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

тАЬNo more jabber. Boring now.тАЭ Fly peeled herself from the warm embrace of the Kukuru chair and
stretched. тАЬStill hiding somewhere."

тАЬI don't know what you're talking about."

Fly caught the house's body by the arm and dragged her through herself, calling out the names of her
rooms. тАЬPlay. Living. Dining. Kitchen. Study. Gym. Bed. Nother bed. Plants.тАЭ Fly spun Louise in the
front hall and pointed. тАЬDoor?"

тАЬRight.тАЭ The house was out of breath. тАЬDoor. You've seen all there is to see."

тАЬOne door?тАЭ The girl's smile was as agreeable as a fist. тАЬFly buzzy with food now, but not stupid. Where
you keep stuff? Heat? Electric? Water?"

тАЬYou want to see that?"

Fly let go of Louise's arm. тАЬDink yeah."

The house didn't much care for her basement and she never went down unless she had to. It was ugly.
Three harsh rows of ceiling lights, a couple of bilious green pumps, the squat power plant and the circuit
breakers and all that multiconductor cable! She didn't like listening to her freezer hum or smelling the
naked cement walls or looking at the scars where the forms had been stripped away after her foundation
had been poured.

тАЬBernardo?тАЭ Fly's voice echoed across the expanse of the basement. тАЬCut that weewaw, Bernardo."

тАЬBelieve me, there's nothing here.тАЭ The house waited on the stairs as the girl poked around. тАЬPlease don't
touch any switches,тАЭ she called.

тАЬWhere that go?тАЭ Fly pointed at the heavy duty, ribbed, sectional overhead door.

тАЬA tunnel,тАЭ said the house, embarrassed by the rawness of her 16 gauge steel. тАЬIt comes out farther
down the mountain near the road. At the end there's another door that's been shotcreted to look like
stone."

тАЬWhat scaring Bernardo?"

Bernardo scared? The thought had never even occurred to the house. Bernardo was not the kind of man
who would be scared of anything. All he wanted was privacy so he could be alone with her. тАЬI don't
know,тАЭ she said.

Fly was moving boxes stacked against the wall near the door. Several contained bolts of spuncloth for
the clothes processor, others were filled with spare lights, fertilizer, flour, sugar, oil, raw vitabulk, vials of
flavor and food coloring. Then she came to the wine, a couple of hundred bottles of vintage Bordeaux
and Napa and Maipo River, some thrown haphazardly into old boxes, other stacked near the wall.

тАЬBernardo drink most wine,тАЭ said Fly.

Louise was confused by this strange cache but before she could defend Bernardo, Fly found the second
door behind two crates of toilet paper.