"James Patrick Kelly - Monsters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

While Henry finished emptying the basket into the drum, she pulled an
assortment of styrofoam coffee cups and cardboard sandwich boxes from the bag
and sorted through them. "Want yours now?"

"Not yet." He didn't want her near him. Touching the bus driver hadn't
satisfied the thing inside him. Maybe she hadn't felt enough pain. All
morning long it had been swelling like a balloon. If Celeste accidently
touched him, he wasn't sure he could keep it from striking out at her. He had
never let it touch anyone at work before.

"You get time off for good behavior, Henry."

"I said, in a minute."

She shrugged and went back to her stool, unwrapped an egg bagel with cream
cheese and lox. Only when she was settled back on her stool did he pick out
his tea with extra milk and the English muffin. Coffee break could be the
longest fifteen minutes of the day. He needed Jerry right now to shield him
from Celeste. That was about all the kid was good for. What were they doing
up there?

"Don't you ever get bored eating the same damn muffin over and over again?"
she said.

"It's a new muffin every day."

He was dunking the tea bag when he heard someone up front shouting; the racks
of clean clothes muffled the sound. "Shush!" As he strained to hear, he felt
a twinge of dread. He hadn't worn the blue but still, something was
happening. The noise got closer; he recognized Jerry's whine.

"What do you want me to say? No, really, tell me what I'm supposed to say. I
mean, I'm sorry and all and it won't happen again."

Kaplan was the first through the door; his pink face had flushed a meaty red.

"Why won't you listen to me?" Jerry tagged behind like a bad dog on a short
leash. "Nobody saw, really. How could they? We were way, way back, behind
the 'W' rack."

Kaplan hesitated, trapped by his own machines. If he wanted to keep walking
away from Jerry, he'd have to leave the store. He glanced blindly around
before deciding his only escape was to dive into a cup of Rudy's coffee.

"Please, Louis."
Jerry tried to come around to face him but Kaplan veered away. He clutched
the styrofoam cup close to him and fixed on it as if it were telling him
secrets.

"Nobody could've seen us back there," said Jerry. "Go see for yourself.