"William Sleator - Singularity" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sleator William)

тАЬYouтАЩve never said much about this generous Uncle Ambrose of yours,тАЭ Dad said.

тАЬI must have been about ten the last time I saw him,тАЭ said Mom. тАЬThe thing I remember
most about him is his glass eye. It had such a peculiar fixed stare, while the real one
rolled and jerked around like a birdтАЩs. I asked him to take out the glass eye. He eagerly
obliged.тАЭ

тАЬSpend much time at this house?тАЭ

тАЬNever saw the place. He didnтАЩt have much to do with the family.тАЭ

тАЬWeтАЩll get this lawyer to put it on the market right away.тАЭ But it wasnтАЩt going to be that
simple. The next envelope from Sushan was a large manila one. In it was a letter,
explaining that the house contained a good deal of furniture, much of which might be
quite valuable, as well as personal papers and books. The lawyer felt that it would be in
MomтАЩs best interests to deal with these items herself. Furthermore, he added, if the house
was left in its present unoccupied state for much longer, there would be the problem of
vandalism.

The envelope also contained a set of keys.

тАЬWell, I certainly canтАЩt go until we come back from California,тАЭ Mom said, irritably
jangling the keys. They were leaving in three days for a convention of DadтАЩs in San
Francisco, and after that they had made plans to travel along the Pacific coast. They
would be away for two weeks. Barry and I werenтАЩt going. That had been fine with us, at
first. We had never been left at home on our own before.

But then Mom had begun organizing certain friends and neighbors to feed us and check
up on us and supervise our activities to be sure we didnтАЩt get into any trouble. By the time
she got through phoning and scheduling and writing things down on her calendar, it
looked as though there would hardly be a day that weтАЩd be left on our own. She also
made a long list of DoтАЩs and DonтАЩtтАЩsтАФmostly DonтАЩtтАЩs, such as, DonтАЩt have any parties.

That part bothered Barry more than meтАФhe was more popular than I was. But we were
both dismayed when we realized that we were going to be more restricted than when
Mom and Dad were around. Barry kept reminding Mom that we were sixteen and
practically adults. тАЬI mean, we shave every day now,тАЭ he pointed out. тАЬDoesnтАЩt that mean
something?тАЭ

тАЬIt doesnтАЩt mean I trust you to stay here unsupervised, with all the kids in the
neighborhood looking for a place to hang out,тАЭ she said. Barry begged and pleaded and
sulked, and even threw a couple of tantrums. But Mom remained implacable.

Now, three days before their departure, Mom shook the keys on the old, greenish metal
chain and sighed. тАЬWe canтАЩt change our California plans now,тАЭ she said. тАЬWeтАЩve already
made all the reservations and paid for everything.тАЭ
тАЬSo you can go to this Sushan place when we come back from California,тАЭ Dad said.

тАЬI bet itтАЩs just a crummy mobile home in the middle of a cornfield,тАЭ Barry said. The
closer we got to their trip, the more bitter he became. It was going to be a miserable