"Guy N. Smith - Snakes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Guy N)

Chapter 1



SUDDENLY THE child began to scream, piercing shrieks of terror that died down to shaking sobs,
clutching at his mother so that his tiny ringers pinched her skin agonisingly through her flimsy summer
dress.

Veronica Jones grimaced in the deep green gloom of the reptile house, had to check herself from giving
her five-year-old son one of her habitual cuffs across his head. She held him to her, closed her eyes
momentarily, a human ostrich trying to hide her embarrassment from the ghostly white faces that turned in
her direction. Trust the little sod to start playing up. You squandered a sizeable chunk of the weekly
family allowance to give him a treat and this was how he repaid you. Outside he had complained of the
heat incessantly, and shown more interest in playing with the gravel on the paths than looking at the zoo
animals, not that there were many on show because the bloody place was closing down at the end of the
week and the owners appeared to have got rid of a lot of the exhibits already. Conning you right up to
the end, the money grabbers. And now Ian was frightened of the snakes.

'It's ... all right,' she muttered and forced her eyes open.

'I'm frightened, Mam.'

'There's nothing to be frightened of.' she replied, hoping her tone was reassuring, but she could not keep
her annoyance out of it. 'The snakes are all in glass cages. They can't get at you.' At least, I hope they
can't.

'That one .. .' the boy pointed to a large glass exhibit case with a shaking hand. 'He wants to kill me.'

'Don't be so stupid,' she hissed, the way an angry snake might hiss, 'it...' her voice died away and she felt
the sweat on her body turning cold, a clammy invisible hand stroking her, sliding up and down her the
way that creature in the cage might do if it got out, A slimy reptile, revolting in every aspect. And deadly.

Veronica tried to pull herself together. It was the heat that was affecting her just like it had upset Ian.
Hell, it was hot outside but it was like a blast furnace in here. No air-conditioning, the lighting just a dim
green glow designed to make these reptiles doubly sinister. All part of the creep show, like the spook
house at the funfair. An extra quid to go in the snake house, half-price for children and we'll guarantee to
scare the shit out of them so that neither you nor they will get any sleep tonight. You'll have to have the
little boy in your bed tonight, ma'am, after he's seen what we've got in store for him.

'I want to go home, Mam.'

'You'll get a clip round the ear in a minute,' she breathed. 'I can see that I've wasted my money on you,
but I'm going to have my money's worth. So shut your eyes and hang on to me if you don't want to look.'

She was aware that he was trembling, shaking with sheer terror, afraid to cry out loud in case she hit him.
'You start blarting and see what you get,' she warned. 'Now, hold on to my hand and let's have no more
of this nonsense.'

Veronica Jones wanted to move on, a quick glance at each cage as she passed just to satisfy her own
conscience. No more than a cursory glimpse and then back outside into the heat of a summer's day.