"Harry Adam Knight - Fungus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Harry Adam)

on the other side. Had something happened to him?

The idea didnтАЩt alarm her. Life without Norm would be ideal as long as the finances were all right. She
wasnтАЩt sure about the finances. But if something had happened to himтАФ if heтАЩd had a stroke or a heart
attackтАФshe ought to find out as soon as possible. The sooner he was taken away the better. Before he
started smelling. SheтАЩd heard that the smell of dead bodies was the hardest of all to get rid of in a room,
even with the strongest air fresheners.

Tentatively she touched the workroom door with her knuckles, harder when there was no reply. She had
to go in then, there was nothing else for it. She hadnтАЩt been in there since the time she tidied it and put his
tools back in the wrong positions. How long ago had that been? She couldnтАЩt remember.

As she opened the door she tensed, ready to retreat at the slightest sound. But she heard nothing. There
was, however, a strong musty smell. Emboldened, she stepped inside . . . and almost screamed.

One entire side of the workroom was covered in a thick mold.

Dry rot, she thought as she stared at it with horror. She loathed the stuff. It had been so expensive to put
right in their first home. Norm had shown her the furry yellow and white fungus that had eaten up the
floor supports and had then pushed her hand into it as a joke. She shuddered at the memory.

But this growth was much bigger and thicker than the one

she remembered. It must have been growing in here for years! The floor, walls and ceiling were coated
with the soft, disgusting stuff. It had also grown over what must have been shelves and cupboards but
were now shapeless forms under the mold. And the smell. It was so bad it almost made her gag.

Why had Norm let it grow? Especially in here, his precious inner sanctum? Then it occurred to her that it
might have grown very quickly. In fact it seemed the only likely explanation. Perhaps it had been growing
under the floor boards or behind the wall for ages and had just suddenly broken through during the night.
Yes, that would explain why Norm wasnтАЩt hereтАФhe must have gone to get some stuff to deal with it.
Some of that fluid that caught in the back of your throat and stank the house out for days.

Well, this was his responsibility, she told herself, and the sooner he got rid of it the better. It was
disgusting.

She picked up a length of wood and thrust it angrily into one of the bigger mounds of fungus.
Unexpectedly, a ripple ran through the growth, then the whole mound moved.

Even worse, it spoke to her.

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тАЬNora,тАЭ it said in a thick, muffled voice. тАЬNora . . . ItтАЩs me!тАЭ

And before she could react Norm reached out with two soft, slightly sticky arms and hugged her for the
first time in years.