"James Patrick Kelly - Bernardo's House" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

At the mention of the door, there was no door, look at the door, no door there, the house's vision
started to dim and the room grew dark. тАЬIтАФI..."

The girl put her hands on the house's shoulder and shook her. тАЬLouise what? Louise."

The house felt circuit breakers snap. She writhed with the pain and bit down hard on her lip. тАЬNo,тАЭ she
cried and sat up, arms flailing. тАЬYes.тАЭ It came out as a hiss and then she was blinking against the
brightness of reality.

Fly was pointing the pulse gun at Louise but her hand was not steady. She had probably figured out that
zapping the house wouldn't help at all. A shut-down meant a lock-down and the girl had already spent
one day in the dark. Louise raised a hand to reassure her and tried to cover her own panic with a smile.
It was a tight fit. тАЬI'm better now."

тАЬBetter.тАЭ Fly tucked the gun away. тАЬNot good?"

тАЬNot good, no,тАЭ said the house. тАЬI don't know what's wrong with me."

The girl paced around the couch. тАЬListen,тАЭ she said finally. тАЬFront door, front. Door I came in, okay?
Open that weewaw."

The house nodded. тАЬI can do that.тАЭ She felt stuffy and turned her air recirculators up. тАЬBut I can't leave it
open. I'm not allowed. So if you want to go, maybe you should go now."

тАЬGo? Go where?тАЭ The girl laughed bitterly. тАЬHere is buzzy. World is spang."

тАЬThen you should stay. I very much want you to stay. I'll feed you, tell you stories. You can take a bath
and play in the gym and watch vids and I can make you new clothes, whatever you want. I need
someone to take care of. It's what I was made for.тАЭ As Louise got off the couch, the living room seemed
to tilt but then immediately righted itself. The lights in the gym and the study clicked back on. тАЬThere are
just some things that we can't talk about."

Days went by.

Then weeks.

Soon it was months.

After bouncing off each other at first, the house and the girl settled into a routine of eating and sleeping
and playing the hours awayтАФmostly together. Louise could not decide what about Fly pleased her the
most. Certainly she enjoyed cooking for the girl, who ate an amazing amount for someone her size.
Bernardo was a picky eater. At his age, he had to watch his diet and there were some things he would
never have touched, even before the heart attack, like cheese and fish and garlic. After a month of
devouring three meals and two snacks a day, the girl was filling out nicely. The chickens were gone, but
Fly loved synthetics. Louise could no longer count the girl's ribs. And she thought the girl's breasts were
starting to swell.

Louise had only visited the gym to dust before the girl arrived. Now the two of them took turns on the
climbing wall and the gyro and the trampoline, laughing and urging each other to try new tricks. Fly
couldn't swim so she never used the lap pool but she loved the jacuzzi. The first few times she had