"Murphy, Pat - Departure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Murphy Pat)

howling rose and fell in a chorus that was unrelated to the wind. Wolves in the
streets of Manhattan. She shivered and closed the window.

When she dialed 911, a woman's voice answered.

"There are wolves in the street," Jan said. "I can hear them howling."

"What is the nature of your 911 emergency?" the woman asked. She sounded bored.

"I can hear wolves howling" Jan repeated. "Not far away."

"Noisy dogs do not constitute an emergency," the woman said briskly. "Contact
Animal Control during normal business hours."

"But I can hear. . . ." Jan was speaking to the dial tone.

She hung up and listened at the window again. The wind sang through the
latticework of the fire escape and a taxi passed by in the street below. Again
she heard howling a little nearer now.

She hesitated, then dialed her husband's number. She imagined him fumbling for
the telephone on the bedside table, his eyes half-closed, his body naked under
the covers. She imagined the click as he switched on the bedside light, a brass
lamp that she had bought at an antique shop a few months ago. She was reassured
just by the sound of his sleepy hello.

She said nothing. Since she left him, she had called him every now and then --
maybe once a week, no more than that. She did not want to talk to him; she only
wanted to hear his voice. Each time, she swore she would not call him again, but
her resolve always failed.

"Hello," he said again. She listened to the sound of his breathing, but she did
not speak. What would she tell him? The power was out. Wolves were howling in
the street. What would he say? He would tell her that she was just letting her
imagination mn away with her. He would tell her not to call. It was best just to
listen to his voice, visualizing the bedroom that she had once thought of as her
own.

"Who the hell is this?" he demanded. "God damn it, will you say something?"
Finally he swore and slammed down the phone. The dial tone returned. She hung up
the phone and returned to the window. She could no longer hear the wolves.

She lit the candle that she kept by the bed. By the flickering light, she
wrapped herself in a blanket and lay down to listen for howling on the wind. She
was still awake when the power returned at four o'clock and the television came
to life. A talk show was on and a psychologist was discussing stress. "Inability
to sleep is one symptom of stress," he was saying. Jan fell asleep, listening to
him chatter.

She slept through her alarm the next morning and woke up half an hour late,