"M. Rickert - Cold Fires" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rickert Mary)

picked through the bowls that Great-great-Grandmother brought in from the garden and tossed those not
perfectly swollen or those with seeds too coarse to the dogs who ate them greedily then panted at her
feet and became worthless hunters, so enamored were they with the sweet. Only perfect berries
remained in the white bowl and these she ate with such a manner of tongue and lips that
Great-great-Grandfather who came upon her like that, once by chance and ever after by intention, sitting
in the Sun at the wooden kitchen table, the dogs slathering at her feet, sucking strawberries, ordered all
the pirates to steal more of the red fruit which he traded unreasonably for until he became quite the
laughingstock and the whole family was in ruin.

"But even this was not enough to bring Great-great-Grandfather to his senses and he did what just was
not done in those days and certainly not by a pirate who could take whatever woman he desired├втВмтАЭhe
divorced Great-great-Grandmother and married the strawberry girl who, it is said, came to her wedding
in a wreath of strawberry ivy, and carried a bouquet of strawberries from which she plucked, even in the
midst of the sacred ceremony, red bulbs of fruit which she ate so greedily that when it came time to offer
her assent she could only nod and smile bright red lips the color of sin.

"The strawberry season is short and it is said she grew pale and weak in its waning.
Great-great-Grandfather took to the high seas and had many adventures, raiding boats where he passed
the gold and coffers of jewels, glanced at the most beautiful woman and glanced away (so that later, after
the excitement had passed, these same woman looked into mirrors to see what beauty had been lost) and
went instead, quite eagerly, to the kitchen where he raided the fruit. He became known as a bit of a
kook.

"In the meantime, the villagers began to suspect that the strawberry girl was a witch. She did not
appreciate the gravity of her situation but continued to visit Great-great-Grandmother's house as if the
other woman was her own mother and not the woman whose husband she had stolen. It is said that
Great-great-Grandmother sicced the dogs on her but they saw the blonde curls and smelled her
strawberry scent and licked her fingers and toes and came back to the house with her, tongues hanging
out and grinning doggedly at Great-great-Grandmother who, it is said, then turned her back on the girl
who was either so na├Г┬пve or so cunning that she spoke in a rush about her husband's long departures,
the lonely house on the hill, the dread of coming winter, a perfect babble of noise and nonsense that was
not affected by Great-great-Grandmother's cold back until, the villagers said, the enchantment became
perfect and she and Great-great-Grandmother were seen walking the cragged hills to market days as
happy as if they were mother and daughter or two old friends and perhaps this is where it would have all
ended, a confusion of rumor and memory, were it not for the strange appearance of the rounded bellies
of both women and the shocking news that they both carried Great-great-Grandfather's child which some
said was a strange coincidence and others said was some kind of trick.

"Great-great-Grandfather's ship did not return when the others did and the other pirate wives did not
offer this strawberry one any condolences. He was a famous seaman, and it was generally agreed that he
had not drowned, or crashed his ship at the lure of sirens, but had simply abandoned his witchy wife.

"All that winter Great-great-Grandfather's first and second wives grew suspiciously similar bellies, as if
size were measured against size to keep an even girth. At long last the strawberry wife took some minor
interest in hearth and home and learned to bake bread that Great-great-Grandfather's wife said would be
more successfully called crackers, and soup that smelled a bit too ripe but which the dogs seemed to
enjoy. During this time Great-great-Grandmother grew curls, and her lips, which had always seemed a
mastless ship anchored to the plane of her face, became strawberry shaped. By spring when the two
were seen together, stomachs returned to corset size, and carrying between them a bald, blue-eyed
baby, they were often mistaken for sisters. The villagers even became confused about which was the