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Bridge of Sighs

Bridge of Sighs

Titel: Bridge of Sighs Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Richard Russo
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some deus ex machina intervention, was inevitable. David had never stepped foot in the flat above the Rexall, but Noonan wasn’t all that surprised to find him there when he returned after graduation practice that afternoon in early June. Nor was he terribly surprised by what his brother had come to tell him—that their mother was pregnant again. And though he’d safely negotiated the turn onto the gravel road that led up to Nell’s a hundred times before, he wasn’t really surprised that same afternoon when he lost control of the Indian and it slammed into the concrete abutment. All winter long Dec Lynch had been saying that it was just a matter of time before something like that would happen. The only part Dec got wrong was his prediction that Noonan would escape uninjured, because as he rolled clear he felt something give in his wrist. Was there not a beautiful symmetry to this? And of course he wasn’t surprised when the restaurant door flew open and poor, befuddled, prescient Willie came barreling down the long drive to meet him, his arms waving wildly above his head, his face a contorted mask of terror, screaming
“No!”
over and over.
    Did his father feel that same inevitability? The futility of attempting to alter events that had been preordained so long ago? Because when Noonan entered, he didn’t even bother to climb down from his barstool. He did rotate to face his son, showing him once more those mocking eyes he’d known so well as a boy, their former rage turned inward now. Back when Noonan’s hatred of his father had been black and pure, he’d looked forward to this day. Now he deeply regretted all those evenings they’d sat on adjacent barstools in an uneasy truce, which had left him more conflicted than he cared to admit, even to himself. But he had warned his father about the consequences if he failed to heed that warning, so what choice did he have? Had Sarah chosen him, he would remember thinking, it might have been different, but she hadn’t. And now the time had come to show her just how wise she’d been.
    The details of fights were as hard to recall as kisses, and except for his first punch landing flush, his father’s teeth collapsing against his knuckles, his barstool still spinning after he’d crashed to the floor, all he remembered was a blur of sight and sound. Max calling the police. Willie, shoved roughly aside in the parking lot, beside himself now, kicking and punching him, howling like a wild animal for him to stop, stop, stop. His father’s blood bubbling blackly from his nose and mouth, his eyes no longer mocking, just accepting. Noonan punching with his left fist, his right hanging limp and worthless. He would remember wanting to stop, but not stopping, even when his father’s eyes rolled back in his head. He was too honest to tell himself he was doing this for his mother, who didn’t want it any more than she wanted another pregnancy. He was simply doing it because he said he would, and so his father, who could never quite bring himself to throw that punch he was forever threatening, would understand, once and for all, that his son was a different sort of man entirely.

LOVE
     
    B Y THE TIME I finally come upstairs Sarah has turned off the light, which may or may not mean she’s been crying and doesn’t want me to see. I undress in the dark, get into my pajamas, then slide into bed next to her. She turns over to let me know she’s awake.
    “I saw Brindy in the West End this afternoon. She told Owen she was going to Albany,” I tell her, because it’s important and has been lost in all the turmoil over me.
    “I’m sorry,” Sarah says, letting her voice fall and leaving me to contemplate exactly what she’s sorry about. To share my suspicion? For Owen? That I witnessed this, because now I’ll worry? That I need to shift the focus from myself onto our son?
    “If he finds out…” I let the thought trail off.
    “He may already know,” my wife says, taking me by surprise. “People know things and pretend not to.” Am I mistaken, or is she speaking not only of our son and me but also herself? Finally she says, “Lou, I’ve decided I need to go away for a while.”
    I’ve been half expecting these words for a very long time. How odd they should take my breath away now, especially given the events of the day. I want desperately to beg her not to, but of course I’ve got this coming. “Where?” I say stupidly. Away, obviously. Away from me.
    “I

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