"Laymon, Richard - The Traveling Vampire Show" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laymon Richard)

"Been better." She grimaced slightly, then added, "Been worse, too."
"Do you have any fond feelings for the dog?" I asked.

"You kidding?"

I shrugged. "I mean, you're sort of an animal lover."

"That has its limits," she said.

"So ... you won't be upset if something bad happens to this dog?"
"Like what?" she asked. "Like something really bad?"

Looking me steadily in the eyes, she said, "I don't think so."

As I nodded, I saw Rusty giving me this very weird look. His eyebrows
were rumpled in a frown, but his eyes looked frantic and his mouth
seemed to be smiling.

"What?" I asked him.

"What're you gonna do?"

I shrugged, then walked over to where the sign ended. Down bdow,

the dog watched me and followed. When I stopped, it stopped. "Get
outa here!" I shouted at it.

It barked and leaped, slammed the wall and tried to scurry up. Then it
dropped. As it landed on its side in the dust in front of the shack, I
jumped.

My plan was to land on the dog with both feet.

Cave it in.

On my way down, I heard it make a quick, alarmed whine as if it knew
what was coming.

I braced myself for the feel of my sneakers smashing through its
ribcage--and maybe for the sound of a wet splot! as its guts erupted.
But it had just enough time to scoot out of my way. Mmost.

Instead of busting through the dog, one of my feet pounded nothing but
ground and the other stomped the end of its tail.

The dog howled.

I stumbled forward and almost fell, but managed to stay on my feet.
As I regained my balance, I glanced back. The dog was racing off,