"Jenny Nimmo - Red King 01 - Midnight for Charly" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nimmo Jenny)

people who lived at number nine complained about the large chestnut tree
in front of it -how dark it made their rooms, how damp and creaky it
was, and how it would probably fall on the roof one day and kill them
all in their beds. Needless to say no one at number nine did anything
about it. Complaining to one another was as far as they went. They were
that sort of family Or, rather, those sorts of families.

As Charlie ran up the steps to his front door, the tree sighed and
rained a handful of chestnuts on his head. Luckily his thick, wiry hair
softened the blows. Thick hair had its uses, though not many Charlie was
always being told to smarten himself up, an impossible task for someone
with hair like a hedge.

"Hello, grandmas!" Charlie called as he stepped into the hall.

There were two grandmas at number nine: Grandma Jones was Charlie's
mother's mother, and Grandma Bone was Charlie's father's mother. Grandma

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Jones was round and cheerful and bossy while Grandma Bone spoke only to
complain. She rarely smiled and nothing made her laugh. Her hair was
thick and white, and she wore long, stiff dresses in shades of black,
gray or brown (never pink, which was Maisie's favorite color). Grandma
Jones liked to be called Maisie, but Charlie wouldn't have dared to call
Grandma Bone by her first name, which was Grizelda. She liked to remind
people that, before she had married Mr. Bone, she had been a Yewbeam.
The Yewbeams were an ancient family their history littered with artistic
people and others who had more unusual talents, such as hypnotism,
mindreading, and be witchery

Charlie knew he had disappointed Grandma Bone by being ordinary Even
worse, in her eyes, he was quite happy to be ordinary

When Charlie came home from school, it was always Maisie who gave him a
wet kiss on his cheek and pushed something to eat under his nose. Today
Maisie

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had a large bump on her forehead. "Silly chestnut," she told Charlie.

Grandma Bone was always sitting in a rocker by the stove, criticizing
Maisie's cooking or the state of Charlie's hair. Today the rocker was
empty That was the first unusual thing.

It was Benjamin's tenth birthday on Saturday and Charlie had decided to
make him a birthday card instead of buying one. He'd taken a photo of
Benjamin's dog, Runner Bean, smiling or, to be more precise, showing his
long, incredibly yellow teeth.