"Philip Pullman - Dark Materials 02 - The Subtle Knife" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pullman Philip)

He couldn't get out of his mind the crack as the man's head struck the table, and the way his neck was
bent so far and in such a wrong way, and the dreadful twitching of his limbs. The man was dead. He'd
killed him.

He couldn't get it out of his mind, but he had to. There was quite enough to think about. His mother:
would she really be safe where she was? Mrs. Cooper wouldn't tell, would she? Even if Will didn't turn
up as he'd said he would? Because he couldn't, now that he'd killed someone.

And Moxie. Who'd feed Moxie? Would Moxie worry about where they were? Would she try to follow
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them?

It was getting lighter by the minute. It was light enough already to check through the things in the tote
bag: his mother's purse, the latest letter from the lawyer, the road map of southern England, chocolate
bars, toothpaste, spare socks and pants. And the green leather writing case.

Everything was there. Everything was going according to plan, really.

Except that he'd killed someone.



Will had first realized his mother was different from other people, and that he had to look after her, when
he was seven. They were in a supermarket, and they were playing a game: they were allowed to put an
item in the cart only when no one was looking. It was Will's job to look all around and whisper "Now,"
and she would snatch a tin or a packet from the shelf and put it silently into the cart. When things were in
there they were safe, because they became invisible.

It was a good game, and it went on for a long time, because this was a Saturday morning and the shop
was full, but they were good at it and worked well together. They trusted each other. Will loved his
mother very much and often told her so, and she told him the same.

So when they reached the checkout Will was excited and happy because they'd nearly won. And when
his mother couldn't find her purse, that was part of the game too, even when she said the enemies must
have stolen it; but Will was getting tired by this time, and hungry too, and Mummy wasn't so happy
anymore. She was really frightened, and they went around and around putting things back on the shelves,
but this time they had to be extra careful because the enemies were tracking them down by means of her
credit card numbers, which they knew because they had her purse....

And Will got more and more frightened himself. He realized how clever his mother had been to make
this real danger into a game so that he wouldn't be alarmed, and how, now that he knew the truth, he had
to pretend not to be frightened, so as to reassure her.

So the little boy pretended it was a game still, so she didn't have to worry that he was frightened, and
they went home without any shopping, but safe from the enemies; and then Will found the purse on the
hall table anyway. On Monday they went to the bank and closed her account, and opened another