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Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 119 из 425Hegave a funny little shrug, as if to say, “We’re both men of the world, in a quiet and settled sort of way—you don’t need to ask a silly question like that.”
“Then Lance Devore and Mattie Stanchfield got married in the Grace Baptist Church right up there on Highway 68. There were tales made the rounds about what Osgood might’ve done to keep it from comin off I heard he even tried to bribe Reverend Gooch into refusin to hitch em, but I think that’s stupid, they just would have gone someplace else. “Sides, I don’t see much sense in repeating what I don’t know for sure.”
Bill unfolded an arm and began to tick items off on the leathery fingers of his right hand.
“They got married in the middle of September, 1994, I know that.” Out popped the thumb. “People looked around with some curiosity to see if the groom’s father would put in an appearance, but he never did.”
Out popped the forefinger. Added to the thumb, it made a pistol.
“Mat-tie had a baby in April of ’95, making the kiddie a dight premature… but not enough to matter. I seen it in the store with my own eyes when it wasn’t a week old, and it was just the right size.” Out with the second finger. “I don’t know that Lance Devore’s old man absolutely refused to help em financially, but I do know they were living in that trailer down below Dickie’s Garage, and that makes me think they were havin a pretty hard skate.”
“Devore put on the choke-chain,” I said. “It’s what a guy used to getting his own way would do… but if he loved the boy the way you seem to think, he might have come around.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He glanced at his watch again. “Let me finish up quick and get out of your sunshine… but you ought to hear one more little story, because it really shows how the land lies.
“In July of last year, less’n a month before he died, Lance Devore shows up at the post-office counter in the Lakeview General. He’s got a manila envelope he wants to send, but first he needs to show Carla Decinces what’s inside. She said he was all fluffed out, like daddies sometimes get over their kids when they’re small.”
I nodded, amused at the idea of skinny, stuttery Lance Devore all fluffed out. But I could see it in my mind’s eye, and the image was also sort of sweet.
“It was a studio pitcher they’d gotten taken over in the Rock. Showed the kid… what’s her name? Kayla?”
“Kyra.
“Then Lance Devore and Mattie Stanchfield got married in the Grace Baptist Church right up there on Highway 68. There were tales made the rounds about what Osgood might’ve done to keep it from comin off I heard he even tried to bribe Reverend Gooch into refusin to hitch em, but I think that’s stupid, they just would have gone someplace else. “Sides, I don’t see much sense in repeating what I don’t know for sure.”
Bill unfolded an arm and began to tick items off on the leathery fingers of his right hand.
“They got married in the middle of September, 1994, I know that.” Out popped the thumb. “People looked around with some curiosity to see if the groom’s father would put in an appearance, but he never did.”
Out popped the forefinger. Added to the thumb, it made a pistol.
“Mat-tie had a baby in April of ’95, making the kiddie a dight premature… but not enough to matter. I seen it in the store with my own eyes when it wasn’t a week old, and it was just the right size.” Out with the second finger. “I don’t know that Lance Devore’s old man absolutely refused to help em financially, but I do know they were living in that trailer down below Dickie’s Garage, and that makes me think they were havin a pretty hard skate.”
“Devore put on the choke-chain,” I said. “It’s what a guy used to getting his own way would do… but if he loved the boy the way you seem to think, he might have come around.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He glanced at his watch again. “Let me finish up quick and get out of your sunshine… but you ought to hear one more little story, because it really shows how the land lies.
“In July of last year, less’n a month before he died, Lance Devore shows up at the post-office counter in the Lakeview General. He’s got a manila envelope he wants to send, but first he needs to show Carla Decinces what’s inside. She said he was all fluffed out, like daddies sometimes get over their kids when they’re small.”
I nodded, amused at the idea of skinny, stuttery Lance Devore all fluffed out. But I could see it in my mind’s eye, and the image was also sort of sweet.
“It was a studio pitcher they’d gotten taken over in the Rock. Showed the kid… what’s her name? Kayla?”
“Kyra.