"Nayler, Ray - The Honor System" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nayler Ray)

He gave her a flash of teeth. "I know."

"Bastard. Let's go swimming. The pool's open."

He grabbed his trunks and they walked back to the pool. As they passed the other lonely campsite, she whispered in his ear.

"You know, there's a man and a little girl camping there alone. For all we know, he kidnapped her. How could you tell? This is a perfect spot to hide in."

"Out in the open?"

"Of course. What could be less suspicious?"

"You're crazy."

But he seemed to consider the idea, and was silent, his eyes on the ground, until they separated at the locker rooms.

"I guess you're right -- in theory."

"That's all I meant -- in theory. I know it isn't true. He's just a man camping with his daughter. But it could happen. I mean, it has to happen somewhere. Why not here?"

Sam snapped his towel at her.

"Try not to call the cops until I get back."

The pool, like everything else at the springs, reeked of sulfur. Ellie thought sarcastically that the only mineral in the springs was sulfur, and that they should call the place Jackson Rot Springs. But she was exaggerating. The smell wasn't so bad. She lowered herself into the warm water and breast-stroked out toward the center. She was aware of the two women in the deep end of the pool, watching her with the natural curiosity of people seeing someone new and different. They were new-age types, with long hippie-straight blond hair. One of them was old enough to have midwifed the other into the world. They were talking about meditation and chakras, watching her from the sides of their eyes.

Sam came through the gate, in deep burgundy swim trunks. His eyes did not find her immediately, and she put an arm up. He smiled at her and dove cleanly into the water. His coffee-colored skin rippled beneath the water. He swam beneath her, lifting her weightless into his arms. They floated together. Next to his deep brown flesh, hers was startlingly white, glowing, the curves of her breasts like bright snow on the dark trunk of a tree. There was something magic about the way they looked together. But she was aware of the two women in the deep end, staring as Sam kissed her. Of course Sam was quiet -- of course he didn't like crowds. He was on display when he was with her. It hurt her. Eventually, she thought, the staring and the whispering would make him resent her. Everything would be ruined.

His mouth was warm on hers. She tried to concentrate on just that. Just that. Just him.

The locker room showers were heated by the springs, smelling of sulfur as much as the pool. Maybe she would get used to it, after a while.

She doubted it. She never got used to things being the way they were.
They drove into town and got dinner at the deli of an all-night supermarket. They ate their sandwiches sitting on the curb in the parking lot. The mercury vapor lights in the lot brought out the cracks in the pavement and the lines in Sam's face. They sat with their shoulders touching, watching the blank white faces of customers rattling shopping carts to their cars. The town was upscale and tourist. California license plates sandwiched Oregon plates in the slots.

Sam leaned against Ellie.

"I guess I'm not exactly a woodsman. But if we buy some matches I think I could scratch us up a fire, later."

Ellie wiped a spot of mustard from his face with the flat of her thumb.

"You keep me warm enough. We have bagels and cream cheese for the morning, and juice." She touched the shopping bag with her toe. "Who needs a fire?"

Back in the tent they lay in their double-zipped bag for hours. Sam talked in the dark about W.E.B. DuBois, whom he had been reading. Ellie listened to his voice-not the words, but the way his voice sounded deep in his chest. He paused for a moment, and she listened to his breathing.

"DuBois died in Africa."

"Of what?"

"Disgust. You must get tired of listening to me go on about nothing."