"Barker, Clive - Sacrament (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Barker Clive)

'Good guess. Forty-one.'

'Married?'

'No.'

'Don't. It's a rat-trap.'

'It's not likely, believe me.'

'Are you queer then?' Guthrie said, with a little tilt of his head.

'As it happens, yes.'

'A queer Englishman. Surprise, surprise. No wonder you got on so well with Sister Ruth - She Who Must Not
Be Touched. And you came all this way to see me?'

'Yes and no. I'm here to photograph the bears.'

'Of course, the fucking bears.' What little trace of warmth or humour his voice had contained had suddenly
vanished. 'Most people just go to Churchill, don't they? Aren't there tours now, so you can watch them
performing?' He shook his head. 'Degrading themselves.'

'They just go where they can find a free meal,' Will said.

Guthrie looked down at the dog, who had not moved from his side since her reprimand. Her bone was still in
her mouth. 'That's what you do, isn't it?' The dog, happy she was being addressed, whatever the subject,
thumped her tail on the bare floor. 'Little brown-noser.' Guthrie reached down as if to take the bone. The dog's
ragged black lips curled back in warning. 'She's too bright to bite me and too stupid not to growl. Give it to me,
you mutt.' Guthrie tugged the bone from her jaws. She let him take it. He scratched her behind her ear and
tossed the bone back on the floor in front of her. 'I expect dogs to be sycophants,' he said, 'we made 'em that
way. But bears - Jesus, bears shouldn't be fucking nosing around in our garbage. They should stay out there- he
vaguely waved in the direction of the Bay '-where they can be whatever God intended them to be.'

'Is that why you're here?'

'What, to admire the animal life? Christ no. I'm here because being with people makes me vomit. I don't like
'em. I never did.'

'Not even Steep?' Will said.

Guthrie shot him a poisonous look. 'What in Christ's name kind of question is that?'

'Just asking.'

'Fucking stupid question,' Guthrie muttered. Then, softening somewhat, he said: 'They were something to look
at, both of them, and that's the truth. I mean, Christ, Rosa was beautiful. I only put up with talking to Steep to
get to her. But he said once I was too old for her.'

'How old were you?' Will asked him, thinking as he did so that Guthrie's story was changing slightly. He'd