"What-UncleGorby" - читать интересную книгу автора (What Leslie)

course through her. She felt so very alone, almost as if she were an incomplete
being, like a Matryeshka whose halves did not fit together.

She opened the refrigerator to pour Anther's milk With the door open, the
light's reflection formed a halo over her father's head. A lightness started in
her chest, then floated downward toward her belly. It occurred to Katya that she
ought to write to Uncle Gorby, ask if he remembered a brother -perhaps someone
who left suddenly --someone the family no longer talked about. She wondered if
her uncle had children of his own.

She brought out Anther's milk. "Excuse me for a minute," she said, then dialed
her fathers number.

"Hello," her stepmother said.

"Hi," Katya answered. "Could I ask you something? Where exactly in Russia did my
father say he was born?"

"I don't know, honey. He never talked about that."

"But I heard him talk about Kiev once," Katya persisted. "When I forgot your
wedding. Father said something like, 'If I had a son, he could learn a trade
just like my father taught me back in Kiev.'"

"No," her stepmother said. "It wasn't quite like that, as I recall it, and I
remember the day quite clearly. It was my wedding, you know."

"Well, what exactly did he say?" Katya asked.

Her stepmother hesitated. "Now do you really want to go over this again?" she
said. "Honestly. I warned him he was being too harsh."

"Tell me," Katya said.

"Now honey. I hate dragging this out again. He said," she began, "that he wished
he had never had a daughter."

"Oh," Katya said. "I guess that's right. Maybe you mentioned that once before."

"Water under the bridge," said her stepmother.

"Was he still angry with me when he died?"

"Of course he was angry. But you know deep down inside he really loved you."

"Yes," Katya said. But she didn't know, not really.

She had Anther brush his teeth and she laid out his sleeping bag atop the sofa
cushions. He clambered inside, smiling up at her as she smoothed down the pillow
and turned off the light.