"Robert Reed - Magic with Thirteen-Year-Old Boys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

Magic with Thirteen-Year-Old Boys
by Robert Reed

Magic takes many forms. In recent years, we’ve seen “White Magic,” “Black
Magic for Dummies,” and “Magic for Beginners.” Now Mr. Reed contributes his
own tale of supernatural arts with this inquiry into some of the shadowy recesses
of human sexuality. Despite the title of this tale, parents might want to vet this one
before sharing it with youngsters.

****

They do love to talk. There always has to be conversation before, and afterward,
unless they’re deeply drunk, words are pretty much mandatory. Nothing makes
women happier than hours of empty, soul-baring chatter. There’s even a few of them
that need to talk while they’re doing it. Of course their words get awfully simple, if
it’s during. They grunt out commands and sometimes encouragement, and a few
favorite phrases are repeated with predictable rhythm. But if a man can hold his
cadence, and if he knows what she likes, it isn’t boring. Simple and busy and very
crude noise wrapped around a fair amount of pleasure, or maybe a huge amount of
pleasure. Then it’s finished, preferably for him and for her both, and everyone gets a
few moments of silence marked with wet breathing and spiritual insights.

****
“Ted?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you awake?”
“No, I’m not.”
“No?”
“Hey—!”
“Are you awake now, Ted?”
“That fingernail—!”
Without a trace of sorrow in her voice, she says, “Sorry.” Then after a deep
sigh, she asks, “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“Okay. You caught me.”
“So what’s on your mind?”
 “You.”
“Good answer.”
Good enough to earn a few moments of uninterrupted quiet.
“Ted?”
“Who?”
She ignores his response. “I have a question,” she announces. “I’ve been
meaning to ask this since, I don’t know when. A couple weeks, at least....”
“What’s the question?”
“Do you believe?”
“In what?”
“Anything at all,” she says.
He says, “Gravity,” and laughs for a moment. “I wholeheartedly believe in the
abiding force of gravity.”