"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - The Ugly Swans" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

This time the lobby was empty. Nobody was playing blind-man's buff, nobody was jiggling his fat ass in a
game of tag or sleeping in the armchairs. Everywhere there wore crumpled rain-coats, and some joker had
put a hat on a rubber tree. Victor climbed the carpeted staircase up to the second floor. Music blared. On
the right half of the corridor, the doors leading to the Member of Parliament's suite were wide opened,
exuding a rich odor of food, smoke, and overheated bodies. Victor turned left and knocked on the door to
Diana's room. Nobody answered. The door was closed, but the key was in the keyhole. Victor walked in,
turned on the light, and put the gin on the night table. He heard footsteps and looked out. A tall man in a
dark evening suit was retreating along the corridor with a firm, wide step. He stopped at the mirrored
landing, and, craning his neck, fixed his tie. Victor had time to observe his swarthy, faintly yellow eagle's
profile with its sharp chin. And then something happened to the man: he let his shoulders sag, leaned slightly
on one foot, and, swaying his hips in a repul-sive manner, disappeared into one of the opened doors. "Fop,"
thought Victor, not quite sure of himself. "Went to take a puke." He looked to the left. It was dark.
Victor took off his raincoat. He left the room, locked the
32 The Ugly Swans

door, and went to look for Diana. "I'll have to look in at Rosheper's," he thought. "Where else could she
be?"
Rosheper had a three-room suite. The first one contained the remains of a recent feast. The tables were
covered with soiled cloths and piled up with dirty plates, ashtrays, bottles, and crumpled napkins. There was
nobody left, except a single solitary bald head, dripping with sweat and snoring away into a gravy dish.
In the adjoining room all hell had broken loose. Half-naked girls, imported from the capital, were kicking
their legs on Rosheper's enormous bed. They were playing some strange game with an apoplectically purple
gentleman, his honor the burgomaster, who was diving into them like a pig into a pile of acorns, kicking and
grunting with enjoyment. Among the other guests were his honor the police chief, out of uniform, his honor
the city judge, eyes popping from nervous exhaustion, and some unknown hustling type dressed in lilac. The
latter were competing furiously in a game of miniature billiards that had been propped up on a dressing
table, while in the corner, slumped against the wall and arrayed in a filthy state uniform, sat the director of
the middle school, smiling idiotically, his legs spread wide apart. Victor was on his way out when some-one
grabbed at his trouser leg. He looked down and took a step backwards. Beneath him, on all fours, was the
Knight of the Orders, author of a widely circulated project for fish breeding in the Kitchigan Reservoirs,
Member of Parliament Rosheper Nant.
 "I want to play horsey," whined Rosheper. "Let's play horsey! Giddy-yap!" He was beside himself.
Victor delicately freed his leg and glanced into the next room. There he saw Diana. At first he didn't
even realize that it was her, and when he did he didn't like it. "Very nice," he thought. The room was full;
men and women, all vague ac-quaintances, were standing in a circle and clapping. In the cen-ter of the
circle Diana was engaged in a wild dance with the
The Ugly Swans 33

sallow-faced fop, the owner of the eagle's profile. Her eyes burned, her cheeks burned, her hair flew
above her shoulders, the devil himself was no match for her. The eagle's profile was trying his best to keep
up.
"Funny," thought Victor. "What's going on?" Something
was not quite right. "He's a good dancer, he's just a terrific
dancer. He could teach dancing. He's not just dancing, he's
demonstrating how it should be done. He's not even a teacher,
he's a student at an exam, and he really wants an A. No, that's
not it. Listen, pal, you're dancing with Diana! Can you really
be unaware of that?" Victor made his habitual imaginative
leap. "An actor is dancing on the stage, everything is fine,
everything is the way it should be, without any wrinkles, while