchev, and he was a jealous,
evil prince who grew up with Morgause's other sons, Gawaine, Agravaine, and
Castro. He grew up to rule an evil kingdom, far, far, far away from here...
and I think he loved Jacqueline, too."
"Everybody loved her," Jackie says, touching her own hair which is
blond, but maybe not as blond as they say Jacqueline's was. Or was it just
Marilyn's hair that was blond? I almost ask Jonah, but suddenly I wonder if he
really knows the truth. Not that I believe _any_ of it's true, of course.
"I don't think Khrushchev loved Jacqueline," Jonah says, but he doesn't
sound very sure. "He might have loved the Lady of Shallot, but not the queen."
"Oh." He's so old. Is he forgetting how all the parts of the story go?
"Tell about the Holy Grail," Jackie says.
"Um, the knights of the round table were looking for the Grail, but
instead they found missiles in Cuba, the kingdom of Prince Castro. The
missiles were very powerful, more powerful than Excalibur or Merlin's magic or
anything, and people were afraid. They knew they were in terrible danger."
This is the part of the story I hate, and I don't want to go on.
"What happened, Bobby?" Jonah says. "Continue."
"Khrushchev wanted to rule in this kingdom, too, but Kennedy wouldn't
let him. And so they began the war." I lick my lips, which are always cracked
and sometimes bleed. "Armageddon." My stomach twists and burns, and I hope the
brew Jonah made will work this time.