Читать книгу Ventoux онлайн

40 страница из 86

‘No. By mutual agreement, as they say. We were through.’

‘Glad to hear it. Fancy-free has its advantages. God, that wedding of yours. What a business. At a certain moment David had to get me off the table. If you don’t come off now, I’ll knock you off, he says to me. And he lifts me just like that, with one hand. Strong as an ox, David.’

‘I remember.’

‘I was so ashamed, the next day. I sent you a card with my apologies.’

‘Never arrived. Or else it was immediately thrown away by Hinke.’

‘Do you know what I was wondering the other day? What on earth her name was.’

Joost’s father had died, like mine. But his mother was still living in the old house, with her huge collection of jazz records.

‘I still think of your father a lot,’ said Joost. ‘He once said to me that you mustn’t let life call the tune. Strange how you remember things like that so vividly.’

‘He was talking to himself.’

‘We often talk to ourselves when we talk to other people.’

‘Does your mother still smoke cigars?’ Joost’s mother was different from mine in every respect, and that was best symbolized by her cigar—not just any cigar, but a big one.