"Kit Reed - What Wolves Know" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Kit)

When you canтАЩt go back to being what you used to be, you go back to
what you were in the beginning. You were safe because she loved you, and
Happy does not know whether he means the old mother, or Sonia.

The sounds in the house are so different from the crackle and
whisper of the woods that it takes time to name them. The hum of the
refrigerator, the washing machine grinding becauseтАФHappy looks
downтАФthey have changed his hospital rags for grey stuff like the
clothesтАФclothes!тАФhe used to wear when he was a ... The bark of the
furnace kicking in. A telephone ringing, ringing ringing and soft voices:
women talking, a strange manтАЩs voice downstairs in the hall. Brent is arguing
with the other.

The smells in this house at this moment in his life are enough to break
HappyтАЩs heart. He can smell mold in the foundations, laundry products;
dust, in this room in particular; there is the residue of memory and oh, God
... тАФGod?тАФthere is the smell of something cooking. Whatever else is
going on in this place he used to know so well and had forgotten
completely, Mom is baking brownies. Everything waters. HappyтАЩs mouth,
his nose, his eyes.

****

ItтАЩs getting dark, but nobody comes. Cramped as he is, stuck under
the crib for too long when he is used to running free in the woods, Happy is
restless and twitching. He thought by this time Brent would be in here
raging; they could have fought. He could have killed the brother. Unless
Brent jabbed another dart into Happy and dragged him out from under here.
Instead the shouting stayed downstairs, sliding into the low, grating whine of
a long argument. Then doors slammed and the cars roared away. Now
there is no more talking. The machines have stopped. There is
almost-silence in the house, except for the stir of a body he knows,
approaching. What does he remember from the last time he heard her
footsteps? Nothing he chooses to remember. Trembling, he pulls himself
out from under the crib just long enough to run his hand along the bedroom
door. He finds the lock. He loves the click.

There is a long silence in the hall outside his room. Then there is the
soft footfall as she goes away.

****

Alone in the tight space he has created, Happy considers. Wolves
are taught to lay back in this situation, and he is more wolf than anything
else. HeтАЩs been out cold for a long time, and there are problems. Wolves
wake up ravenous. Happy hasnтАЩt fed since he came to in the crate and
emptied his dish. Another thing: a wolf never fouls the den where he is
sleeping. When the old house has been still for a long time he eases out
from under the crib, unlocks the door and leaves the room.