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

"I don't know, it's hard to say."
"But after I did?"
 The Ugly Swans 39

"Yes."
She turned to face him.
"Are you sure you didn't hear anything? A brawl, fighting?"
"No," said Victor. "I think it was very peaceful. First they sang, then Rosheper and company urinated
under our window, then I fell asleep. They were already getting ready to go back."
She threw her cigarette out the window and stood up.
"Get dressed," she said.
He snickered and stretched out a hand for his shorts. "Your order is my command," he thought.
"Obedience is a fine thing. No questions asked, ever." "Are we driving or walking?" he asked.
"What? First we'll walk, then we'll see."
"Somebody get lost?"
"Looks like it."
"Rosheper?"
He suddenly felt her glance on him. There was doubt in it. She was already regretting that she'd asked
him to come. She was asking herself, who is he anyway that I should take him along?
"I'm ready," he said.
She was still vacillating, playing with her flashlight.
"Well, all right, let's go." She didn't move from the spot.
"Maybe I should break a leg off the chair?" proposed Victor. "Or the bed?"
She woke up.
"No. It won't do any good." She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a huge black pistol. "Take it," she
said.
Victor braced himself, but it turned out to be nothing more than a low-caliber hunting pistol. It didn't even
have a car-tridge.
"Let's have some cartridges," he said.
She looked at him absent-mindedly, then looked at the pis-tol.
"No. We don't need any. Let's go."
40 The Ugly Swans

Victor shrugged and stuck the pistol in his pocket. They went down to the lobby and walked out onto the
porch. The fog had thinned out; it was drizzling weakly. There weren't any cars at the entrance. Diana
turned into a small path between the wet bushes and turned on the flashlight.
"What an idiotic position," thought Victor. "You're itching to ask what's going on, and you can't. Got to
find out some way of asking. Beat around the bush. An observation with a query in the subtext. Maybe I'll
have to fight? Don't feel like it. Not today. I'll hit him with the pistol. Right between the eyes. How's my
lump doing?" His lump hadn't moved. It hurt slightly. "Funny duties the nurses have in this institution. But
I've always felt that Diana was a woman with a secret. From the first glance and all five days. . . . Ugh, is
it damp, should have taken a swig of something before I left. As soon as I get back, I'll have something.
Aren't I being good?" he thought. "No questions asked. Your order is my command."
They circled around their half of the building, crawled through the lilac bushes, and wound up near the
fence. Diana shone the flashlight on it. One of the iron rails was missing.
"Victor," she said softly. "We're going to turn onto a trail. You'll follow. Watch your feet, and don't step
off the trail. Got it?"
"Got it," said Victor submissively. "A step to the right, a step to the left, and I shoot."
Diana squeezed through first, then held the flashlight for Victor. They made their way very slowly down
the hill. It was the eastern slope of the health resort hill. All around them unseen trees were rustling in the