"Richard Brautigan - in_watermelon_sugar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brautigan Richard)

"No," I said. "It's not like those books."
"I remember when I was a child," she said. "We used to burn
those books for fuel. There were so many of them. They burned
for a long time, but there aren't that many now."
"No, it's just a book," I said.

21

"All right," she said. "I'll get off you, but you can't blame a
person for being curious. Nobody has written a book here for
so long. Certainly not in my lifetime."
Fred came in from washing the dishes. He saw us up in the
trees. Lanterns illuminated us.
"Hello, up there," he yelled.
"Hi," we shouted down.
Fred walked up to us, crossing a little river that flowed into
the main river at ideath. He came across a small metal bridge
that rang out his footsteps. I believe that bridge was found in
the Forgotten Works by inBOii. He brought it down here and
put it in.
"Thanks for doing the dishes," Pauline said.
"My pleasure," Fred said. "I'm sorry to bother you people,
but I just thought I would come up and remind you about meeting
me down at the plank press tomorrow morning. There's
something I want to show you down there."
"I haven't forgotten," I said. "What's it about?"
"I'll show you tomorrow."
"Good."
"That's all I wanted to say. I know you people have a lot to
talk about, so I'll go now. That certainly was a good dinner,
Pauline."
"Do you still have that thing you showed me today?" I said.
"I'd like Pauline to see it."
"What thing?" Pauline said.
"Something Fred found in the woods today."
"No, I don't have it," Fred said. "I left it in my shack. I'll
show it to you tomorrow at breakfast."
"What is it?" Pauline said.
"We don't know what it is," I said.
"Yeah, it's a strange-looking thing," Fred said. "It's like one
of those things from the Forgotten Works."
"Oh," Pauline said.
"Well, anyway, I'll show it to you tomorrow at breakfast."

22

"Good," she said. "I look forward to seeing it. Whatever it
is. Sounds pretty mysterious."
"OK, then," Fred said. "I'll be going now. Just wanted to
remind you about seeing me tomorrow at the plank press. It's