"Трумэн Капоте. The grass harp (Луговая арфа, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

flight of bees: how we'd run off in the middle of the night. Though neither
Catherine nor I knew it, Dolly had left a note, which Verena found when she
went for her morning coffee. As I understand it, this note simply said that
we were going away and that Verena would not be bothered by us any more. She
at once rang up her friend Morris Ritz at the Lola Hotel, and together they
traipsed off to rouse the sheriff. It was Verena's backing that had put the
sheriff into office; he was a fast-stepping, brassy young fellow with a
brutal jaw and the bashful eyes of a cardsharp; his name was Junius Candle
(can you believe it? the same Junius Candle who is a Senator today!). A
searching party of deputies was gathered; telegrams were hurried off to
sheriffs in other towns. Many years later, when the Talbo estate was being
settled, I came across the handwritten original of this telegram-composed, I
believe, by Dr. Ritz. Be on lookout for following persons traveling
together. Dolly Augusta Talbo, white, aged 60, yellow grayish hair, thin,
height 5 feet 3, green eyes, probably insane but not Ukely to be dangerous,
post description bakeries as she is cake eater. Catherine Creek, Negro,
pretends to be Indian, age about 60, toothless, confused speech, short and
heavy, strong, likely to be dangerous. Collin Talbo Fenwick, white, age 16,
looks younger, height 5 feet 7, blond, gray eyes. thin, bad posture, scar at
comer of mouth, surly natured. All three wanted as runaways. They sure
haven't run far, Riley said in the post office; and postmistress Mrs. Peters
rushed to the telephone to say Riley Henderson had seen us in the woods
below the cemetery.
While this was happening we were peaceably setting about to make the
tree-house cozy. From Catherine's satchel we took a rose and gold
scrapquilt, and there was a deck of Rook cards, soap, rolls of toilet paper,
oranges and lemons, candles, a frying pan, a bottle of blackberry wine, and
two shoeboxes filled with food: Catherine bragged that she'd robbed the
pantry of everything, leaving not even a biscuit for That One's breakfast.
Later, we all went to the creek and bathed our feet and faces in the
cold water. There are as many creeks in River Woods as there are veins in a
leaf: clear, crackling, they crook their way down into the little river that
crawls through the woods like a green alligator. Dolly looked a sight,
standing in the water with her winter suit-skirt hiked up and her veil
pestering her like a cloud of gnats. I asked her. Dolly, why are you wearing
that veil? and she said, "But isn't it proper for ladies to wear veils when
they go traveling?"
Returning to the tree, we made a delicious jar of orangeade and talked
of the future. Our assets were: forty-seven dollars in cash, and several
pieces of jewelry, notably a gold fraternity ring Catherine had found in the
intestines of a hog while stuffing sausages. According to Catherine,
forty-seven dollars would buy us bus tickets anywhere: she knew somebody who
had gone all the way to Mexico for fifteen dollars. Both Dolly and I were
opposed to Mexico: for one thing, we didnt know the language. Besides, Dolly
said, we shouldn't venture outside the state, and wherever we went it ought
to be near a forest, otherwise how would we be able to make the dropsy cure?
"To tell you the truth, I think we should set up right here in River Woods,"
she said, gazing about speculatively.
"In this old tree?" said Catherine. "Just put that notion out of your
head, Dollyheart." And then: "You recall how we saw in the paper where a man