"Stephen Goldin - Herds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

Maybe give a party for the people I like, instead of your political
cronies. Wes, I want to feel like I'm an equal partner in this
marriage, not just another tasteful accessory to your home."

"I don't understand you. I've given you everything any woman
could possibly want…"

"Except identity. As far as you're concerned, I'm not a human
being, just a wife. I decorate your arm at hundred-dollar-a-plate
dinners and make charming noises at the wives of other
would-be politicians. I make a corporate lawyer socially
respectable enough to think of running for office. And, when
you're not using me, you forget about me, send me away to the
little cabin by the sea or leave me to walk by myself around the
fifteen rooms of the mansion, slowly rotting away. I can't live this
way, Wes. I want out."

"What about a trial separation, maybe a month or so..."

"I said 'out,' O-U-T. A separation wouldn't do any good. The
fault, dear husband, is not in our stars but in ourselves. I know
you too well, and I know you'll never change into something that
is acceptable to me. And I'll never be satisfied with being an
ornament. So a separation would do us no good at all. I want a
divorce."

Stoneham crossed his legs. "Have you told anyone about this
yet?"

"No." She shook her head. "No, I was planning to see Larry
tomorrow, but I felt you should be told first."

"Good," Stoneham said in a barely audible whisper.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stella asked sharply. Her
hands were fidgeting, which was her cue to fumble through her
purse on the writing desk for her pack of cigarettes. She needed
one badly at this point.

But it wasn't until she got a cigarette between her lips that
she realized she was out of matches. "Got a light?"

"Sure." Stoneham fished around in his coat pocket and pulled
out a book of matches. "Keep them," he said as he flipped them
to his wife.

Stella caught them and examined them with interest. The
outside of the book was smooth silver, with red and blue stars
around the border. In the center were words that proclaimed: