"Gores, Joe - Kirinyaga" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gores Joe)

"Good." Kendrick's face hardened. "That leaves Perkins. Frozen
solid in his sleeping bag and his blankets."
"Youyou found him yourself."
"Only if he'd been out of the sleeping bag. Out of the blankets.
Even in delirium he couldn't have unzipped that bag. But you
could. You still had both arms then, you could take away the
blankets and bag for yourself, put them back when you saw me on
my way. You were afraid of freezing."
"He was finished. Done for." Hamlin was panting, sweating,
hunched in his chair like a man who'd been fed arsenic. "Just a
vegetable. Oh, it's easy for you! You're never tired. Never
frightened. I was afraid to die. Afraid. Can you understand that?
Can you?"
The bathroom door opened and Morna came out. Must have
gone in there when Kendrick had knocked and stayed there
quietly, listening. No wonder Hamlin had tried to keep him from
talking about it. Morna, who wanted a strong man, a self-
sufficient man; Morna, who had dumped Kendrick because he
hadn't measured up. Now Hamlin had been stripped, exposed to
her scorn. "
"No, he can't understand that, Burke," she said in a low deadly
voice. "He's never needed anyone or anything in his life." She met
Kendrick's gaze, a strange look on her lovely face. "Is it true? The
things you've accused him of?"
Kendrick shrugged. "I wasn't accusing. Just telling him what I
know. It doesn't go any further."
"All right, you've told him. Now get out and leave us alone."
She was on her knees beside the sobbing actor, her arms around
his massive shoulders, cooing soft words to him. She looked at
Kendrick past the magnificent shaggy head, her eyes ablaze.
"He needs me!" she cried triumphantly.
Kendrick felt as if he had narrowly missed being struck by a
train. He also felt nauseated. He said, "Yes. He needs you. God
help him."
He left the room. The first broad drops of rain were making
dime-sized splotches on the tarmac, making it smell of wet tar.
Kendrick looked instinctively to the east. Just gray cloud massed
there now, all the way to the horizon. But somewhere behind it
He shuddered. Morna had been wrong, of course, when she'd
said he had never needed anybody or anything. He stared at the
clouds, as if able to see through them to Kirinyaga, waiting there
with her fangs bared and gloaming.
Waiting. For Kendrick.