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

it. They feed me fruits and leaves and bark. I am not used to them, and for a
while I am sick, but then I get better. I hear many noises from beyond the
world -- screams and growls and shrieks. I smell many strange animals. But I
do not hear or smell any Barnabys. # Then one day the People put me back in my
crate, and I am alone for a long time, and then they open the crate, and I am
no longer in the world, but in a place with so many trees that I almost cannot
see the sky. "Okay, fella," says a Person. "Off into the forest with you now."
He makes a motion with his hands, but it is a sign I do not recognize. I sign
back: "Barnaby is afraid." The Person pets me on the head. It is the first
time anyone has touched me since I left the lab. "Have a good life," he says,
"and make lots of little Barnabys." Then he climbs into his cage, and it rolls
away from me. I try to follow it, but it is much too fast, and soon I can no
longer see it. I look back at the forest and hear strange sounds, and a breeze
brings me the sweet smell of fruit. There is no one around to see me, but I
sign "Barnaby is free" anyway. Barnaby is free. Barnaby is lonely. Barnaby is
frightened. # I learn to find water, and to climb trees. I see little Barnabys
with tails that chatter at me, but they cannot sign, and I see big kittens
with spots, and they make terrible noises and I hide from them. I wish I could
hide in my cage, where I was always safe. # Today when the black goes away I
wake up and go to the water, and I find another Barnaby. "Hello," I sign. "I
am a Barnaby too." The other Barnaby growls at me. "Do you live in a lab?" I
ask. "Where is your cage?" The other Barnaby runs at me and starts biting me.
I shriek and roll on the ground. "What have I done?" I ask. The other Barnaby
runs at me again, and I screech and climb to the top of a tree. He sits at the
bottom and stares at me all day until the black returns. It gets very cold,
and then wet, and I shiver all night and wish Sally was here. # In the morning
the Barnaby is gone, and I climb down to the ground. I smell where he has
been, and I follow his scent, because I do not know what else to do. Finally I
come to a place with more Barnabys than I ever imagined there could be. Then I
remember that Sally taught me counting, and I count. There are twenty-three of
them. One of them sees me and screams, and before I can make any signs all of
them charge at me and I run away. They chase me for a long time, but finally
they stop, and I am alone again. # I am alone for many days. I do not go back
to the Barnabys, because they would hurt me if they could. I do not know what
I have done to make them mad, so I do not know how to stop doing it. I have
learned to smell the big kittens when they are still far away, and to climb
the trees so they cannot catch me, and I have learned to hide from the dogs
that laugh like Sally does when I make somersaults, but I am so lonely, and I
miss talking, and I am already forgetting some of the signs Sally taught me.
Last night I dreamed about Fred and Wilma and Barney and Dino, and when I woke
up my own eyes were making water. # I hear sounds in the morning. Not sounds
like the big kittens or the dogs make, but strange, clumsy sounds. I go to see
what is making them. In a little clearing I see four People -- two men and two
women -- and they have brought little brown cages. The cages are not as nice
as my old cage, because you cannot see in or out of them. One of the men has
made a fire, and they are sitting on chairs around it. I want to approach
them, but I have learned my lesson with the Barnabys, and so I wait until one
of the men sees me. When he doesn't yell or chase me, I sign to him. "I am
Barnaby." "What has it got in its hands?" asks one of the women. "Nothing,"
says a man. "Barnaby wants to be friends," I sign. A woman puts something up