"Kit Reed - Playmate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Kit)

Playmate - a short story by Kit Reed



Playmate
a short story by Kit Reed
Look at them, Karin Fowler thinks, two round heads bent in the sunlight.
Adorable. Danny, her testy three year old, is playing nicely for once,
squatting happily in the sandbox with his new best friend.
Denny, she thinks the child's name is. Sounds like Denny, but with that
lisp, it's hard to tell. So what if he lisps, he's really sweet. And so
easy to get along with! No matter how horrible Danny is, he can't seem to
scare this one off the way he does every other sorry excuse for a
playmate.
Denny, is it? Could his name be Danny too? Not likely, it's just too
coincidental. It's enough that they look alike. The difference is that
Karin's Danny is, OK, difficult, while Denny/whoever, the neighbors'
child, is perfect. If he comes over often enough, maybe some of it will
rub off on Danny here. She thinks Denny's mom could probably teach her a
thing or two about parenting, but hey. She's a working mom. It's enough to
throw the ball or make brownies with the boys, life is too short to go
knocking on other mothers' doors. Besides. The last thing a careerist like
Karin needs is advice from some candy faced professional mom. Perhaps if
you were around long enough to exercise a little discipline...
So what if the woman does do it better? Denny always knocks politely and
comes in smiling, amazing manners for somebody a narrow notch above
toddler. It's as if he tries to stay small, so she won't trip over him and
send him home. Doesn't fight, always shares. Never cries even when Danny
bops him. Trots off to the toilet without being reminded and if there's a
problem over a toy, Denny laughs and hands it over.
Karin never has to worry about what they are doing when he gives her that
ravishing smile and the two of them trot off into Danny's room. At the end
of the day every single toy will be shut back in the toy chest and all
Danny's stuffed animals will be back on the shelves, staring at her with
military precision.
Unlike her own personal dirt tornado, Denny always has a clean face,
shining hair, cute OshKosh overalls and coordinated Tshirts, no food
stains that Karin can see. Ever. It's clear the child's mother takes good
care of him. Right, she thinks with a twinge of guilt. Like he's a
fulltime job.
And if she's never met her? Hey. People keep to themselves here in Cadogan
Hills. Nice neighborhood, there are some lovely people here. But.
Sometimes Karin thinks it would take a quake or an explosion to make them
open the regulation white drapes in their uniform picture windows and a
firebomb to bring them out of their front doors. Cadogan Hills is so
exclusive that except for a couple she met at preschool and cute Denny
here, she hasn't seen any of her neighbors up close. Oh, chronic gardeners
wave as you drive by in the nightly attempt to find your own house, but
you'd better not stop to talk. After all, you haven't been introduced. And
she hears children playing at twilight sometimes but she never sees them.