"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Chimera" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

Anna had given her cat food, and a cedar bed for Cedric to sleep in. She also
gave advice: give Cedric a special room all by himself, probably a bathroom,
since he already knew how to use a toilet, and let him stay there until he got
used to the house. She had given the instructions in a curt, almost dismissive
manner, as if Gen had angered her by going against her advice.

Dr. Prichard had apparently told Anna that Gen needed a challenge. Even if
things with Cedric didn't work out, it would take Gen's mind off her own
problems.

Things would work out, no matter what they said. She wasn't going to let
herself fail. Not again. Dr. Prichard had wanted her to make a commitment and
she had, even if no one approved of it.

She could almost hear Dr. Prichard describe this in a session. You don't want
to succeed, do you, Gen? You want to prove to me that you are no longer
capable of intimacy, that you cannot take care of someone other than yourself.
So instead of taking a sad and docile dog, you take a cat that wants to kill
everything in sight.

Perhaps there was some validity to that. Perhaps. She certainly hadn't felt a
powerful attraction to Cedric, despite what she had told Anna. She had,
however, noticed him. He was the only one of the animals who even raised a bit
of sympathy within her, and she wasn't sure why. Perhaps because Anna so
obviously disliked him. Perhaps because his eyes were the most expressive
things Gen had ever seen. Perhaps because she knew, the moment she saw him,
that he was an impossible creature who would prove her unworthy and end these
futile therapy sessions once and for all.

The car pulled into the garage, and as the lights went off, she heard a small
chirrup that indicated the house's security system was ready to receive her.

She lifted the cat carrier, feeling it shift beneath her hand. Her muscles
were weak: she hadn't done any exercise besides the physical therapy since the
accident. The squirming creature unbalanced the carrier, and made it twist
against her already strained muscles.

The door opened, and she walked into her kitchen. It used to be her favorite
room with its wide cooking area, oak cabinets, and matching oak table. She had
fired her housekeeper months ago, unable to take the woman's chatter. The
kitchen was filthy and the sour smell of two-day-old milk rotting in her
breakfast bowls made her wince. She put the carrier on the fake wood floor,
and went back to the car to get the food and the cedar bed.

She didn't want to put Cedric in the bathroom. That seemed inhumane. He had
come to a new home, and they were going to get a new start. There were places
she didn't want him, and she could get House to help with that. Before she let
him out of the carrier, she would reprogram the computer to prevent him from
entering Dar's bedroom. It remained as it was the day of the accident, with