"Connie Willis - Cibola" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

Having been burned once, he promptly took off after another
promise of gold in Quivira in Kansas someplace where there
wasnтАЩt any gold either. He hadnтАЩt been in Colorado at all.
I pulled onto Santa Fe, cursing Jake for sending me on
another wild-goose chase, and headed south. Denver is famous for
traffic, air pollution, and neighborhoods that have seen better days.
Santa Fe isnтАЩt one of those neighborhoods. ItтАЩs been a decaying line
of rusting railroad tracks, crummy bars, old motels, and waterbed
stores for as long as I can remember, and I, as Jake continually
reminds me, grew up in Denver.
CoronadoтАЩs granddaughter lived clear south past Hampden, in
a trailer park with a sign with тАЬOlde West MotelтАЭ and a neon bison
on it, and Rosa TurcorilloтАЩs old Airstream looked like it had been
there since the days when the buffalo roamed. It was tiny, the kind
of trailer I would call тАЬTurcorilloтАЩs modest mobile homeтАЭ in the
article, no more than fifteen feet long and eight wide.
Rosa was nearly that wide herself. When she answered my
knock, she barely fit in the door. She was wearing a voluminous
turquoise housecoat, and had long black braids.
 тАЬWhat do you want?тАЭ she said, holding the metal door so she
could slam it in case I was the police or a repo man.
тАЬIтАЩm Carla Johnson from the Denver Record,тАЭ I said. тАЬIтАЩd like to
interview you about Coronado.тАЭ I fished in my bag for my press
card. тАЬWeтАЩre doing a series on тАШOur Living Western Heritage.тАЩтАЭ I
finally found the press card and handed it to her. тАЬWeтАЩre
interviewing people who are part of our past.тАЭ
She stared at the press card disinterestedly. This was not the
way it was supposed to work. Nuttos usually drag you in the house
and start babbling before you finish telling them who you are. She
should already be halfway through her account of how sheтАЩd traced
her ancestry to Coronado by means of the I Ching.
тАЬI would have telephoned first, but you didnтАЩt have a phone,тАЭ
I said.
She handed the card to me and started to shut the door.
тАЬIf this isnтАЩt a good time, I can come back,тАЭ I babbled. тАЬAnd
we donтАЩt have to do the interview here if youтАЩd rather not. We can
go to the Record office or to a restaurant.тАЭ
She opened the door and flashed a smile that had half of
CibolaтАЩs missing gold in it. тАЬI ainтАЩt dressed,тАЭ she said. тАЬItтАЩll take me
a couple of minutes. Come on in.тАЭ
I climbed the metal steps and went inside. Rosa pointed at a
flowered couch, told me to sit down and disappeared into the rear
of the trailer.
I was glad I had suggested going out. The place was no
messier than my desk, but it was only about six feet long and had
the couch, a dinette set, and a recliner. There was no way it would
hold me and CoronadoтАЩs granddaughter, too. The place may have
had a surplus of furniture but it didnтАЩt have any of the usual crazy
stuff, no pyramids, no astrological charts, no crystals. A deck of
cards was laid out like the tarot on the dinette table, but when I