Odd Thomas - Страница 46

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know. I'm seeing bodachs everywhere. Hordes of them. Whatever's coming, it's going to be big. I'm scared."

Warningly, she pointed her spoon at me. "Don't tell me to stay home today."

"I'd like you to stay home today."

"What'd I just say?"

"What'd I just say."

Chewing, silenced by grapefruit and by chocolate doughnut, we stared at each other,

"I'll stay home today," she said, "if you'll stay here all day with me."

"We've been through this. I can't let people die if there's a way to spare them."

"And I'm not going to live even one day in a cage just because there's a loose tiger out there somewhere."

I chugged Pepsi. I wished that I had some caffeine tablets. I wished that I had smelling salts to clear my head each time a fog of sleep began to creep upon me. I wished that I could be like other people, with no supernatural gift, with no weight to carry except whatever chocolate doughnuts might eventually put on me.

"He's worse than a tiger," I told her.

"I don't care if he's worse than a Tyrannosaurus rex. I've got a life to live-and no time to waste if I'm going to have my own ice-cream shop within four years."

"Get real. One day off work isn't going to destroy your chances of fulfilling the dream."

"Every day I work toward it is the dream. The process, not the final achievement, is what it's all about."

"Why do I even try to reason with you? I always lose."

"You're a fabulous man of action, sweetie. You don't need to be a good debater, too."

"I'm a fabulous man of action and a terrific short-order cook."

"The ideal husband."

"I'm going to have a second doughnut."

With full knowledge that she was offering a concession that I could not accept, she smiled and said, "Tell you what-I'll take a day off work and go with you, right at your side, everywhere you go."

Where I hoped to go, by the grace of psychic magnetism, was to the unknown man who'd killed Robertson and who might now be preparing himself to carry out the atrocity that they had planned together. Stormy wouldn't be safe at my side.

"No," I said. "You get on with your dream. Pack those cones, mix those milkshakes, and be the best damn purveyor of ice cream that you can be. Even little dreams can't come true unless you persevere."

"Did you think that up, odd one, or are you quoting?"

"Don't you recognize it? I'm quoting you."

She smiled affectionately. "You're smarter than you look."

"I'd have to be. Where are you going on your lunch break?"

"You know me-I pack my lunch. It's cheaper, and I can stay at work, on top of things."

"Don't change your mind. Don't go near a bowling alley, near a movie theater, near anything."

"Can I go near a golf course?"

"No."

"A miniature-golf course?"

"I'm serious about this."

"Can I go near a game arcade?"

"Remember that old movie, Public Enemy?" I asked.

"Can I go near an amusement park?"

"James Cagney's this gangster having breakfast with his moll-"

"I'm nobody's moll."

"-and when she irritates him, he shoves half a grapefruit in her face."

"And what does she do-castrate him? That's what I'd do, with my grapefruit knife."

"Public Enemy was made in 1931. You couldn't show castration on the screen back then."

"What an immature art form it was in those days. So enlightened now. You want half my grapefruit and I'll get my knife?"

"I'm just saying I love you and I'm worried about you."

"I love you, too, sweetie. So I'll promise not to eat lunch on a miniature-golf course. I'll have it right at Burke amp; Bailey's. If I spill salt, I'll immediately throw a pinch over my shoulder. Hell, I'll throw the entire shaker."

"Thanks. But I'm still considering the grapefruit-face smash."

FORTY-SIX

AT THE TAKUDA HOUSE ON HAMPTON WAY, NO BODACHS were in sight. The previous night, they had been swarming over the residence.

As I parked in front of the place, the garage door rolled up. Ken Takuda backed out in his Lincoln Navigator.

When I walked to the driveway, he stopped the SUV and put down his window. "Good morning, Mr. Thomas."

He's the only person I know who addresses me so formally.

"Good morning, sir. It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?"

"A glorious morning," he declared. "A momentous day, like every day, full of possibilities."

Dr. Takuda is on the faculty of California State University at Pico Mundo. He teaches twentieth-century American literature.

Considering that the modern and contemporary literature taught in most universities is largely bleak, cynical, morbid, pessimistic, misanthropic dogmatism, often written by suicidal types who sooner or later kill themselves with alcohol or drugs, or shotguns, Professor Takuda was a remarkablv cheerful man.

"I need some advice about my future," I lied. "I'm thinking of going to college, after all, eventually getting a doctorate, building an academic career, like you."

When his lustrous Asian complexion paled, he acquired a taupe tint. "Well, Mr. Thomas, while I'm in favor of education, I couldn't in good conscience recommend a university career in anything but the hard sciences. As a working environment, the rest of academia is a sewer of irrationality, hatemongering, envy, and self-interest. I'm getting out the moment I earn my twenty-five-year pension package, and then I'm going to write novels like Ozzie Boone."

"But, sir, you always seem so happy."

"In the belly of Leviathan, Mr. Thomas, one can either despair and perish, or be cheerful and persevere." He smiled brightly.

This wasn't the response I expected, but I pressed forward with my half-baked scheme to learn his schedule for the day and thereby perhaps pinpoint the place where Robertson's kill buddy would strike. "I'd still like to talk to you about it."

"The world has too few modest fry cooks and far too many self-important professors, but we'll chat about it if you like. Just call the university and ask for my office. My graduate assistant will set up an appointment."

"I was hoping we could talk this morning, sir."

"Now? What has caused this sudden urgent thirst for academic pursuits?"

"I need to think more seriously about the future. I'm getting married on Saturday."

"Would that be to Ms. Bronwen Llewellyn?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mr. Thomas, you have a rare opportunity for perfect bliss, and you would be ill advised to poison your life with either academia or drug dealing. I have a class this morning, followed by two student conferences. Then I'm having lunch and seeing a movie with my family, so I'm afraid tomorrow is the absolute earliest we can discuss this self-destructive impulse of yours."

"Where are you having lunch, sir? At the Grille?"

"We're allowing the children to choose. It's their day."

"What movie are you seeing?"

"That thing about the dog and the alien."

"Don't," I said, though I hadn't seen the film. "It stinks."

"It's a big hit."

"It sucks."

"The critics like it," he said.

"Randall Jarrell said that art is long and critics are but the insects of a day."

"Give my office a call, Mr. Thomas. We'll talk tomorrow."

He put up his window, backed out of the driveway, and drove off toward the university and, later in the day, an appointment with Death.

FORTY-SEVEN

NICOLINA PEABODY, AGE FIVE, WORE PINK SNEAKERS, pink shorts, and a pink T-shirt. Her wristwatch featured a pink plastic band and a pink pig's face on the dial.

"When I'm old enough to buy my own clothes," she told me, I'll wear nothing but pink, pink, pink, every day, all year, forever."

Levanna Peabody who would soon be seven, rolled her eyes and said, "Everybody'll think you're a whore."

Entering the living room with a birthday cake on a plate under a clear-glass lid, Viola said, "Levanna! That's an awful thing to say. That's just half a step from trash talk and two weeks with no allowance."

"What's a whore?" Nicolina asked.

"Someone who wears pink and kisses men for money," Levanna said in a tone of worldly sophistication.

When I took the cake from Viola, she said,I'll just grab their box of activity books, and we'll be ready to go."

I had taken a quick tour of the house. No bodachs lurked in any corner.

Nicolina said, "If I kiss men for free, then I can wear pink and not be a whore."

"If you kiss lots of men for free, you're a slut," Levanna said.

"Levanna, enough!" Viola reprimanded.

"But, Mom," Levanna said, "she's got to learn how the world works sooner or later."

Noticing my amusement and interpreting it with uncanny skill, Nicolina confronted her older sister: "You don't even know what a whore is, you only think you do."

"I know, all right," Levanna insisted smugly.

The girls preceded me down the front walk to Mrs. Sanchez's car, which was parked at the curb.

After locking the house, Viola followed us. She put the box of activity books in the backseat with the girls, and then she sat up front. I handed the cake to her and closed her door.

The morning was pure Mojave, blazing and breathless. The sky, an inverted blue ceramic cauldron, poured out a hot dry brew.