"William Tenn - The Human Angle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tenn William)

"Yes?" he said encouragingly, though he was more than surprised. He hadn't
ex-pected anything but compliance. After all, she was probably palpitating at being
out with him.
"I'd like to order for myself," she said. "I'm on aтАФa special diet."
He raised his eyebrows and was pleased at the way she blushed. He nodded
slowly, with dignity, letting his displeasure come through in the way he pronounced
his words. "Very well, as you please."
A few moments later, though, curiosity got too strong and broke through the ice.
"What kind of diet is that? Fresh-fruit salad, a glass of tomato juice, raw cabbage,
and a baked potato? You can't be trying to lose weight if you eat potatoes."
Wednesday smiled timidly. "I'm not trying to reduce, Mr. Balik. Those are all
foods rich in Vitamin C. I need a lot of Vitamin C."
Fabian remembered her smile. There had been a few spots of more-than-natural
whiteness in it. "Bad teeth?" he inquired.
"Bad teeth andтАФ" Her tongue came out and paused for a thoughtful second
be-tween her lips. "Mostly bad teeth," she said. "This is a nice place. There's a
restaurant almost like it near where I live. Of course it's a lot cheaperтАФ"
"Do you live with your parents, Miss Gresham?"
"No, I live alone. I'm an orphan."
He waited until the waiter had deposited the first course, then speared a bit of the
shrimp and returned to the attack. "Since when?"
She stared at him over her fresh-fruit salad. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Balik?"
"Since when? How long have you been an orphan?"
"Since I was a little baby. Someone left me on the doorstep of a foundling home."
He noticed that while she was replying to his questions in an even tone of voice,
she was staring at her food with a good deal of concentration and her blush had
be-come more pronounced. Was she embarrassed at having to admit her probable
lack of legitimacy? he wondered. Surely she had grown accustomed to it inтАФhow
old was she?тАФtwenty-four years. Nonsense, of course she had.
"But on your original application form, Miss Gresham, you gave Thomas and
Mary Gresham as the names of your parents."
Wednesday had stopped eating and was playing with her water glass. "They were
an old couple who adopted me," she said in a very low voice. "They died when I
was fifteen. I have no living relatives."
"That you know of," he pointed out, raising a cautionary finger.
Much to Fabian's surprise she chuckled. It was a very odd chuckle and made him
feel extremely uncomfortable. "That's right, Mr. Balik. I have no living relativesтАФ
that I know of." She looked over his shoulder and chuckled again. "That I know of,"
she repeated softly to herself.
Fabian felt irritably that the interview was somehow getting away from him. He
raised his voice slightly. "Then who is Dr. Morris Lorington?"
She was attentive again. In fact, wary was more like it. "Dr. Morris Lorington?"
"Yes, the man you said should be notified in case of emergency. In case anything
happened to you while you were working for us."
She looked very wary now. Her eves were narrowed, she was watching him very
closely; her breathing was a bit faster, too. "Dr. Lorington is an old friend. HeтАФhe
was the doctor at the orphanage. After the Greshams adopted me, I kept going to
him wheneverтАФ" Her voice trailed off.
"Whenever you needed medical attention?" Fabian suggested.
"Ye-es," she said, brightening, as if he had come up with an entirely novel reason