"Tad Williams - The War of the Flowers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Tad)

permanently single guy who hadn't had a date in months, so he didn't worry much about things like that.
Theo did. He was seriously considering whether it was time to cut his moderately long brown hair. It
was bad enough to have turned thirty and still be singing in garage bands without looking like an aging
stoner, too.
As it turned out, Theo spent at least another half an hour listening to the demo tracks they had recorded
for "Feast of Fools," a sort of high-Goth processional that Kris had written, and over which the guitarist
fussed like a neurotic chef preparing for an important dinner party. He had more than a few irritating
things to say about Theo's vocal, wanting more rasp in it, more of an air of menace, the kind of
melodrama that Theo didn't much like.
On their last listen, as Kris bobbed his close-cropped head to his own music, his expression oddly
combining pleasure and pain, Theo had a sudden flash of insight: He's going to want to do the vocal on
this himself тАФ that's where this is going. And even though I'm a hundred times better, eventually he's
going to get his confidence and want to do all the lead vocals himself. And that'll be it for me with this
band.
He wasn't certain how he felt about that. On the one hand, much as he admired the young guys' playing
and Kris Rolle's musical ideas, it wasn't anything like his ideal band. For a start, he hated the name тАФ

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The Mighty Clouds of Angst. It was clumsy. Worse, it was a joke name, playing off a famous gospel
group, The Mighty Clouds of Joy. Theo believed firmly that joke names equaled joke bands, the Beatles
notwithstanding. Plus, it just irritated him. Kris, Morgan, and Dano weren't even old enough to
remember The Mighty Clouds of Joy, so why pick that as a name to parody? It smacked a little of white
suburban boys making fun of earnest, religious black people, and that made Theo uncomfortable. But if
he ever mentioned it, he knew they'd just show him that fishlike stare they had perfected, the all-purpose
defense against hopelessly uncool parents and teachers, and he would feel even older than he did.
So when did I wind up on the wrong side of that particular line?
He eased on his ancient leather jacket and bummed another smoke off John for the road тАФ or for home,
rather, since it was pretty hard to smoke while wearing a motorcycle helmet. He looked around, feeling
like he was leaving something behind. Lead singers didn't carry much in the way of equipment. The
mikes and PA belonged to Morgan and Kris. Theo could walk away from the Clouds as easily as he was
strolling out the door tonight. If he was good at anything, it was leaving when things got too weird.
If he did get forced out, would Johnny quit too? Theo wasn't sure how he felt about that. This was the
third band he'd played in with Johnny Battistini, following the obligatory should-have-made-it-big
disaster in which they'd met and the horrible cover band in which they'd marked time until hooking up
with Kris and company. Theo wouldn't mind the downtime of looking for another gig, and God knew
Catherine would be happy to have him home some nights, especially with the baby coming, but ol'
Johnny B. didn't have a lot else going on in his life. Besides his record store job and the Clouds, in fact,
John was pretty much the kind of guy advertisers made fun of but who kept their clients in business тАФ
an amiable lump who lived on take-out food, rented porn movies in bunches, and watched wrestling by
himself.
Kris looked up from yet another playing of "Feast of Fools" as Theo reached the door. "You going?" He
sounded irritated. Kris had gray eyes like a sky before a storm, the kind of eyes in which teenage girls
probably saw things that weren't really there at all.
No, Theo wanted to say. No, I'm going to hang around here and stay up all night smoking dope and
marveling at my own brilliance, just like you guys, because I've got nothing better to do and nobody on
my ass about when I come home.
"Can't stay," he said instead. "I've got a pregnant girlfriend, remember?" And for a self-righteous
moment he almost forgot he had left the phone off for two hours.