"Gene Wolfe - Bea and Her Bird Brother" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolfe Gene)

"Not that time. Go back further."

"You didn't even let me say it, Dad."

"You hadn't gone far enough. Your eyes told me. Further. The first time you ever hid. The very first."

"But--"
"Back. Go back now. I'm not going to be around much longer, Bea."

She shut her eyes, and something horrible stalked the dark, strewing its sharp stench on the sweet, moist
air.

"There! That's it. Where are you?"

"In the leaves." She heard her own voice, and had no idea what it was talking about. "Big leaves, Dad....
"Her eyes opened. "They can't have been as big as that."

"You remembered." He was trying to smile, this though Death (invisible, ever-present) blew each
flickering smile away. "Wanted to see if you could. I found your ma, Bea. Found her on the ground one
day when I was trying to get back here. She'd hurt her wing. Hit a limb or something. She was never sure
what. Not Elsie. This isn't Elsie."

"My real mother."

"That's right, Bea. Your real mother. I called her Ava, even if it wasn't her name. I couldn't sing the real
one, so Ava's what I called her."

"You and Mom always said I was adopted." The flowers should have perfumed the room, but for some
reason they did not. There was only odor of the spray.

"It was true in a way, Bea. Elsie adopted you, and when Benjy came she treated you--"

Bea shook her head. "She's gone, Dad. Don't get me started on how she treated me. The woman's name
was Ava?"

"No ... not really. It was just what I called her. I couldn't sing her real name. Didn't I say? She'd hurt her
wing, the one over on the right side. It wasn't cut off or anything, but she couldn't fold it right, and she
couldn't fly. She used to lay it over us both when we slept."

Bea would have objected, but something inside seemed to be choking her.

"She's ready to die when I found her. She hadn't been getting a thing to eat. I climbed, and ate some
myself, and carried some down to her." The old man's eyes closed.

"Dad?"

"Just remembering, Bea. I'm not ready to go yet, and I won't go till I am." He fell silent, breathing deeply.

She waited, and at last he said, "I had to beg her to eat. I put it in her mouth and begged her to chew. All
sign language, you know. I couldn't sing it at all then, and I never did sing it well. Not half what they did.