"Bradley-WeLoveLydiaLove" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bradley Denton)

Having trouble getting aroused in the presence of a naked Lydia Love was not a
problem I anticipated.

She stops screaming and stamping as if a switch in her brain has been flipped to
OFF. The mirror has cracked, but it hasn't cut her feet. She leaves it and comes
toward me, moving with tentative steps, avoiding the broken pieces of crystal.
Except for the nick on her arm, she seems to be all right. The rage has drained
from her eyes, and what's left is a puzzled fear.

"Christopher?" she says. Her voice quavers. Her ribs strain against her skin as
she breathes.

She is looking at my crotch.

What did I tell you?

This was the one area I hoped the surgeons wouldn't touch, and to my relief they
decided that it was close enough as it was. Christopher had an average body with
average parts, and so do I. So they didn't change much besides my face and
voice.

But the surgeons couldn't see me with Lydia's eyes. And now she's looking close
for the first time. She's realizing that I'm someone else.

No. She's only confused because we're not excited.

Lydia stops at the foot of the bed and shifts her weight from one hip to the
other. Her tangled hair is draped over her left shoulder. Her lips are even more
swollen than usual.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

Oh. Well.

Maybe I'm more like Christopher than I thought.

You are Christopher.

Shut up. I can do this myself now. Whoever I am.

LATER I take Christopher's beat-up white Chevy pickup truck and head for the
H.E.B. in Kerrville. Lydia worries over me as I leave the house, but she doesn't
pitch another fit. She gives me a cash card with ten thousand bucks on it,
kisses me, and tells me to come home safe, goddamn it. As I let the truck coast
down the switchbacked driveway, I glance into the rearview mirror and see that
both Lydia and the stained-glass eye are watching me. Then the trees obscure
them, but I know they're still there.

As I reach Texas 27, a guy in a lawn chair under the trees on the far side of