"Kit Reed - Rajmahal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Kit)

where there are no people, so we can have it out.

The manager begs us to wait till morning because of the hazards, but what does
he know? India is just like Oz, with dust.

But the palace gates are locked so we're stuck here tonight, Gary and I and,
okay, and Myrna, along with the rest of our exclusive group of homefolks. The
Rajmahal has only twelve finished rooms so space is limited, one reason it costs
so much. Myrna, for instance, is bunking in a closet since she's a single; even
if they do call it Kismet, I think she's sleeping on a shelf. There's no room
for other tourists, so we're stuck with our same group. So, mostly we wait for
dinner and wonder what to do until it's time for bed.

If you want to know the bedrock, bottom line truth, gorgeous as it is, the
Rajmahal is getting just a little boring. One big problem is, no TV. I suppose
that makes me sound superficial, but listen. Plus the electricity is out and
we've all been lunging around the palace with lanterns and stumpy little candles
that you can't keep on too long or you'll use up yours and you won't get another
until tomorrow, if you last that long.

And even though we're all old friends back home in the States, we're getting
kind of sick of our group. Our very first day in India, this Myrna went out to
some store and got the cutest little vest with a funny standup collar. Within
two days everybody had a vest, you know, like the Indian gentlemen wear? With
the standup collar. The next day it was mirrorwork. Next it was rugs and
yesterday, our fourth day in India, everybody came back with smoky topaz,
cufflinks for the guys and for us, earrings, and Gary gave me a huge topaz to
make up for some of the things he said.

Travel is amazing. We've learned so much about India that we feel right at home.
And tomorrow we're going downhill into the adorable village, listen, we can
shop! And if the cards fall right, I'll be the one who discovers the new thing
-- maybe those cute turbans some of the Indians wear -- and I'll be the first in
the group to lead everybody to the new shopping bonanza, wherever it is, so we
can buy more things. Tomorrow we'll come back up to the palace wearing something
I personally discovered, and that will show this Myrna with her black hair and
her Barbie doll body, all right?

But right now it's too dark to read and there's no TV and the Minnesota
Adventure Club is hissing like a nest of wasps, I am sick of the sight of them,
and the manager won't let us go anywhere so we're bored, and listen, this may be
one great escape just like the brochure says it is but it's boring and I'm
sorry, okay?

So we're up here bored, Gary and I, in the pavilion where the Rajput ruler
probably betrayed his princess Mrinal, which is probably why she jumped off,
because princes get bored too; he betrayed her with dozens of women on those
dense nights when the air was still tolerable and the hot wind blew the sand up
from the Rajasthani desert with summer following like a tiger, devouring life.