"Walter Jon Williams - Daddy's World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

Jamie felt a chill finger touch his neck.
"Momma?" Jamie said. "Daddy?" Momma and Daddy did not respond. Their faces didn't move.
Daddy's face was blurred strangely, as if it been caught in the middle of movement.
"Daddy?" Jamie came close and tried to tug at his father's shirt sleeve. It was hard, like
marble, and his fingers couldn't get a purchase at it. Terror blew hot in his heart.
"Daddy?" Jamie cried. He tried to tug harder. "Daddy! Wake up!" Daddy didn't respond. He ran
to Momma and tugged at her hand. "Momma! Momma!" Her hand was like the hand of a statue. She
didn't move no matter how hard Jamie pulled.
"Help!" Jamie screamed. "Mister Jeepers! Mr. Fuzzy! Help my Momma!" Tears fell down his face
as he ran from Becky to Momma to Daddy, tugging and pulling at them, wrapping his arms around
their frozen legs and trying to pull them toward him. He ran outside, but everything was curiously
still. No wind blew. Mister Jeepers sat on the ridgepole, a broad smile fixed as usual to his
face, but he was frozen, too, and did not respond to Jamie's calls.
Terror pursued him back into the house. This was far worse than anything that had happened to
him in the hospital, worse even than the pain. Jamie ran into the living room, where his family
stood still as statues, and then recoiled in horror. A stranger had entered the room-- or rather
just parts of a stranger, a pair of hands encased in black gloves with strange silver circuit
patterns on the backs, and a strange glowing opalescent face with a pair of wraparound dark
glasses drawn across it like a line.
"Interface crashed, all right," the stranger said, as if to someone Jamie couldn't see.
Jamie gave a scream. He ran behind Momma's legs for protection.
"Oh shit," the stranger said. "The kid's still running."
He began purposefully moving his hands as if poking at the air. Jamie was sure that it was
some kind of terrible attack, a spell to turn him to stone. He tried to run away, tripped over
Becky's immovable feet and hit the floor hard, and then crawled away, the hall rug bunching up
under his hands and knees as he skidded away, his own screams ringing in his ears...
... He sat up in bed, shrieking. The cool night tingled on his skin. He felt Selena's hand on
his forehead, and he jerked away with a cry.
"Is something wrong?" came Selena's calm voice. "Did you have a bad dream?" Under the glowing
crescent on her brow, Jamie could see the concern in her eyes.


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"Where are Momma and Daddy?" Jamie wailed.
"They're fine," Selena said. "They're asleep in their room. Was it a bad dream?"
Jamie threw off the covers and leaped out of bed. He ran down the hall, the floorboards cool
on his bare feet. Selena floated after him in her serene, concerned way. He threw open the door to
his parentsтАЩ bedroom and snapped on the light, then gave a cry as he saw them huddled beneath
their blanket. He flung himself at his mother, and gave a sob of relief as she opened her eyes and
turned to him.
"Something wrong?" Momma said. "Was it a bad dream?"
"No!" Jamie wailed. He tried to explain, but even he knew that his words made no sense. Daddy
rose from his pillow, looking seriously at Jamie, and then turned to ruffle his hair.
"Sounds like a pretty bad dream, trouper," Daddy said. "Let's get you back to bed."
"No!" Jamie buried his face in his mother's neck. "I don't want to go back to bed!"
"All right, Jamie," Momma said. She patted Jamie's back. "You can sleep here with us. But
just for tonight, okay?"
"Wanna stay here," Jamie mumbled.