"Picnic At Lac Du Sang" - читать интересную книгу автора (Masterton Graham)

it was soft. The handwriting on it was so crabbed and spidery that Vincent
could barely decipher it. It said, 'Chйre Mme Leduc, I am very old and
close to death. Tell all of the girls that I will wait for them in
Heaven.'
Mme Leduc said, 'It appears that the further time leaves us behind, the
quicker we will age if we try to leave. So ... the rest of us decided to
stay.'
'I can't believe any of this,' said Vincent. 'Days can't last for
twenty-four years. People don't stay young forever. Who are you kidding?
You're just trying to stop me from taking Catherine away from you. All you
care about is how much you can make out of her. A pregnant teenager, what
an attraction! Jesus, if you cared about any of these girls you wouldn't
be selling their bodies to every lecherous old guy with a fat enough
wallet.'
'You exclude yourself from that category, I suppose,' said Mme Leduc.
'I was tempted, I admit it. She's a beautiful girl, she tempted me. But
that doesn't stop me from trying to put things right.'
'Vincent ... has it occurred to you that this is the only way in which we
can make a living? None of us can leave the house, so what else are we
supposed to do? We may stay young forever, but we still need to eat; and
we still have bills to pay.'
Vincent laughed and then abruptly stopped laughing. He looked at Mme Leduc
and said, 'You're seriously crazy, you know that? If you really believe
that you disappeared in 1924 for twenty-four years and that you're never
going to grow old ... well, I don't know. I'd just like us know what stuff
you're on.'
At that moment Catherine walked into the room in her long white nightgown.
Her hair was tied back and she looked especially young and vulnerable. It
had only been three days since Vincent had seen her, but he had forgotten
how mezmerizing she was. The way she looked up at him from underneath her
long, long eyelashes. The way she pouted. The way her breasts moved
underneath the fresh-pressed cotton.
Mme Leduc took hold of her hand. 'Mr Jeffries here wanted to take you away
with him, Catherine. I had to explain why he couldn't.'
'And of course I believed every word,' said Vincent. 'That must have been
some picnic, out at Lac du Sang. Don't tell me you didn't run short of
sandwiches - you know, in twenty-four years?'
Mme Leduc said, 'Why don't you take Vincent to your room, Catherine? I
expect that he'd like to talk to you alone.'
Without a word, Catherine took his hand and led him along the corridor.
She opened the door of her room and let him in. 'I just came to talk,' he
told her.
'You mean you don't like me any more?'
'I came to ask you to leave this place. I came to persuade you to do the
best for your baby.'
Catherine took a few steps away from him, and then pirouetted, and lifted
her nightgown over her head, so that she was standing in front of him
completely naked. 'Now tell me that you don't like me any more.'
'Catherine, you can't go on doing this. I've found an apartment for you.
It's pretty small but the landlady can take good care of you, and there's