"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

kitchen and living room, and with a great deal of to-and-froing, all of them just managed to fit around the
dining room table. Joe consented to a booster seat to get his head up to the level of the table, where he
shoveled baby food industriously into his mouth or onto the floor as the case might be, narrating the
process all the while in his own tongue. Sucandra and Rudra Cakrin had seated themselves on either side
of him, and they watched his performance with pleasure. Both attended to him as if they thought he was
speaking a real language. They ate in a style that was not that dissimilar to his, Charlie
thoughtтАФabsorbed, happy, shoveling it in. The sauce was a hit with everyone but Nick, who ate his
pasta plain. Joe tossed a roll across the table at Nick, who batted it aside expertly, and all the Khembalis
laughed.

Charlie got up and followed Anna out to the kitchen when she went to get the salad. He said to her
under his breath, тАЬI bet the old man speaks English too.тАЭ

тАЬWhat?тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs like in that Ang Lee movie, remember? The old man pretends not to understand English, but really
he does? ItтАЩs like that I bet.тАЭ

Anna shook her head. тАЬWhy would he do that? ItтАЩs a hassle, all that translating. It doesnтАЩt give him any
advantage.тАЭ

тАЬYou donтАЩt know that! Watch his eyes, see how heтАЩs getting it all.тАЭ

тАЬHeтАЩs just paying attention. DonтАЩt be silly.тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩll see.тАЭ Charlie leaned into her conspiratorially: тАЬMaybe he learned English in an earlier incarnation.
Just be aware of that when youтАЩre talking around him.тАЭ

тАЬQuit it,тАЭ she said, laughing her low laugh. тАЬYoube aware.You learn to pay attention like that.тАЭ

тАЬOh and then youтАЩll believe I understand English?тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs right yeah.тАЭ

They returned to the dining room, laughing, and found Joe holding forth in a language anyone could
understand, a language of imperious gesture and commanding eye, and the assumption of authority in the
world. Which worked like a charm over them all, even though he was babbling.

After salad, and seconds on the pasta, they returned to the living room and settled around the coffee
table again. Anna brought out tea and cookies. тАЬWeтАЩll have to have Tibetan tea next time,тАЭ she said.

The Khembalis nodded uncertainly.

тАЬAn acquired taste,тАЭ Drepung suggested. тАЬNot actually tea as you know it.тАЭ

тАЬBitter,тАЭ Padma said appreciatively.

тАЬYou can use as blood coagulant,тАЭ Sucandra said.

Drepung added, тАЬAlso we add yak butter to it, aged until a bit rancid.тАЭ