"Pat Murphy - Rachel In Love" - читать интересную книгу автора (Murphy Pat)

unable to hold it, she pees in one corner of the cage. The urine flows through the wire mesh to soak the
litter below, and the smell of warm piss fills her cage. Humiliated, frightened, her head aching, her skin
itchy from the flea spray, Rachel watches as the sunlight creeps across the room. The day wears on.
Rachel samples her food again, but rejects it, preferring hunger to the strange taste. A black man comes
and cleans the cages of the rabbits and rats. Rachel cowers in her cage and watches him warily, afraid
that he will hurt her, too.

When night comes, she is not tired. Outside, coyotes howl. Moonlight filters in through the high windows.
She draws her legs up toward her body, then rests with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her father
is dead, and she is a captive in a strange place. For a time, she whimpers softly, hoping to awaken from
this nightmare and find herself at home in bed. When she hears the click of a key in the door to the room,
she hugs herself more tightly.

A man in green coveralls pushes a cart filled with cleaning supplies into the room. He takes a broom from
the cart, and begins sweeping the concrete floor. Over the rows of cages, she can see the top of his head
bobbing in time with his sweeping. He works slowly and methodically, bending down to sweep carefully
under each row of cages, making a neat pile of dust, dung, and food scraps in the center of the aisle.

The janitor's name is Jake. He is a middleaged deaf man who has been employed by the Primate
Research Center for the past seven years. He works night shift. The personnel director at the Primate
Research Center likes Jake because he fills the federal quota for handicapped employees, and because
he has not asked for a raise in five years. There have been some complaints about Jake--his work is
often sloppy--but never enough to merit firing the man.

Jake is an unambitious, somewhat slowwitted man. He likes the Primate Research Center because he
works alone, which allows him to drink on the job. He is an easygoing man, and he likes the animals.
Sometimes, he brings treats for them. Once, a lab assistant caught him feeding an apple to a pregnant
rhesus monkey. The monkey was part of an experiment on the effect of dietary restrictions on fetal brain
development, and the lab assistant warned Jake that he would be fired if he was ever caught interfering
with the animals again. Jake still feeds the animals, but he is more careful about when he does it, and he
has never been caught again.

As Rachel watches, the old chimp gestures to Jake. --Give banana, the chimp signs. --Please banana.
Jake stops sweeping for a minute and reaches down to the bottom shelf of his cleaning cart. He returns
with a banana and offers it to the old chimp. The chimp accepts the banana and leans against the mesh
while Jake scratches his fur.

When Jake turns back to his sweeping, he catches sight of Rachel and sees that she is watching him.
Emboldened by his kindness to the old chimp, Rachel timidly gestures to him. --Help me.

Jake hesitates, then peers at her more closely. Both his eyes are shot with a fine lacework of red. His
nose displays the broken blood vessels of someone who has been friends with the bottle for too many
years. He needs a shave. But when he leans close, Rachel catches the scent of whiskey and tobacco.
The smells remind her of Aaron and give her courage.

--Please help me, Rachel signs. --I don't belong here.

For the last hour, Jake has been drinking steadily. His view of the world is somewhat fuzzy. He stares at
her blearily.