"Barry Longyear - Dark Corners" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

you—”

“No. Look. My fingers. They’re broken.” I held them out for him to see.

“Broken?” The doctor walked over, took each of my hands in one of his, and looked down at them.
“How did you do this?”

“Hicks did it. He broke them to keep me from writing.”

“Nonsense. You did this to yourself, didn’t you?”

I don’t think. I swing and smash the doctor’s face with the heel of my right hand. He falls to the floor and
I jump on his face, smashing that tired smugness until it becomes nothing. There are noises behind me, a
shout, something sharp stabbing into my leg—




In the bed rest wing, splinted and taped, strapped down on a bed covered with a discolored rubber
sheet. I study the straps around my wrists and ankles and across my chest. I nod at the wisdom. They
are afraid I’ll use the tape and splints to kill myself. Or someone else.

I can’t reach to scratch my nose, my ear, my crotch, or anything. I don’t like being strapped down. It
makes me so helpless, vulnerable, dependent.

A sound.

From behind me, out of sight, the sound of a footstep.

My mouth is so dry.

Hicks moves into view.

“Nut, the doctor says you talk now. And what’s the first thing out of your filthy mouth? You tattle on me
about your fingers. You know, you’re not just crazy. You’re stupid, too.” Hicks pronounces the word
like stoopud.

The orderly looks down at my right hand. With his middle finger he traces along the surface of my
splinted index finger. Just the touch makes my finger throb.

“The doctor didn’t believe what you said, Nut. I told him you broke your own fingers just to get
attention, and he believed me. That’s because it’s true.” He grasped my middle finger with his fist and
began bending it back. “You did break your own fingers. You’re not writing now, are you?”

Yes I am.

More and more he bends back my finger. Blinding lights flash as I feel the bones crack, the ends grind
together. I vomit from the pain. It covers my cheek, wets my hair. I hate vomit.

Hicks laughs.