"Bowes-ShadowAndGunman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bowes Richard)

clustered around a lady who smoked a pipe, a man in a turtleneck who played
guitar, girls wearing leotards, a very light-skinned negro man with a much older
white woman.

One week when we came in, Max sat in the library with a plump pale girl close to
my age. Stacey grimaced and muttered, "Slug," under her breath.

Max introduced her. "Lisa. An acolyte, undergoing the process of finishing
herself." He added, "We have an oubliette, you know," as if he couldn't imagine
my not wondering about that.

Everyone, but especially Dr. X, needed more and more drags to function. When I
went downstairs after meeting Lisa, he waved a prescription at me. "Kevin,
there's a druggist in Coolidge Corner. A careless guy. I want you to go over
there and break this. No one would suspect your choir boy face."

It struck me as a bad idea. I shook my head and Dr. X told me, "You refuse
because your mundane persona still holds sway. There's a little treatment I
recommend. Isolation. Once you're alone, the stronger part of your personality
can take over."

Suddenly understanding I looked toward the trap door and repeated the unfamiliar
word, "Oubliette."

Dr. X smiled like I was a prize pupil. "From the French oublier, to forget.
Don't worry about our doing that. You won't be in there long. Maybe a couple of
days over the Thanksgiving weekend." At the time, nothing more was said.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Stacey and I found Max and everybody else
downstairs in Dr. X's office. "Just in time to witness a graduation ceremony,
Kevin," said the doctor, unlatching the door to the oubliette.

He opened it to reveal a wooden ladder leading down to pitch dark. From below a
tiny voice cried, "It's cold down here. I've come to terms with myself."

Dr. X descended. Max waited at the top of the ladder. He extended his hand to
Lisa. Her eyes were empty. All she wore was one of Dr. X's big Oxford weave
shirts. "Lisa was bold enough to want to confront herself," said Dr. X, glancing
at me. Max and the others smirked.

When Stacey and I went back upstairs, she looked at me, really looked at me, for
the first time in weeks and said, "Kevin, this is no place for you. I thought
you could handle Dr. X. But my judgment was off, maybe my timing. You're almost
ready, but you're still a kid. He sees your potential too. Get out of here
before he hurts you."

She kissed me on the mouth and said, "When I need someone, I'll call and you'll
be ready." On my way home, I managed to forget the warning and the brush-off and
remembered only the kiss.