Nobody's Fool

Мисс Берил всегда говорила себе: как только советы сына покажутся ей разумными, она поймет, что выжила из ума.

С тех пор как появились феминистки, вроде бы стало не принято говорить, что все бабы дуры, но, судя по тому, что они влюбляются в Карла, так и есть.

В доме отца тот, кому случалось пролить за ужином молоко, оставался без молока. Если мяч залетел на крышу – тем хуже для тебя. Не надо было его туда бросать. Если снял с руки часы и где-то забыл, а теперь хочешь узнать, сколько времени, прогуляйся до центра и посмотри на часы на фасаде Первого национального банка. Их туда повесили специально для тех дураков, повторял отец, которые теряют свои часы.

When Sully asked why not, he didn’t mean that he couldn’t think of any reasons. He meant that he’d decided in advance not to accept their validity.

That was one of the things Sully’d always liked about Ruth. She knew when not to say what she was thinking. What he didn’t like about her was her ability to make clear what she was thinking without saying anything.

The thing that always amazed Sully about Rub’s wishes was that most of them were so modest. After wishing a whole company into existence, Rub would settle for a forty-hour-a-week job at union scale, as if he feared some sort of cosmic retaliation for an arrogant imagination.

If Wirf got Sully his total disability, that would be the end of life as he knew it, the beginning of something new, not necessarily good news to a man who didn’t believe in new beginnings any more than he believed in new knees.

“To be honest,” Sully admitted, “I have no idea why he does what he does. Most of the time I don’t even know why I do what I do, much less anybody else.”

The child’s face was intense, but focused on a vacant spot between the end of his nose and his grandfather. A gaze full of rectal purpose.

“How can you live in a town the size of Bath and not see everybody all the time?” Charlotte wondered.
“Well, dolly, Vera and I don’t travel in the same circles,” Sully explained. “In fact, Vera doesn’t travel in circles at all. She goes pretty much straight forward.”

Sully himself was generally ignored, and lately he’d come to suspect that if his leg just went ahead and fell off, this (to him) significant event probably wouldn’t change anything. Nobody would admit they’d been wrong. They’d use the old X rays to prove he still had a leg. It’d be a philosophical argument.

In fact, by working and contemplating Carl Roebuck tumbling from his office window, he’d forgotten all about his knee. It wasn’t strictly logical, but maybe his injured knee actually was encouraging him to work. Either that or it was telling him to murder Carl Roebuck.

Smiling, he imagined Carl Roebuck tossed out his office window, his arms flapping frantically, his legs wildly pedaling an invisible bicycle as he fell. Sully didn’t allow him to hit the ground. He just tossed Carl from the window again and again, so that the other man tumbled and pedaled and screamed.

Растущая неуверенность – неотъемлемое свойство старости

Всё равно от рассвета не убежишь.

Я того-этого в ответ на безумие бытия.

Эта мысль напугала Ральфа. Вот так живёшь и не знаешь, что кругом сплошь поэтические вечера.

Чтобы достучаться до Салли, его надо огреть лопатой по голове.

Салли, Салли, Салли...

Он звонил и сказал, что заболел, он говорит по телефону, он улетел на Багамы. Выбирай что больше нравится. Он не хочет с тобой разговаривать.