JК
Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 409 из 425I shook my head, trying to tell her to be quiet, but it was no good—an expression of joyous relief crossed her face. She cried out my name, and I saw Rogette’s shoulders go up in surprise.
I ran the last dozen feet, raising my joined hands like a club, but I slipped a little on the wet ground at the crucial moment and Rogette made a kind of ducking cringe. Instead of striking her at the back of the neck as I’d meant to, my joined hands only glanced off her shoulder.
She staggered, went to one knee, and was up again almost at once. Her eyes were like little blue arc-lamps, spitting rage instead of electricity. “I3u/” she said, hissing the word over the top of her tongue, turning it into the sound of some ancient curse: Heeyuuuu/
Behind us Kyra screamed my name, stagger-dancing on the wet wood and waving her arms in an effort to keep from falling in the lake. Water slopped onto the deck and ran over her small bare feet. “Hold on, Ki!” I called back. Rogette saw my attention shift and took her chance—she spun and ran out onto the dock. I sprang after her, grabbed her by the hair, and it came off in my hand. All of it. I stood there at the edge of the surging lake with her mat of white hair dangling from my fist like a scalp. Rogette looked over her shoulder, snarling, an ancient bald gnome in the rain, and I thought It’s him, it’s Devore, he never died at all, somehow he and the woman swapped identities, she was the one who committed suicide, it was her body that went back to California on the jet-Even as she turned the other way again and began to run toward Ki, I knew better. It was Rogette, all right, but she’d come by that hideous resemblance honestly. Whatever was wrong with her had done more than make her hair fall out; it had aged her as well. Seventy, I’d thought, but that had to be at least ten years beyond the actual mark.
I’ve known a lot offlks name their kids alike, Mrs. M. had told me. They think it’s cute. Max Devote must have thought so, too, because he had named a son Roger and his daughter Rogette. Perhaps she’d come by the Whitmore part honestly—she might have been married in her younger years—but once the wig was gone, her antecedents were beyond argument.
The woman tottering along the wet dock to finish the job was Kyra’s aunt.
Ki began to back up rapidly, making no effort to be careful and pick her footing. She was going into the drink; there was no way she could stay up. But before she could fall, a wave slapped the dock between them at a place where some of the barrels had come loose and the slatted walkway was already partly submerged.
I ran the last dozen feet, raising my joined hands like a club, but I slipped a little on the wet ground at the crucial moment and Rogette made a kind of ducking cringe. Instead of striking her at the back of the neck as I’d meant to, my joined hands only glanced off her shoulder.
She staggered, went to one knee, and was up again almost at once. Her eyes were like little blue arc-lamps, spitting rage instead of electricity. “I3u/” she said, hissing the word over the top of her tongue, turning it into the sound of some ancient curse: Heeyuuuu/
Behind us Kyra screamed my name, stagger-dancing on the wet wood and waving her arms in an effort to keep from falling in the lake. Water slopped onto the deck and ran over her small bare feet. “Hold on, Ki!” I called back. Rogette saw my attention shift and took her chance—she spun and ran out onto the dock. I sprang after her, grabbed her by the hair, and it came off in my hand. All of it. I stood there at the edge of the surging lake with her mat of white hair dangling from my fist like a scalp. Rogette looked over her shoulder, snarling, an ancient bald gnome in the rain, and I thought It’s him, it’s Devore, he never died at all, somehow he and the woman swapped identities, she was the one who committed suicide, it was her body that went back to California on the jet-Even as she turned the other way again and began to run toward Ki, I knew better. It was Rogette, all right, but she’d come by that hideous resemblance honestly. Whatever was wrong with her had done more than make her hair fall out; it had aged her as well. Seventy, I’d thought, but that had to be at least ten years beyond the actual mark.
I’ve known a lot offlks name their kids alike, Mrs. M. had told me. They think it’s cute. Max Devote must have thought so, too, because he had named a son Roger and his daughter Rogette. Perhaps she’d come by the Whitmore part honestly—she might have been married in her younger years—but once the wig was gone, her antecedents were beyond argument.
The woman tottering along the wet dock to finish the job was Kyra’s aunt.
Ki began to back up rapidly, making no effort to be careful and pick her footing. She was going into the drink; there was no way she could stay up. But before she could fall, a wave slapped the dock between them at a place where some of the barrels had come loose and the slatted walkway was already partly submerged.