"RESNICK, Mike - The Land of Nod" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

night of troubled sleep. I felt Ngai was trying to tell me
something, trying to impart some message through my dreams, but
though I had spent years interpreting the omens in other people's
dreams, I was ignorant of my own.
Edward was standing on the beautifully rolled lawn, staring
at the blackened embers of my fire.
"I have a beautiful fire pit on the terrace," he said, trying
unsuccessfully to hide his anger. "Why on earth did you build a
fire in the middle of the garden?"
"That is where a fire belongs," I answered.
"Not in _this_ house, it doesn't!"
"I shall try to remember."
"Do you know what the landscaper will charge me to repair the
damage you caused?" A look of concern suddenly crossed his face.
"You haven't sacrificed any animals, have you?"
"No."
"You're sure none of the neighbors is missing a dog or a
cat?" he persisted.
"I know the law," I said. And indeed, Kikuyu law required the
sacrifice of goats and cattle, not dogs and cats. "I am trying to
obey it."
"I find that difficult to believe."
"But _you_ are not obeying it, Edward," I said.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded.
I looked at Susan, who was staring at us from a second-story
window.
"You have two wives," I pointed out. "The younger one lives
with you, but the older one lives many kilometers away, and sees
you only when you take your children away from her on weekends.
This is unnatural: a man's wives should all live together with
him, sharing the household duties."
"Linda is no longer my wife," he said. "You know that. We
were divorced many years ago."
"You can afford both," I said. "You should have kept both."
"In this society, a man may have only one wife," said Edward.
"What kind of talk is this? You have lived in England and America.
You know that."
"That is their law, not ours," I said. "This is Kenya."
"It is the same thing."
"The Moslems have more than one wife," I replied.
"I am not a Moslem," he said.
"A Kikuyu man may have as many wives as he can afford," I
said. "It is obvious that you are also not a Kikuyu."
"I've had it with this smug superiority of yours!" he
exploded. "You deserted my mother because she was not a true
Kikuyu," he continued bitterly. "You turned your back on my sister
because she was not a true Kikuyu. Since I was a child, every time
you were displeased with me you have told me that I am not a true
Kikuyu. Now you have even proclaimed that none of the thousands
who followed you to Kirinyaga are true Kikuyus." He glared