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- Нил Гейман
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- Американские боги
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- Стр. 394/641
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A
week
ago
the
rains
began
in
Los
Angeles
,
slicking
the
streets
into
road
accidents
,
crumbling
the
mud
from
the
hillsides
and
toppling
houses
into
canyons
,
washing
the
world
into
the
gutters
and
storm
drains
,
drowning
the
bums
and
the
homeless
camped
down
in
the
concrete
channel
of
the
river
.
When
the
rains
come
in
Los
Angeles
they
always
take
people
by
surprise
.
Bilquis
has
spent
the
last
week
inside
.
Unable
to
stand
on
the
sidewalk
,
she
has
curled
up
in
her
bed
in
the
room
the
color
of
raw
liver
,
listening
to
the
rain
pattering
on
the
metal
box
of
the
window
air
conditioner
and
placing
personals
on
the
Internet
.
She
has
left
her
invitations
on
Adultfriendfinder
.
com
,
LA
-
escorts
.
com
,
Classyhollywoodbabes
.
com
,
has
given
herself
an
anonymous
e
-
mail
address
.
She
was
proud
of
herself
for
negotiating
the
new
territories
,
but
remains
nervous
—
she
has
spent
a
long
time
avoiding
anything
that
might
resemble
a
paper
trail
.
She
has
never
even
taken
a
small
ad
in
the
back
pages
of
the
LA
Weekly
,
preferring
to
pick
out
her
own
customers
,
to
find
by
eye
and
smell
and
touch
the
ones
who
will
worship
her
as
she
needs
to
be
worshiped
,
the
ones
who
will
let
her
take
them
all
the
way
…
And
it
occurs
to
her
now
,
standing
and
shivering
on
the
street
corner
(
for
the
late
February
rains
have
left
off
,
but
the
chill
they
brought
with
them
remains
)
,
that
she
has
a
habit
as
bad
as
that
of
the
smack
whores
and
the
crack
whores
,
and
this
distresses
her
,
and
her
lips
begin
to
move
again
.
If
you
were
close
enough
to
her
ruby
-
red
lips
you
would
hear
her
say
,
"
I
will
rise
now
and
go
about
the
city
in
the
streets
,
and
in
the
broad
ways
I
will
seek
the
one
I
love
.
"
She
is
whispering
that
,
and
she
whispers
,
"
I
am
my
beloved
’
s
,
and
my
beloved
is
mine
.
He
said
,
this
stature
of
mine
is
like
to
a
palm
tree
,
and
my
breasts
like
clusters
of
grapes
.
He
said
he
would
come
to
me
then
.
I
am
my
beloved
’
s
and
his
desire
is
only
toward
me
.
"
Bilquis
hopes
that
the
break
in
the
rains
will
bring
the
johns
back
.
Most
of
the
year
she
walks
the
two
or
three
blocks
on
Sunset
,
enjoying
the
cool
L
.
A
.
nights
.
Once
a
month
she
pays
off
a
man
named
Sabbah
,
an
officer
in
the
LAPD
,
who
replaced
another
officer
in
the
LAPD
she
used
to
pay
off
,
who
had
vanished
.
That
man
’
s
name
was
Jerry
LeBec
,
and
his
disappearance
had
been
a
mystery
to
the
LAPD
.
He
had
become
obsessed
with
Bilquis
,
had
taken
to
following
her
on
foot
,
and
one
afternoon
she
woke
,
startled
by
a
noise
,
and
opened
the
door
to
her
apartment
,
and
found
Jerry
LeBec
in
civilian
clothes
kneeling
and
swaying
on
the
worn
carpet
,
his
head
bowed
,
waiting
for
her
to
come
out
.
The
noise
she
had
heard
was
the
noise
of
his
head
,
thumping
against
her
door
as
he
rocked
back
and
forth
on
his
knees
.
She
stroked
his
hair
and
told
him
to
come
inside
,
and
later
she
put
his
clothes
into
a
black
plastic
garbage
bag
and
tossed
them
into
a
Dumpster
behind
a
hotel
several
blocks
away
.
His
gun
and
his
wallet
she
put
into
a
grocery
store
bag
.
She
poured
used
coffee
grounds
and
food
waste
on
top
of
them
,
folded
the
top
of
the
bag
and
dropped
it
into
a
trashcan
at
a
bus
-
stop
.
She
kept
no
souvenirs
.
The
orange
night
-
sky
glimmers
to
the
west
with
distant
lightning
,
somewhere
out
to
sea
,
and
Bilquis
knows
that
the
rain
will
be
starting
soon
.
She
sighs
.
She
does
not
want
to
be
caught
in
the
rain
.
She
will
return
to
her
apartment
,
she
decides
,
and
take
a
bath
,
and
shave
her
legs
,
it
seems
to
her
she
is
always
shaving
her
legs
,
and
sleep
.
