"Matt Ruff - Bad Monkeys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ruff Matt)

playing him, until at one point I was in the middle of this completely bogus story about my mother, and he
gave me this look, and I realized: he sees through me. He knows IтАЩm bullshitting him, but heтАЩs cutting me
this huge break anyway, not because heтАЩs stupid but because heтАЩs a decent guy. So that shut me up for a
while.

Were you grateful, or just embarrassed?

Both. Look, I know what youтАЩre thinking: absent father, and now hereтАЩs this male authority figure going
out of his way for me, blah blah blah, and there is something to that. But also, him being smarter than I
figured, that was a change in plan.

I mean, I had no intention of staying with my aunt and uncle. The way IтАЩd already worked it out in my
head, IтАЩd let Officer Friendly drop me off, IтАЩd spend the night, get some breakfast, maybe steal some
cash, and take off. Hitchhike back to S.F. and see if MoonтАЩs parents would let me crash at their place.
But now it turned out Officer Friendly had a brain, so of course he knew I was planning to do that.

We were almost there when he said to me: тАЬDo me a favor, Jane?тАЭ And I said, тАЬWhat?тАЭ, and he said,
тАЬGive it two weeks.тАЭ And I didnтАЩt have to ask, give what two weeksтАФhe definitely had my frequency.
So instead I said: тАЬWhy two weeks?тАЭ And he said, тАЬThat should be enough time for you to cool down.
Then you can decide whether you really want to do something stupid.тАЭ That pissed me off a little, but not
as much as I would have expected, and I said, тАЬWhat are you, my foster dad now?тАЭ and he said, тАЬIs that
what itтАЩs going to take?тАЭ, which shut me up again for a few seconds. Finally I said, тАЬTwenty bucks,тАЭ and
he said, тАЬTwenty bucks?тАЭ and I said, тАЬYeah. ThatтАЩs what itтАЩs going to take.тАЭ But he shook his head and
said, тАЬFor twenty bucks youтАЩve got to give it at least a month.тАЭ

We spent the rest of the ride haggling. A part of me was thinking, this is ridiculous, but in spite of myself I
was warming up to the guy, so it was a serious haggle. In the end we settled on twenty-five dollars, plus I
promised that if I did decide to run away when the month was up, IтАЩd call him first to give him a chance
to talk me out of it. Getting me to agree to that last part, that was a sharp move.

How so?

Well, heтАЩd gotten me to like him, right? As much as I liked any adult at that age. But at the same time, I
wasnтАЩt stupid either, I knew in his job he must deal with hundreds of kids, most of them a lot more
screwed up than me, so who knew if heтАЩd even remember me in a month. And if I did call him up, and he
said тАЬJane who?тАЭ, I knew I wasnтАЩt going to enjoy that. But a dealтАЩs a deal, so the only way for me to not
call him was to either not run away, or wait until things got bad enough that IтАЩd feel OK about breaking
my word.

So thatтАЩs how I ended up at my aunt and uncleтАЩs place. How I ended up staying there.

They lived in Siesta Corta, which is Spanish for тАЬwake me if anything happens.тАЭ It was a wide spot on
the road between Modesto and Fresno, with everything a truck driver or a migrant fruit-picker could ask
for: a gas station, a general store, a diner, a bar, a fleabag motel, and a Holy Roller church. My aunt and
uncle ran the general store.

What sort of people were they?

Old. They were my aunt and uncle on my fatherтАЩs side. My father had been fifteen years older than my
mother, and my aunt was his older sister, so to look at her youтАЩd think she was my grandmother. My