"The Book of Lies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kristof Agota)

Our Neighbor and Her Daughter

Our neighbor is not as old as Grandmother. She lives with her daughter in the last house of the Little Town. It is a completely dilapidated shack with several holes in the roof. Around it there is a garden, but it is not cultivated like Grandmother's garden. Nothing grows there but weeds.

The neighbor spends all day sitting on a stool in her garden looking straight in front of her at who knows what. In the evenings or when it rains, her daughter takes her by the arm and leads her indoors. Sometimes her daughter forgets her or isn't there, and then the mother spends the whole night outside, whatever the weather.

People say that our neighbor is mad, that she lost her mind when the man who made her pregnant abandoned her.

Grandmother says that the neighbor is simply lazy and prefers to stay poor rather than get down to work.

The neighbor's daughter is no taller than we are, but she is a bit older. During the day, she begs in the town, outside cafés and at street corners. At the market, she picks up vegetables and rotten fruit that people throw away and takes them home. She also steals anything she can. Several times we have had to chase her out of our garden when she was trying to take fruit and eggs.

Once, we catch her drinking milk by sucking the udder of one of our goats.

When she sees us, she gets up, wipes her mouth on the back of her hand, steps back, and says:

"Don't hurt me!"

She adds:

"I run very fast. You won't catch me."

We look at her. It's the first time we've seen her close up. She has a harelip, she's cross-eyed, she has snot in her nose and yellow dirt in the corners of her red eyes. Her legs and arms are covered with pimples.

She says:

"I'm called Harelip. I like milk."

She smiles. Her teeth are black.

"I like milk, but what I like best is sucking the udder. It's good. It's hard and soft at the same time."

We say nothing. She approaches us.

"I like to suck something else, too."

She stretches out her hand. We step back. She says:

"Don't you want to? Don't you want to play with me? I'd really like to. You're so handsome."

She lowers her head and says:

"I disgust you."

We say:

"No, you don't disgust us."

"I see. You're too young, too shy. But you don't have to be embarrassed with me. I'll teach you some very amusing games."

We say:

"We never play."

"Then what do you do all day long?"

"We work and study."

"I beg, steal, and play."

"You also look after your mother. You're a good girl."

She comes up to us and says:

"You think I'm a good girl? Really?"

"Yes. And if you need anything for your mother or for yourself you have only to ask us. We'll give you fruit, vegetables, fish, and milk."

She starts shouting:

"I don't want your fruit, your fish, or your milk! I can steal all that. What I want is for you to love me. Nobody loves me. Not even my mother. But I don't love anybody either. Not my mother and not you! I hate you!"