"Lawrence Watt - Evans - Something To Grin About" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

well-worn carpet. When it was well clear of its prison it turned, settled to the floor, wrapped its tail about
itself, and grinned up at Melody.
She blinked at it in surprise. She'd never seen a cat grin before, and how in the world could a cat
that size have hidden from her in that carrier? She looked from the cat to the carrier, then back again, and
the cat simply grinned at her.
It was unquestionably a magnificent animal, but stillтАж
"I can't keep a cat!" she said, to no one in particular.
The cat tipped its head and looked at her. "Whyever not?" it asked.
Melody blinked again. The cat's expression had been so easy to read, she told herself, that she
almost thought she'd heard it speak.
"It's not allowed," she said, not sure why she was saying this aloud. "My lease says no pets. And
anyway, Todd's allergic to cats and he hates animals. And my mother would complain about how much it
would cost to feed a cat. She thinks I'm wasting my money trying to live here instead of staying home
with her, and if I were feeding a catтАж"
"And how is it your mother's business?"
"Well, that's what I keep saying," Melody agreed. "It's my money, and I can spend it any way I like,
can't I?"
"I don't know," said the cat. "Can you? You certainly may, for all of me, but I wouldn't be sure you
can."
It was at that point that Melody realized she was holding an actual conversation with a cat.
"You can talk!" she said.
"So can you." The cat had a pleasant voice, either a tenor or a low alto, Melody couldn't decide
which, with the same lovely British accent as her grandmother.
Which made sense, in a way, if you admitted a cat could talk in the first place. She stared at the cat
for a moment, and it grinned placidly back.
"I must be mad," she said at last.
"Oh, we're all mad here," the cat replied.
"I know that line," Melody said, staring at the cat. "I know all of thisтАж a talking, grinning cat? A
Cheshire Cat?"
The cat licked the tip of its tail thoughtfully, then remarked, "Your grandmother does live in Chester,
after all; what other sort of cat ought she to have?"
"You can disappear," Melody said accusingly. "That's why the box looked empty!"
The cat did not deign to reply to that.
"This is crazy," Melody said. "That was in a story, it wasn't true. I must be mad!"
"Oh," the cat said, "is nothing one reads in stories true, then? How curious."
"I didn't mean that," Melody said. She stared at the cat.
It wasn't disappearing. It did talk, and it did grin, though.
"This is crazy," Melody said again.
The cat did not bother to reply to that.
"Listen, I really can't keep you here!" Melody said. "The landlord won't stand for it. No pets, it says
so in the lease. It's right there inтАж what are you doing?"
The cat's tail had gotten shorter, she was sure of itтАФand as she watched, more of it vanished,
followed by the animal's hindquarters, and then the rest of it, until nothing was left but the grin.
 Melody was not a calm person. She had been known to lose her composure over a misplaced can
of soup or a crooked shower curtain. Ordinary catastrophes such as a missed train or broken heel could
reduce her to hysterics. Todd's tantrums and invective had brought on tears for months before she had
gotten used to them. Even so, watching a cat disappear inch by inch, until nothing remained but the grin,
when a cat had no business grinning in the first place, was beyond question the single most unsettling thing
she had ever seen in her life. It was all she could do to keep from screaming, and a small, strangled
squeak did escape, despite her best efforts.