"Madeleine E Robins - Abelard's Kiss" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robins Madeleine E)

MADELEINE E. ROBINS

ABELARD'S KISS

Beatee's lover was made of lip. She wouldn't say more, just smiled, delicately
tracing the edge of her glass with one finger. Susannah, more than anyone else
there, knew Beatrice's theatricality, her beautifully detailed gestures.
Susannah, more than anyone else there, knew that to give way to her curiosity
was to give way to Beatrice.

Still, "Lip, Beatrie?" she murmured, trying to sound wry and doubtful.

"Uh huh." Beatrice's smile broadened and shone on Susannah; she finished her
wine and turned to get more.

Was she the only one in Renata's living room who had heard Beatrice? Susannah
wondered. Or did the others take the casual statement as an example, either of
Beatrice's extravagance or of her hyperbole? No one but Susannah seemed
particularly interested. And beside the delicious, disturbing image of
Beatrice's lover there was only one though t in Susannah's mind: not to show
Beatrice that she was intrigued. Captivated. Hooked again, like the old days.

"Wanna see something?" Beatrice would whisper. They were sammies then, refugee
kids at a Samaritan school after the Big Everything the disaster of '19 which
had wiped out so much of New York City. "It'll cost you a halfie." And Susannah
had found the half-dollar coin hidden in her pocket and given it to Beatrice,
and had been permitted to view the dead cat or the page tom from an old pom
magazine or, once, the body of a bum who had frozen to death outside the school
the night before.

"Wanna see something?" Beatrice would whisper. And every time, every damned time
she fell for it.

Even now, twenty-five years later. The most Susannah had learned to do was look
indifferent so that the others at the party-- friends of Renata's, who was a
sammie too -- wouldn't notice her fascination.

Later, when the party was breaking up, Beatrice offered Sue a ride back to
Manhattan by way of Tamerlane. "I have to stop home, anyway. Come in, I'll give
you some real coffee."

Susannah opened her mouth to say no, and was unsurprised to hear herself say
Yes. Old habit, old captivations. She followed Beatrice up to the copter on
Renata's roof.

"I've named it Abelard," Beatrice said as she fastened her seatbelt.

"Why not Dante?" Susannah asked, trying to play the game.