"Tim LaHaye - Left Behind Kids 02 - Second Chance" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

about going to school tomorrow," Lionel said.

"Yeah. I heard on the news that enough students and teachers and parents disap-peared that it might be
a long time before school opens again."

Lionel snorted. "So we can be thankful for a little good news in all this mess." That wasn't really funny, of
course. This was a nightmare from which neither of them would awaken.

Lionel figured Ryan was just as tired as he was by the time they reached Lionel's house. "You want to
come in for a minute while I get my stuff?"

"It beats being outside alone, I guess."

The first thing Lionel noticed in the kitchen was that the answering machine was emitting a steady tone
that indicated the tape was completely full of messages. Ryan followed him upstairs as Lionel ignored his
parents' and his sisters' bedrooms and grabbed a backpack that he stuffed with clothes. On the way
down he turned toward the kitchen to listen to the mes-sages, noticing that Ryan was no longer behind
him. Lionel turned to see Ryan staring at Lionel's father's nightclothes draped over the chair in the living
room. "C'mon, man," Lionel said. "That gives me the creeps just as much as it does you."
 White people were nothing new to Lionel, of course, and he wasn't surprised that a blond boy was paler
than most. But he had never seen a face as ghostlike as Ryan's when he turned away from those empty
clothes in the living room. Ryan appeared to be gasping for breath. Lionel wanted to get Ryan's mind off
what he had just seen. "Let me listen to these messages," he said, "and then we'll go."

Lionel played the answering machine tape for several minutes before getting past the messages he had
already heard that morning. He was stunned then to hear that the entire rest of the tape was just one long,
rambling message from none other than his uncle andré.

As soon as Lionel began listening to it, he wished he hadn't turned it on. He wished even more that Ryan
was not there to hear it. It was clear Uncle andré was either drunk or high or both. His grief and his
horror were obvious. "Lionel, man," he said, "I done you wrong. I led you down the wrong path, boy. I
just called to tell you I'm sorry and to say good-bye. I never meant to do wrong by you. I hope you'll find
it in yourself to forgive me someday. I should have been there for you, and I should stay here and be here
for you now, but I just can't. I can't live with myself."

Lionel had never heard anything like that before, but it sure sounded like andré was planning to kill
himself. Lionel listened with urgency, hoping and praying he would hear some clue about where andré
was calling from.

A couple of times Lionel thought he heard voices in the background and wondered if andré's enemies---
the ones he owed money to--- had put him up to this. Maybe they wanted it to sound like he was
planning sui-cide when actually they were going to kill him. Lionel didn't want his imagination to run away
with itself. This was bad enough. andré was serious. Dead serious.

Lionel sneaked a glance at Ryan, who still appeared ashen and seemed to be barely breathing. Lionel
turned the machineoff. "Maybe you don't want to hear this," he said.

"No, it's all right. You'd better find out where he's calling from or we'll never be able to help him."

"I'm not going to drag you into this. This guy is my uncle, and I'll need to handle it myself."