| Mr. Aorta, who had never up to this point found occasion to scream, screamed. It was quite successful, despite the fact that no one heard it. The dirt came down, and presently Mr. Aorta was to his knees in damp soil. He tried rising, and could not. And the dirt came down from that big white plant flip-flopping in the moonlight and the wind. After a while Mr. Aorta's screams took on a muffled quality. For a very good reason. Then, some time later, the garden was just as still and quiet as it could be. | До этой минуты Аорта не нашел подходящего момента, чтобы закричать, но тут он закричал. Кричал отчаянно, но его никто не слышал. |
| Mr. and Mrs. Joseph William Santucci found Mr. Aorta. He was lying on the floor in front of several tables. | Супруги Сантуччи обнаружили соседа лежащим на полу перед несколькими столами. |
| On the tables were many plates. The plates on the tables were clean and shining. | На них стояли тарелки, сверкая чистотой. |
| Mr. Aorta's stomach was distended past burst belt buckle, popped buttons and forced zipper. | Его живот был раздут до такой степени, что ремень, пуговицы, молнию было невозможно расстегнуть. |
| It was not unlike the image of a great white whale rising curiously from placid, forlorn waters. | Он походил на большого белого кита, подымающегося из морской пучины. |
| "Ate hisself to death," Mrs. Santucci said in the fashion of the concluding line of a complex joke. | - Обожрался до смерти, - заключил Сантуччи. |
| Mr. Santucci reached down and plucked a tiny ball of soil from the fat man's dead lips. He studied it. | Он подошел к покойнику и убрал с его лица крошки земли, рассматривая их. |
| And an idea came to him. . . . | Он подумал о том... |
| He tried to get rid of the idea, but when the doctors found Mr. Aorta's stomach to contain many pounds of dirt-and nothing else, to speak of-Mr. Santucci slept badly, for almost a week. | Он старался не думать об этом, но когда вскрытие засвидетельствовало, что в желудке покойного было несколько фунтов земли, и ничего больше, то Сантуччи с неделю не спал. |
| They carried Mr. Aorta's body through the weeded but otherwise empty and desolate back yard, past the mournful dead tree and the rock fence. They gave him a decent funeral, out of the goodness of their hearts, since no provision had been made. | Они отнесли тело Аорты сквозь заросший сорняком пустой двор, мимо высохшего дерева, за забор из камней. |
| And then they laid him to rest in a place with a moldering green woodboard wall: the wall had a little sign nailed to it. | Они положили его под стену, на которую наползали заросли. Небольшой знак на стене, выведенный безвкусно, но по всем правилам правописания. |
| And the wind blew absolutely Free. | Ветер дул абсолютно бесплатно. |
