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

The shower continued its hum, echoing through the pipes. She stirred, and stared out the back window at what pass
for their lawn.

Here she couldn't hear the neighbors fight or the squeal of the bus wheels. Even with the radio off, all she heard was
scrape-scrape-scrape of her wooden spoon in the bowl, and the chirping of some tiny morning birds as they ate the see
she'd left on her back porch.

A pounding on the front door so startled her that she almost dropped the bowl of batter. The pounding continued, h
and furious, and she knew without looking who was there.

She set the bowl of batter on the counter, and thought about getting Rick from the shower, but that would only mak
matters worse. Rick would gloat and Muff ler Man, already unreasonable from his misfortunes, might respond violently.

She shoved aside a week's worth of papers and mail on the far counter, searching for the mobile phone.

More pounding. She wanted to yell at Muff ler Man to stop, but she didn't. She didn't want him to think of her in he
alone. But the moment the shower shut off, Rick would be down here, yelling at her for not answering the door, and the
laughing at Muff ler Man for being such a fool.

Her hand closed on the mobile phone. She picked it up, shaking, and pressed it on. The dial tone sounded loud in th
kitchen.

The pounding had stopped. She let out a small sigh and hung up, relieved she wouldn't have to call after all. She did
want to make things worse.

Then the front door banged open. Muff ler Man stood there, dwarfing the frame, a key in his right hand and a look o
triumph on his f lorid face.

“Only idiots leave an extra key above the mantel,” he said.

She pressed the phone on, dialed 9-1-1 with her thumb. He crossed the living room in two strides, entered the brea
nook, then the kitchen, and yanked the phone out of her hand before it rang once.

Muff ler Man shut the phone off, then f lung it across the room. “Where is he?”

She shook her head, moving backwards, feeling naked in her robe.

“Don't play innocent, you bitch. You people are destroying my life.”

He backed her against the counter. She could reach the full, hot pot of coffee, and the knives beside the sink, but sh
wasn't sure she was fast enough to use them as weapons without him turning them against her.
 “We haven't done anything,” she said. The sound of the shower still hummed down the pipes. Rick was oblivious.

“Haven't done anything,” Muff ler Man mocked. He was so close now that his belly brushed against her robe. “We
got any right-to-cure notices. We never even got late-payment notices. And my wife looked—she has a record of when
made payments on-line. I don't know how you did it, but you made it so they thought we didn't make any payments. An
she's checking now to see if you've been doing the same for the house.”

“I don't know why you think we'd do something like that.” Ada's mouth was dry. She thought of the files, hoping tha
knowledge wouldn't show on her face. She tried to move sideways, down the counter, but Muff ler Man put an arm bes