"James Herbert - Soul Catcher" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert James)

dangerous instrument."

Her left hand jingled the little bell to summon the cook with David's cereal.

David stared down at the table while cook's pink hand put a bowl there. The cream in the
bowl was almost the same yellow as the tablecloth. The bowl gave off the odor of the
fresh strawberries sliced into the cereal. David adjusted his napkin.

His mother said: "Well?"

Sometimes her questions were not meant to be answered, but "Well?" signaled pressure.

He sighed. "Mother, everyone at camp has a knife."

"Why?"

"To cut things, carve wood, stuff like that."

He began eating. One hour. That could be endured.

"To cut your fingers off!" she said. "I simply refuse to let you take such a dangerous
thing."

He swallowed a mouthful of cereal while he studied her the way he had seen his father do
it, letting his mind sort out the possible countermoves. A breeze shook the trees
bordering the lawn behind her.

"Well?" she insisted.

"What do I do?" he asked. "Every time I need a knife I'll have to borrow one from one of
the other guys."

He took another mouthful of cereal, savoring the acid of the strawberries while he waited
for her to assess the impossibility of keeping him knifeless at camp. David knew how her
mind worked. She had been Prosper Morgenstern before she had married Dad. The
Morgensterns always had the best. If he was going to have a knife anyway --

She put flame to a cigarette, her hand jerking. The smoke emerged from her mouth in
spurts.

David went on eating.

She put the cigarette aside, said: "Oh, very well. But you must be extremely careful."

"Just like Dad showed me," he said.

She stared at him, a finger of her left hand tapping a soft drumbeat on the table. The
movement set the diamonds on her wristwatch clasp aflame. She said: "I don't know what
I'll do with both of my men gone."