"Kress, Nancy - Dancing on Air" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"Deborah -- "
"I can dance through the injury! Leave me alone!"
Deborah had never yet been cast in Privitera's _Nutcracker_. I watched her transfer her weight gingerly to the injured ankle, wince, and _plie_. She wouldn't meet my eyes in the mirror.
Slowly I closed the door.
That night we had tickets to see _Coppelia_. Caroline Olson skimmed across the stage, barely seeming to touch ground. Her _grand jetes_ brought gasps from the sophisticated New York ballet audience. In the final act, when Swanilda danced a tender _pas de deux_ with her lover Franz, I could see heads motionless all over the theater, lips slightly parted, barely breathing. Franz turned her slowly in a liquid _arabesque_, her leg impossibly high, followed by _pirouettes_. Swanilda melted from one pose to another, her long silken legs forming a perfect line with her body, flesh made light and strong and elegant as the music itself.
Beside me, I felt Deborah's despair.
3.
Caroline jumps. She jumps with her hind legs out straight, one in front and one in back. She runs in circles and jumps again. Dmitri catches her.
"No, no," Mr. Privitera says. "Not like that. _Promenade en couronne, attitude, arabesque efface_. Now the lift. Dimitri, you are handling her like a sack of grain. Like this."
Mr. Privitera picks up Caroline. My ears raise. But Mr. Privitera is safe. Mr. Privitera can touch Caroline. Dmitri can touch Caroline. Carlos can touch Caroline.
Dmitri says, "It's the damn _dog_. How am I supposed to learn the part with him staring at me, ready to tear me from limb to limb? How the hell am I supposed to concentrate?"
John Cole sits next to me. John says, "Dmitri, there's no chance Angel will attack you. His biochip is state-of-the-art programming. I told you. If you're in his 'safe' directory, you'd have to actually attack Caroline yourself before Angel would act, unless Caroline told you otherwise. There's no real danger to break your concentration."
Dmitri says, "And what if I drop her accidentally? How do I know that won't look like an attack to that dog?"
Caroline sits down. She looks at John. She looks at Dmitri. She does not look at me. She smiles.
John says, "A drop is not an attack. Unless Caroline screams -- and we all know she never does, no matter what the injury -- there's no danger. Believe me."
"I don't," Dmitri says.
Everybody stands quiet.
Mr. Privitera says, "Caroline, dear, let me drop you. Stand up. Ready -- lift."
Caroline smells surprised. She stands. Mr. Privitera picks up Caroline. She jumps a little. He picks her up over his head. She falls down hard. My ears raise. Caroline does not scream. She is not hurt. Mr. Privitera is safe. Caroline said Mr. Privitera is safe.
"See?" Mr. Privitera says. He breathes hard. "No danger. Positions, please. _Promenade en couronne, attitude, arabesque efface_, lift."
Dmitri picks up Caroline. The music gets loud. John says in my ear, "Angel -- did Caroline go away from her house last night?"
"Yes," I say.
"Where did Caroline go?"
"Left four blocks, right one block. Caroline gave money."
"The bakery," John says. "Did she go away to any more places, or did she go home?"
"Caroline goes home last night."
"Did anyone come to Caroline's house last night?"
"No people come to Caroline's house last night."
"Thank you," John says. He pats me. I feel happy.
Caroline looks at us. A woman ties a long cloth on Caroline's waist. The woman gives Caroline a piece of wood. Yesterday I ask John what the wood is. Yesterday John says it is a fan. The music starts, faster. Caroline does not jump. Yesterday Caroline jumps with the fan.
"Caroline?" Mr. Privitera says. "Start here, dear."
Caroline jumps. She still looks at John. He looks at me.
Some woman here smells of yogurt and a bitch collie in heat.
* * * *
Caroline opens the bedroom door. She comes out. She wears jeans on her hind legs. She wears a hat on her head. It covers all her fur. She walks to the door. She says to me, "Stay, you old fleabag. You hear me? Stay!"
I walk to the door.
"Christ." Caroline opens the door a little way. She pushes her body through the door. She closes the door. I push through the door hard with her.
"I said stay!" Caroline opens the door again. She pushes me. I do not go inside. Caroline goes inside. I follow Caroline.
"Take two," Caroline says. She opens the door. She walks away. She goes back. She closes the door. She opens the door. She closes the door. She turns around. She goes through the door and closes it hard. She is very fast. I am inside alone.
"Gotcha, Fido!" Caroline says through the door.
I howl. I throw me against the door. I bark and howl. The light goes on in my head. I howl and howl.
Soon Caroline comes through the door. A man holds her arm. He smells of iron. He talks to a box.
"Subject elected to return to her apartment, sir, rather than have me accompany her to her destination. We're in here now."
Caroline grabs the box. "John, you shit, how _dare_ you! You had the dog bio-wired! That's an invasion of privacy, I'll sue your ass off, I'll quit the company, I'll -- "
"Caroline," John's voice said. I look. There is no John smell. John is not here. Only John's voice is here. "You have no legal grounds. This man is allowed to accompany you, according to the protection contract you signed. _You_ signed it, my dear. As for quitting the City Ballet ... That's up to you. But while you dance for us, Angel goes where you do. If he gets too excited over not seeing you, the biosignal triggers. Just where were you going that you didn't want Angel with you?"
"To turn tricks on street corners!" Caroline yells. "And I bet he has a homing device embedded in him, too, doesn't he?"
She smells very angry. She is angry at me. I lie on the floor. I put my paws on my head. It is not happy here.
The man says, "Departing the apartment now, sir." He leaves. He takes the small box.
Caroline sits on the floor. Her back is against the door. She looks at me. My paws are on my head. Caroline smells angry.
Nothing happens.