"Hoffman-HomeForChristmas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoffman Abbie)

"But I -- Oh, what the hell." --Cane? Do you want to dance?

The cane quivered in the vase. Then it leapt up out of the vase and spun in the
air like a propellor. It landed on the welcome mat, did some staggering spirals,
flipped, then lay on the ground and rolled back and forth.

"That's so -- that's so --"

She looked at him. His face was pale, his eyes sparkled.

"It's doing it because it wants to," she said.

"But it never wanted to before."

"Maybe it did, but it just didn't know it could."

He looked at the cane. It lifted itself and did some flips, then started
tapdancing on the hardwood, somewhat muted by its rubber tip. "If everything
knew what it could do --" he said. "Does everything want to do stuff like this?"

"I don't know," said Matt. "I've never seen things act like your things." She
cocked her head and looked at him sideways.

With one loud tap from its head, the cane jumped back into the big vase and
settled quietly among the umbrellas.

"I was wondering how you get things to stop," he whispered.

"Me too," she whispered back. "Usually things act mostly like things when I talk
to them. They just act thing ways. Doors open, but they do that anyway. You
know?"

"Doors open?" he said. His eyebrows rose.

She could almost see his thoughts. So: that's how this kid gets along. Doors
open. She met his gaze without wavering. It had been a long time since she'd
told anyone about talking to things, and other times she'd revealed it hadn't
always worked out well.

"Doors open, and locks unlock," she said.

"Wow," he said.

"So," she said, "second thoughts about having me stay the night?"

"No! This is like the best Christmas wish I ever had, barring having Linda
here."

Matt felt something melt in her chest, sending warmth all through her. She
laughed.