"Brian Plante - Papa Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plante Brian)

"Long gone, I'm afraid. The little critter even replaced the newspaper on the cage after he got out to give
himself a good head start. I think I'll miss him a bit, won't you?"

"Yuck! Are you serious?"

"Anyway, I need to speak to you about something really important. It's about Kevin."

"Kevin? What about Kevin?"

"Well, I was asking around at the nursing home. About you."

"Me?"

"Yes. Forgive me, but I just had this sneaking suspicion. And it turned out to be true. A lot of things have
been becoming clearer to me lately. I asked the nursing staff about your visits. Imagine my surprise when
they told me you've only been over to visit Kevin a handful of times in the past few months."

Corva's face flushed deep red. "I, um...Dennis! You have to understand. It's so hard. I just can't stand
that place. You know I love him!"

"Yes, I believe you do. But fair is fair. You were supposed to visit him on days when you weren't
working and I would see him after work. We agreed. The boy needs to know he's not alone in a place
like that."
"I...okay. You're right. I'm sorry."

"Good. I'm going out now to see our son."

***

"So your Mom is really sorry she's missed some visits, Kevin. I'm sure she'll be in tomorrow though."

Kevin stared longingly at the cup of ice cream on the table and moaned.

"You see, the problem with your mother is that she's unhappy with the way her life has turned out. Mostly
she's unhappy with me, but I think that that's going to change now. I'm getting a little smarter."

Dennis gave Kevin the spoon and let him fumble around sloppily with the ice cream to keep him
occupied while he took out his utility knife. He didn't want Kevin to see the knife.

"If we stick it out for another year or two, I think we can make enough money to escape from this city.
Get out of the rat race and start fresh someplace new. I'll bet you agree that's for the best, don't you,
Kevin?"

Kevin seemed to nod his assent, but Dennis knew the boy was only reacting to the positive tone of his
voice and the desire for more ice cream.

"Did I tell you Papa Rat finally escaped? I've been thinking a lot about how these smart rats live. The
smart ones always seem to care for the regular rats, like it's their duty. They're very loyal. I think that's a
smart way to be."