"John Kessel - The Juniper Tree" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kessel John)

bed with her, too?”

Jack laughed. “I don't think so.”

She stood up. “God, you are so smug! I can't tell you anything!”

“Roz, what is this—”

She turned and stalked off. “Roz!” he called after her. She did not turn back.

Next to him, a thin black woman holding a toddler had been eavesdropping. Jack walked away to
escape her gaze. The band started another song. Inwardly churning, he listened to the music for a few
minutes, watching the people dance. Whatever his failings, hadn't he always done his best for Roz? He
didn't expect her to agree with him all the time, but she had to know how much he loved her.

The amused detachment with which he'd entered the plaza was gone. The steel drums gave him a
headache. He crossed the plaza. Before he had gone ten paces he saw Eva. She was in the crowd of
dancers, paired with a round faced woman. The woman was grinning fiercely; she bumped against Eva,
slid her belly up against Eva's. Eva had her arms raised into the air and was smiling too, grinding her hips.

As Jack stood watching, someone sidled up to him. It was Hal Keikosson, who worked in Agriculture.
Hal was in his forties and still living with his mother—a common situation among the cousins.

“Hey, Jack. Who was that girl I saw you talking to? That red hair? Cute.”

Jack kept watching Eva and the woman. Eva had not noticed him yet. “That was my daughter,” he told
Hal.

“Interesting.” Hal swayed a bit, clutching a squeeze cup in his sweaty hand.

Jack ought to let it go, but he couldn't. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing. She must be fourteen or fifteen already, right?”

“She's fourteen.”

“And maybe she isn't your daughter.” Hal giggled.

Jack stared at him. “What?”

“I mean, how could her mother be sure—or maybe she lied to you.”

“Shut the fuck up before I belt you.”

“Hey, it's none of my business who you sleep with.”

“I'm not sleeping with her.”

“Calm down, calm down, cousin.” Hal took a sip from his cup. He looked benignly over at the figures
writhing in the shadows beneath the trees. “Too bad,” he said quietly, and chuckled.