Читать книгу The Arsonist's Song Has Nothing to Do With Fire - Allison Titus - Страница 20

Back inside, Vivian flipped through the newspaper while she waited for the water to boil. Death notices, D-8; she skimmed columns for her name. Olivia M. Frommer, 36, survived by two daughters, a husband, a mother, grandmothers on both sides. Richard Nelson Fost, born 1927; survived by wife, Ava Fost, and stepson, Edward Case. Morgan Vargas Fitzgerald: 62, no survivors. This was Vivian’s sad math, a fucked up game of points for the number of times her name and its variants appeared in the daily obits. First name proper was five. Names like Victoria, Vera, Vernon, Violet, Veronica were two. Foster was five points. Something like Fost counted once, and so did Olivia, because it contained Liv which resembled Viv. Middle name, half-point. Significant combinations or listings with her initials in order counted three points. VMF. One for each. That was how Vivian kept track of how close she was to dying. The fewer points the better. Each name that didn’t match hers reduced her odds a little. That morning she counted three, and three was safer than ten.