"Tepper,.Sheri.S.-.Marianne,.The.Magus,.And.The.Manticore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

DURING THE NIGHT, Marianne was awakened by a steady drum-

ming of rain, a muffled tattoo as from a thousand drumsticks

on the flat porch roof, a splash and gurgle from the rainspout

at the corner of the house outside Mrs. Winesap's window,

bubbling its music in vain to ears which did not hear. "I hear,"

whispered Marianne, speaking to the night, the rain, the comer

of the living room she could see from her bed. When she lay

just so, the blanket drawn across her lips, the pillow crunched

into an exact shape, she could see the amber glow of a lamp

in the living room left on to light one corner of the reupholstered

couch, the sheen of the carefully carpentered shelves above it,

the responsive glow of the refinished table below, all in a kindly

shine and haze of belonging there. "Mine," said Marianne to

the room. The lamplight fell on the first corner of the apartment

to be fully finished, and she left the light on so that she could

see it if she woke, a reminder of what was possible, a promise

that all the rooms would be reclaimed from dust and dilapi-

dation. Soon the kitchen would be finished. Two more weeks

at the extra work she was doing for the library and she'd have

enough money for the bright Mexican tiles she had set her heart

upon.







"Mine," she said again, shutting her eyes firmly against the