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

"What about you?" I said.
"I've already eaten. Pauline gave me something to eat just
before I left."
"What are we having for dinner?" I said.
"No," Old Chuck said, smiling. "Pauline told me if I met you
on the road not to tell you what the dinner is tonight. She made
me promise."
"That Pauline," I said.
"She made me promise," he said.

15

iDEATH

it was about dark when I arrived at ideath. The two evening
stars were now shining side by side. The smaller one had moved
over to the big one. They were very close now, almost touching,
and then they went together and became one very large star.
I don't know if things like that are fair or not.
There were lights on down at ideath. I watched them as I
came down the hill out of the woods. They looked warm, calling
and cheery.
Just before I arrived at ideath, it changed. ideath's like that:
always changing. It's for the best. I walked up the stairs to the
front porch and opened the door and went in.
I walked across the living room toward the kitchen. There
was nobody in the room, nobody sitting on the couches along
the river. That's where people usually gather in the room or they
stand in the trees by the big rocks, but there was nobody there
either. There were many lanterns shining along the river and
in the trees. It was very close to dinner.
When I got on the other side of the room, I could smell something
good coming out of the kitchen. I left the room and walked
down the hall that follows beneath the river. I could hear the
river above me, flowing out of the living room. The river
sounded fine.

16

The hall was as dry as anything and I could smell good things
coming up the hall from the kitchen.
Almost everybody was in the kitchen: that is, those who take
their meals at ideath. Charley and Fred were talking about
something. Pauline was just getting ready to serve dinner.
Everybody was sitting down. She was happy to see me. "Hi,
stranger," she said.
"What's for dinner?" I said.
"Stew," she said. "The way you like it."
"Great," I said.
She gave me a nice smile and I sat down. Pauline was wearing