[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

with a smell as if of hope, and dog after dog shambled to the edge of its
bars, dancing and panting its friendliness.
"That one you can't have," the vet said to the woman, a girl of perhaps
twenty, with clear, hard eyes and the heart-stopping skin of the just-formed.
"Is he a husky?"
"He's a wolf."
"You're kidding!"
"No, ma'am, that's a full-blooded male timber wolf in the prime of life."
"What's he doing here?"
"Bit a guy's foot off. Cops confiscated him as an illegal pet."
"I don't want any problems like that!"
"No, ma'am. Now, let me show you this little husky over here. Name's Rindy.
Got him in two days ago."
"Hello, Rindy. Rindy?"
A wave of ambrosial odor poured from the dog at the sound of its name. It
wagged its tail, it shot gladness and welcome from its eyes.
The whole pound awaited the decision of the human goddess, who turned with a
murmured instruction to call her when a female husky came in. When he saw she
was leaving, Rindy circled his tail, climbed his cage, panted, yapped, licked
at the withdrawing hand. This was blood-love, this feeling the dogs had for
humankind. They were not capable of hating people, only of fearing them.
The pound was silent for a time after the young woman left. Then the barking
started again, a rhythmic mystery.
Chapter Nine
Cindy felt like she was tumbling down a screaming well when she saw poor,
netted
Bob disappear into the elevator in the hands of a bunch of near thugs.
Blotches of fur stuck through gaps in the net.
It was more than she could bear. A curious silence enveloped her. Little
Kevin hopped around like a frenzied dwarf, trying to break through to her. She
watched him, heard him calling her name. Or was that all a dream?
Eventually he gave up, lay down on the couch, and slept a miserable sleep.
Cindy stared at a comer of the rug.
A long time later the door buzzer rang. It was now nearly three o'clock in the
morning. The buzzer rang and rang. Cindy heard it as a voice calling from the
top of the well. It didn't seem very important. Then she heard Kevin, saw his
stricken face. "Monica is here," he said.
Monica, Monica, the ocean whispered. Monica, the ocean said. Monica, Monica.
Monica soon appeared beside Kevin. Something tickled Cindy's face. Monica's
hands were holding Cindy's cheeks. It felt nice.
A blow followed, sharp and colored red. It exploded the numbness. "Kevin,"
Monica said, "that sort of thing is unwise!"
"It worked."
Her son had struck her.
"Can you feel your body?"
It was as if she was enclosed in a cotton wool.
"Sort of."
"Hysteria. Under the circumstances, an appropriate reaction."
Page 63
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Kevin's voice cracked. "She was like a wax statue, just sitting there. I
couldn't get through to her! Monica, I was scared."
Cindy realized she had frightened her dear man-boy. She had to pull herself
together, she was a mother. He lay against her chest, and she stroked his
trembling body. "It's going to be all right, Kevin. You'll see."
He drew back from her. "Please don't act like I'm eight, Mother. I'm twelve,
remember. I know what's going on." He looked at Monica. "They took him away.
He bit Jodie's dad. The police saw he was a wolf " Kevin stopped, became the
little boy again. His body shook and he stifled his cracked sobs into his
mother's breast. It was all she could do not to cry with him.
"The police?" Monica's eyes implored for more. Cindy told how they had taken
him. Still listening, Monica bustled across to the kitchen and ground some
coffee. In the middle of it she stopped. "Get a lawyer." Cindy did not like to
hear tremor in that voice. Monica had to be strength.
"I thought of that. What do I do? Call Stanford and tell him he's got to get
Bob out of the pound?" Saying it, she was suddenly convulsed with a fit of
laughter.
Monica watched her, appraisal in her eyes. When it ended, she went back to
preparing the coffee.
Kevin became furious. "Don't you dare laugh! This is the worst thing that's
ever happened to anybody just about. It's horrible." His hands had become
fists, his face pasty gray.
"I'm sorry. Monica's right, I'm in a state of hysteria."
The pot whistled and Monica poured the coffee.
Sipping from her mug, feeling a little stronger, Cindy began to wonder what
Monica had found at the library. She was unsure about asking, though. She did
not want to hear a hopeless prognosis.
"It is a disease, isn't it?" Kevin did not share Cindy's hesitancy.
"Kevin, I don't know for sure."
Cindy felt cold within. "Is there anything, any information?"
"Cindy, I'm afraid it's a genuine medical miracle."
"A miracle? Gee, thanks, God, thank you so much! How about more miracles?
Turn me into a frog, Kevin into a sheep! Miracles are supposed to be good!"
"The whole event defies physics, biology, all understanding." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]