"David Eddings - Losers, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

"Are you Granny's little love?" Sadie's mother cooed at the idiot.

The child drooled and bellowed at her hoarsely.

"Don't get her started, for God's sake," Sadie said irritably. "It takes all day to quiet her down again." She glanced quickly at her mother with a sly look of malice. "She's gettin' too hard to handle. I think it's time we put her in a home."

"Oh no," her mother protested, her face suddenly assuming a helplessly hurt look, "not Granny's little darling. You couldn't really do that. "

"She'd be better off," Sadie said smugly, satisfied that she had injured her mother's most vulnerable spot once again. The threat appeared to be a standard ploy, since it came up nearly every time they visited together.

"How's he doing?" Sadie's mother asked quickly, changing the subject in the hope of diverting her daughter's mind from the horrid notion of committing the idiot to custodial care. As always, the "he" referred to Sadie's husband. They never used his name.

"His veins are breakin' down," Sadie replied, gloating. "His feet and hands are cold all the time, and sometimes he has trouble gettin' his breath."

"It's a pity." Her mother sighed.

Sadie snorted a savage laugh, reaching for another fistful of potato chips. "Don't worry," she said. "I keep his insurance premiums all paid up. I'll be a rich woman one of these days real soon."

"I imagine it's a terrible strain on him-standing all the time like that."

Sadie nodded, contentedly munching. "All his arteries are clogged almost shut," she said smugly. "His doctor says that it's just a question of time until one of them blows out or a clot of that gunk breaks loose and stops his heart. He could go at any time."

"Poor man," her mother said sadly.

"Soon as it happens, I'm gonna buy me a whole buncha new furniture." Sadie's tone was dreamy. "An' I'm gonna have all them delivery trucks pullin' up in fronta my house. "en watch them people down the street just wither up an' blow away. Sometimes just can't hardly wait."

Raphael turned and went back into his little apartment. Walking was not so bad, but simply standing grew tiring after a while, and the phantom ache in the knee and foot that were no longer there began to gnaw at him.

He sat on the couch and turned on the scanner, more to cover the penetrating sound of Sadie's voice than out of any real interest in morning police calls. A little bit of Sadie went a long way.

It was a problem. As the summer progressed the interior of the apartment was likely to become intolerably hot. He knew that. He would be driven out onto the roof for relief. The standing would simply bring on the pain, and the pain would drive him back into the apartment again. He needed something to sit on, a bench, or a chair or something like Sadie's swing.

He checked his phone book, made some calls, and then went down to catch a bus.

The Goodwill store was a large building with the usual musty smelling clothes hanging on pipe racks and the usual battered furniture, stained mattresses, and scarred appliances. It had about it that unmistakable odor of poverty that all such places have.

"You've come about the job," a pale girl with one dwarfed arm said as he crutched across toward the furniture.

"No," he replied. "Actually, I came to buy a chair."

"I'm sorry. I just assumed-" She glanced at his crutches and blushed furiously.

"What kind of a job is it?" he asked, more to help her out of her embarrassment than out of any real curiosity.

"Shoe repair. Our regular man is moving away."

"I wouldn't be much good at that."

"You never know until you try." She smiled shyly at him. Her face seemed somehow radiant when she smiled. "If you're really looking for something to do, it might not hurt to talk with Mrs. Kiernan."