"Andrews, V C - raven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andrews V.C)

full of rust around the drain, and the shower
dripped and usually ran out of hot water before I
could finish or wash my hair. I know we had lots of
mice, because I was always finding their droppings
in drawers or under dressers and tables. Some4
RAVEN

times, I could hear them scurrying about, and a few
tones I saw one before it scurried under a piece of
-furniture. We put out traps and caught a couple,
bat for every one we trapped, there were ten to take
its place.
Mama was always promising to get us out. A new
apartment was just around the corner, just as soon
as she saved another hundred for the deposit. But I knew that if she did get any spare money, she
would spend it on whiskey, beer, or pot. One other
new boyfriends introduced her to cocaine, and she
had some of that occasionally, but usually it was
too expensive for her.
We had a television set that often lost its picture.
1 could get it back sometimes by knocking it hard
on the side. Sometimes, Mama received a welfare
check. I never understood why she did or didn't.
She cursed the system and complained when there
wasn^t a check. If I got to it first, I would cash it at
my mom's friend's convenience store, and get us
some good groceries and some clothes for myself. If
I didn't, she hid it or doled out some money to me
in small dribs and drabs, and I had to make do with
it.
I knew that other kids my age would steal what
they couldn't afford, but that wasn't for me. There
was a girl in my building, Lila Thomas, who went
with some other girls from across town on weekends
and raided malls. She had been caught shoplifting,
but she didn't seem afraid of being caught
again. She made fun of me all the time because I
wouldn't go along. She called me ''the girl scout"

5
V. C. ANDREWS

and told everyone I would end up selling cookies
for a living.
I didn't care about not having her as a dose
friend. Most of the time, I was happy being with
myself, reading a magazine or watching soaps
whenever I could get the television set to work. I
tried not to think about Mama sleeping late, maybe
even with some new man in her room. I had gotten