"Cabot, Meg - 1-800-Where-R-You 04 - Sanctuary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cabot Meg)

to get through."
"You madefour pies?" Claire, who, unlike me, was tall and willowy—and who must
have had a hollow leg or something, because she ate more than practically any
human being I knew—sounded pleased. "What kind?"
"Apple, pumpkin, pecan, and persimmon," my dad said, sounding equally pleased.
Good cooks like people who appreciate their food.
No one, however, that I could tell, appreciated Great-aunt Rose.
"Joseph," she said, the minute we reappeared in the dining room. "Who was that
colored man?"
It is really embarrassing having a relative like Great-aunt Rose. It isn't even
like she is an alcoholic or anything so you can blame her bad behavior on
outside forces. She is just plain mean. A couple of times I have considered
hauling off and slugging her, but since she is about one hundred years old
(okay, seventy-five, big diff) my parents would probably not take too kindly to
this. On top of which I have really been trying to curtail my tendency toward
violence, thanks to a lawsuit I got slapped with not too long ago for deviating
a certain someone's septum.
Though I still think she deserved it.
"African-American, Rose," my mom said. "And he is our neighbor, Dr. Thompkins.
Can I get anyone some more wine? Skip, more Coke?"
Skip is Ruth's twin brother. He is supposed to have a crush on me, but he always
forgets about it when Claire Lippman is around. That's because all the
boys—including my other brother, Douglas—love Claire. It is like she gives off a
pheromone or something that girls like Ruth and I don't have. It is somewhat
upsetting.
Not, of course, that I want Skip to like me. Because I don't even like Skip. I
like someone else.
Someone who was expecting me for Thanksgiving dinner. Only the way things were
going—
"What's wrong with saying colored?" Great-aunt Rose wanted to know. "Heis
colored, isn't he?"
"Can I get you a little more creamed spinach?" Mr. Abramowitz asked Great-aunt
Rose. Being a lawyer, he is used to having to be nice to people he doesn't like.
"What'd Dr. Thompkins want?" Skip asked.
"Oh, nothing," my mother said, a little too brightly. "He was just wondering if
any of us had seen Nate. Who'd like more mashed potatoes?"
"What's wrong with saying colored?" Great-aunt Rose was mad because no one was
paying any attention to her. Though she probably would have changed her tune if
I'd paid the kind of attention to her that I wanted to.
"I heard the only reason Dr. Thompkins took the chief surgeon job over at County
Medical was because Nate was getting into trouble at their old school." Claire
looked around the table as she dropped this little bombshell. Being an actress,
Claire enjoys seeing what kind of reactions her little performances generate.
Also, since she babysits for all the rich doctor types when she is not attending
rehearsals, she knows all the gossip in town. "I heard Nate was in agang up in
Chicago."
"A gang!" Mrs. Lippman looked upset. "Oh, no! That nice boy?"
"Many a nice boy's fallen in with the wrong crowd," Mr. Abramowitz said mildly.
"But Nate Thompkins." Mrs. Lippman, who was big-time involved with the PTA,
shook her head. "Why, he's always been so polite when I've seen him at the Stop