"Mike Resnick - Barnaby in Exile (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

Forward
Barnaby in Exile

Barnaby sits in his cage, waiting for Sally to come into the lab. She will
give him the puzzle, the same one he worked on yesterday. But today he will
not disappoint her. He has been thinking about the puzzle all night. Thinking
is fun. Today he will do it right, and she will laugh and tell him how smart
he is. He will lay on his back and she will tickle his stomach, and say, "Oh,
what a bright young fellow you are, Barnaby!" Then Barnaby will make a funny
face and turn a somersault. Barnaby is me. # It gets lonely after Sally
leaves. Bud comes when it is black and cleans my cage, but he never talks.
Sometimes he forgets and leaves the light on. Then I try to talk to Roger and
his family, but they are just rabbits and cannot make the signs. I don't think
they are very smart, anyway. Every night when Bud comes in I sit up and smile
at him. I always make the sign for "Hello", but he doesn't answer. Sometimes I
think Bud isn't any smarter than Roger. He just pats me on the head. Sometimes
he leaves the pictures on after he leaves. My favorite pictures are Fred and
Barney. Everything is so bright and fast. Many times I ask Sally to bring Dino
to the lab so that I can play with him, but she never does. I like Barney,
because he is not as big or loud as Fred, and I am not big or loud either.
Also, my name is Barnaby and that is like Barney. Sometimes, when it is black
and I am all alone, I imagine that I am Barney, and that I don't sleep in a
cage at all. # This day it was white out, and Sally even had white on her when
she came to the lab, but it all turned to water. Today we had a new toy. It
looks like the thing on Doctor's desk, with lots of little things that look
like flat grapes. Sally told me that she would show me something and then I
should touch the grape that had the same picture on it. She showed me a shoe,
and a ball, and an egg, and a star, and a square. I did the egg and the ball
wrong, but tomorrow I will do them right. I think more every day. Like Sally
says I am a very bright young fellow. # We have spent many days with the new
toy, and now I can speak to Sally with it, just by touching the right grapes.
She will come into the lab and say, "How are you this morning, Barnaby?", and
I will touch the grapes that say, "Barnaby is fine" or "Barnaby is hungry".
What I really want to say is "Barnaby is lonely" but there is no grape for
"lonely". # Today I touch the grapes that say "Barnaby wants out". "Out of
your cage?" she asks. "Out there," I sign. "Out in the white." "You would not
like it." "I do not like the black when I am alone," I sign. "I will like the
white." "It is very cold," she says, "and you are not used to it." "The white
is very pretty," I say. "Barnaby wants out." "The last time I let you out you
hurt Roger," she reminds me. "I just wanted to touch him," I say. "You do not
know your own strength," she says. "Roger is just a rabbit, and you hurt him."
"I will be gentle this time," I say. "I thought you didn't like Roger," she
says. "I don't like Roger," I say. "I like touching." She reaches into the
cage and tickles my belly and scratches my back and I feel better, but then
she stops. "It is time for your lesson," she says. "If I do it right, can you
bring me something to touch?" I ask. "What kind of thing?" she says. I think
for a moment. "Another Barnaby," I say. She looks sad, and doesn't answer. #
One day Sally brings me a book filled with pictures. I smell it and taste it.
Finally I figure out that she wants me to look at it. There are all kinds of
animals in it. I see one that looks like Roger, but it is brown and Roger is