"Nancy Kress - The Sleepless - Sleeping Dogs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

By the time August turns into a hot September, the pups are huge. They chew everything in the house, day and
Finally Daddy moves them outside during the day, to an empty pen. Donna starts to train them. She's very good at animal training. But the pup
seem to learn.
"I don't get it," she says to me. "They're smart enough. Watch them remember where I hide food. And they aren't
overdistractible, not like some I've trained."
"Well, then, what is it?" I say, but the truth is I don't really care. I'm losing faith in BENSON'S GENEMOD GU
DOGS as a way of making all the difference in the world. It's near the end of the month, and there's only a little ric
canned beans left, and Precious is teething. She fusses all the time. She needs the medicine you put on baby's gums,
regular bed now that she's outgrowing her crib, and new clothes. I sit in the yard, in the shade of a sugar maple, feeling
sorts. The air is hot and heavy. A thunderstorm is brewing, but there's no guarantee it'll relieve either the heat or the hum
Mosquitoes whine everywhere. I hold Precious while she twists to get down into a patch of sumac she's allergic to,
think that I don't care if Tony, Kevin, Richard, Jack, and Bill never learn to guard anything.
Donna says, "I just don't know what it is about them pups. They're smart enough to learn."
"You said that." Precious rocks and slobbers against my shoulder: hyenh hyenh hyenh.
"They just don't obey. They just don't seem like no dogs I trained before. They're more like . . . like cats."
"Donna, that doesn't make sense."
"I know it don't. But maybe that cute little scientist used cat genes somewhere in there."
"That's not possible. You can't just mixтАФPrecious, stop it! Let go!" She's pulling on my hair, hard. I reach up and
get my hair loose from her little fist. Precious lets out a wail and bites my shoulder.
I jerk her loose and shake her. She screams for real, screwing up her eyes and turning red. It's five whole minutes b
I can get her calmed down, and when I do I turn on Donna.
"I don't care if those dogs are acting like cats or like elephants. All I care about is they aren't bringing in any money
need all kinds of things just to live, and we can't afford them. The bathroom roof leaks worse than ever. The house is
dog poop because Daddy won't let the pups out at night in case anybody realizes they never sleep. Who, for fucking
Except for Denny and his last girlfriend, we haven't seen another human being in a month!"
Donna stares. "What's got into you, Carol Ann? You used to be so patient and helpful butтАФ"
"I'm sick of being patient and helpful! I'm sick of dogs pooping and barking and chewing things up twenty-four h
day!"
"тАФsince you turned eighteen you just turned into a fucking bitch."
Eighteen. I had a birthday last week. I forgot all about it. And so, until this very minute I'd bet, did everybody
Except to tell me that it's turned me into a bitch.
I shove Precious at Donna, so hard that Precious starts crying again. Donna looks at me with wide, hurt eyes, innoc
flowers. I hate her. I hate all of it, the dogs and the poorness and my birthday and everything else. Nothing works righ
all I want to do is get away from all of it. I stumble across the yard, so worked up I can't see straight, and so I miss the
land. I don't even know it's there until Donna says soft, like it's a prayer, "0 fucking crazy hellfire god."
I've never seen an aircar for real, only on vid. This one is small, built for two people. Maybe only one. The Y-e
cones on the sleek sides are painted a different shade of gray from the body. In our yard it looks like a bullet on a to
and rotted body. A man gets out, and Donna gasps. "Tony Indivino!"
It really is. Even I recognize him from vid. He's medium height, a little stocky, not particularly good-looking. His
couldn't afford any genemods except sleeplessness, according to the vid. He starts across the yard toward us, and D
and I stand up. She thrusts Precious back at me and smoothes her skirt. Precious looks wide-eyed at the car tha
dropped out of the sky, and all at once she stops fussing. There, that's what we need: an aircar to land every five minu
distract her from her aching teeth.
"Hello. May I please speak with David Benson?"
Donna smiles, and I see his reaction in his eyes. He doesn't like reacting, but he reacts anyway. A Sleepless man is
male.
 "David Benson's not here right this minute. I'm his daughter, Donna. Can I help you, Mr. Indivino?"
I say, "You're here because of the dogs."
"Carol Ann!" Donna says. "Where're your manners?"
Tony Indivino hesitates, but only for a second. "That's right. I want to talk to your father about the dogs."