Читать книгу A Threefold Cord - Howard Goldenberg - Страница 14

Chapter Nine

When Snoth showed his friends what Saba had copied from the Bible, they knew straight away it made sense.

It is not good to be alone; for if you fall, you have no-one to support you.

If there are two, you have a helper.

But a threefold cord is not easily broken.

“A threefold cord – that’s us,” they agreed.

It was Jennifer who invented their special drink. She decided the three should have a Serious and Secret Ceremony. Her baby sister drank breast milk, but she didn’t have melted liquorice with it.

Wikipedia said breast milk made you strong, and safe from germs and all sorts of harm. Mum said her little sister would have died without breast milk. And when her mum took her to the milk bank, Jennifer saw the wasted drops and she knew what she could use them for.

At first she didn’t tell Nystagmus and Snoth what sort of milk she added to their drinks. Boys can be immature about things like that, she thought.

Later Jennifer told them the milk was rare and priceless. It tasted different from cow’s milk, thinner and a bit sweet. The boys liked it and Jennifer told them the whole story.

They had to keep it secret because it was stolen, sort of. And because it was strange: only babies drank breast milk. It was exciting to have a slightly criminal recipe for their drink. And it’s full of antibodies, said Jennifer. She said antibodies were good for you.

On the Sunday morning after the night visit, Snoth waited until they had drunk the secret drink. He said nothing until they had peeled and eaten the Onions of Weeping. It was his turn to read the Threefold Cord. And after all that he spoke: I saw that spooky man. Snoth’s voice was trembly: He came to my house in the middle of the night. Luckily Bruce scared him away. He left this letter.

Snoth took the folded pink page from his pocket. His hands shook as he showed them. Nystagmus and Jennifer read without speaking.

THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY WARNING.

You stole my cat.

Give it back.

Or else.

I know where you live. I know what your friends look like.

I have powers.

This is your ONLY warning.

O.V.

Snoth looked at Nystagmus. Nystagmus looked back at him. They both looked at Jennifer. No-one spoke for a few moments. They all remembered how big and black and scary and swoopy the caped person was.

Finally Nystagmus said: “We went to the Bargain Shop. Snoth bought one of these for each of us.” He handed Jennifer an alarm and showed her how to work it. When she pressed the button, she was amazed. She said: ”That’s a pretty alarming alarm.”

Snoth and Nystagmus smiled.

(There are some things in this story I don’t get: how come the old lady outside the bargain shop had blue hair?

What are eggplants? Eggs don’t grow on plants! And is the tall scary spooky person a human?

And if “it” is human, is “it” a man or a lady?)