"Sheri S. Tepper - The Family Tree" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

saying they looked like Jared's weed. They laughed about that, feeling a gossipy and sisterly camaraderie
as they strolled along the avenue looking across toward the pale bulk of the boardinghouse.
"She's a funny woman," said Polly, nodding toward the house.
"Who? Jared's mother? You've only seen her once, haven't you?"

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...r/Sheri%20S.%20Tepper%20-%20The%20Family%20Tree.htm (18 of 333)23-2-2006 17:57:17
 THE FAMILY TREE - Sheri S Tepper


"Urn. At your wedding reception. That was the strangest bunch of people!"
"Well," Dora laughed, "they were my fellow boarders. Since we had the reception at the boardinghouse,
it didn't seem nice not to invite them."
"What was that woman's name? Michaelson?"
"The talker?"
"Talker! That's like calling Everest a little hill. And the guy with the fishтАж"
"Mr. Singley. Mr. Singley talks to his fish. He has names for each of them. He calls them woozums."
"And the fanny pincher. The one with the strange eyes."
"Mr. Calclough. And Mr. Fries who does martial arts. When he shouts 'Haieeee,' the whole house
shivers."
"You somehow just didn't fit in with that bunch, sis."
"I was only going to be there temporarily."
"I wasn't too crazy about the questions Momma asked, either. Were you a reliable cook and
housekeeper? That pissed me off a little, and I told her just how lucky Jared was to get you, and what a
great sister you'd been. Here's where we turn."
Something clanged in Dora's mind, like a coin in a pay phone. She chased the idea around, whatever it
was, like chasing a memory of a dream when one first wakes up, only to lose it entirely.
They crossed the avenue and started down the empty street. Everyone was home from work, cars were
put away, doors were closed, everyone was inside having supper. The street was like a vacant movie set
as they moved down one block, then past the first two houses on the next block, then the house with the
Tree, or the two with the Tree between them. Dora looked up at it as she always did, nodding to it. The
Tree seemed to nod back, as it always did.
The next place was Jared's. Dora saw two of her neighbors standing on the sidewalk with their mouths
open, staring. She saw what they were staring at: a pile of laundry on the stoop. Then her mind sorted
out what she was seeing, and she realized it wasn't a pile of laundry, it was a body, Jared's body, Jared
lying on the stoop, a set of clippers fallen from his hand, one arm curled protectively around his head.
Dora broke into a run.
He wasn't breathing. "Call for an ambulance," she cried, handing Polly the key that had been in her
hand. "Quick!"


file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...r/Sheri%20S.%20Tepper%20-%20The%20Family%20Tree.htm (19 of 333)23-2-2006 17:57:17
 THE FAMILY TREE - Sheri S Tepper


Polly went in, Dora rolled Jared off the stoop onto the grass, got him face up, started doing CPR, just the
way they'd taught her, push push push push push, breath, breath; push push push push push, breath,
breath. He was a funny color. He had little wounds all over his face and hands. Maybe other places, too,
for his shirt and trousers looked as though he'd been through a barbed wire fence. Push push push push
push. Breath. Breath. Push push pushтАж
Polly ran out of the house. "They're on their way."