"Ben Jeapes - Pages Out Of Order" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jeapes Ben)

"Hmm," I grunted.
"Come in, Tom," Jo said kindly. He sidled in, clutching the book.
"It ... it says here ..." He held the book out, like a supplicant
illustrating his point to the Lord with a reference to the scriptures. "It
says you'll help me."
He was still trying not to cry. Tom Melton, who had been a pillar of my
life for so long, needed me.
"Does it?" I said, as discouragingly as possible. Jo poked me; there was a
twinkle in her eyes.
"Look, dear, we've got a boy," she said.
For the third and final time, I said, "Oh, shit."
In front of me was a badly frightened boy, totally alone, dependent purely
upon me. I had lived for twenty years without being responsible for
anything, but at long last I took on a challenge. And what a challenge! I
made a list mentally. Someone had to teach him all his course work, who
his friends were, how to drive ...
"I'm scared, Will," he said.
"Yeah, me too," I grumped. I waved a hand at a chair. "Sit down, Tom." He
sat on the edge of the chair, hardly daring to move. I grinned.
"Sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin ..."

© Ben Jeapes 1997, 2001.
This story appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,
September 1997.