"Richard Wadholm - From Here You Can See The Sunquists" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wadholm Richard)

"Dammit," she said. "Damn it." Her hands went up in exasperation. An impulse took hold
of her. She ran up and slugged him in the arm, dared him to respond.



The old Sunquist could do nothing but stare at her in stupid love. A moment of silence;
then she stalked away down the beach. He squeezed his lips between his fingers. He
squinted in anguish. He paced around in a little circle of perplexity, so that Mr. Sunquist
could not help feeling sorry for him.



He called after the girl, laughing heartily as if it had all been a joke; she made an
obscene gesture over her shoulder.



The present-tense Mr. Sunquist became aware of a profound silence directly behind him.
He waited as long as he could before turning around.



Mrs. Sunquist? Melanie? was gone.



He put his fingers to his nose the way he did whenever he had to steady his vision after
too much bourbon. He thought, this is ridiculous. How can I be blamed for something
that hasn't even happened yet? Our child isn't even born. I don't even know for certain it
will be a girl.



But in his heart, he knew it was not ridiculous. He knew himself well enough to know it
was entirely likely. He simply couldn't believe Mrs. Sunquist would not forgive him. He
had been forgiven all his life, hadn't he?



He pushed himself up to the top of the sand dune and searched the beach. He saw the
girl stalking away along a concrete sea wall, making angry little skips with her palm
against the rough stone blocks.



He couldn't find Mrs. Sunquist anywhere.