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

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 THE FAMILY TREE - Sheri S Tepper



She harrumphed and put the phone down while she went to dig out her notebooks from her desk. The
notes were two books back. The victim had been a doctor, a researcher of some kind. He'd been working
late at the medical center; he'd gone down to the parking lot to get his car; somebody had killed him, for
no apparent reason. The witness's name was Fentris, Gerry. She'd seen the victim leaving the building;
her hearing was good, she'd heard the guy screaming and yelling at someone to get away and leave him
alone. As Dora remembered, he wasn't robbed; his car wasn't stolen; his family was close; according to
his colleagues, he had no enemies. He was just a clean-looking, small, kind of nerdy guy that somebody
had killed, and they hadn't a clue as to why.
She read the notes to Phil, waiting while he tapped them into the computer. Actually, the two of them
made a pretty good team because she could do what he hated, like type and spell and put words together,
and he didn't mind doing stuff Dora hated, like changing tires if they had a flat or dealing with drunks.
Jared came in the back door that night, so he didn't see the weed. Next morning, when Dora stepped out
to get the mail before leaving for work, it had grown a foot. The coiled green had uncurled into lacy
fronds of leaflets, multiple pairs of them along wiry stems. The top of each frond swayed in the light
breeze as though it was nodding to her.
"Good morning," she said, bowing a little. It was what Little Dora had done, talking to plants and trees
and stray dogs. Even when they quit talking back, she'd kept up the habit. It embarrassed her when she
got caught at it, so she'd mostly stopped whenever people were around. Phil was okay about it. He didn't
mind her talking to animals or pigeons or flower gardens. He just thought she was nuts, but then a lot of
cops were, one way or another.
The mailbox held a card from Jimbo. He'd found a job in California, running a cultivator in fruit
orchards, lots of other stuff needed doing, so it could be permanent. He was teaching himself to play
guitar. Happy Birthday. Good Lord, he sounded almost grown up. Maybe there was hope, after all!
Kathleen had also remembered her birthday with a funny card covered with dolphins. An all-porpoise
birthday card. And there was a letter from Polly, saying she'd be dropping in on Dora Friday for a
birthday visit, a couple of days, maybe, on her way to visit friends in Seattle. Dora had always shared the
July Fourth birthday cake with Polly and Jimbo, so of course the two of them had remembered her
birthday. Dora wished Polly had given her some notice of the impending visit. Jared hated surprises.
Dora leaned against the door jamb, rereading Polly's note while the weed went on flirting its tendrils in
the wind. "My sister's coming," she told it. "She's a botanist. She'll understand you better than Jared will.
If you want to be around to meet her, better duck. Jared won't let this go on."


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 THE FAMILY TREE - Sheri S Tepper


As Jared didn't. The minute he drove in that night, he saw the weed. He went on into the garage with a
grim look on his face and came out a few minutes later with the sprayer. Dora, who had seen him from
the kitchen, went to the living room window to watch him drenching the weed in weed killer. Then he
stood there, mouth working, white in the face, his eyes bulged out like some actor in a Kabuki drama, as
though waiting for it to cough or utter last words or something. Finally he stomped back into the garage
and the door went down.
Dora went back to her salad making in the kitchen, shredding carrots and cabbage for slaw, not allowing