Читать книгу A Threefold Cord - Howard Goldenberg - Страница 7

Chapter Two

The three friends held their meetings every Sunday morning. At the meetings they always followed their Secret Rules: first the Secret Drink, second the Onion of Weeping, then the Threefold Cord; finally they could talk.

Jennifer spoke: “We have drunk the drink of courage and strength. We have eaten the onion to remember. We have recited the Cord that binds us. Now Snoth, the time of speaking has come.”

Snoth began: “I saw a boy, he was really little, too little for school. And a cat. And I saw what was happening. The boy was hurting the cat – on purpose. He did it again and again. It was … it was … teacher?”

Snoth’s friends looked at each other, puzzled. He said, “Not teacher, another word, sounds like teacher …”

“Torture!” said Nystagmus and Jennifer together.

“Yes! That’s what it was, torture! Come with me, come quickly. If we hurry we might still be in time.”

The friends saw how worried Snoth was. They knew the matter was urgent. The three hurried from the clubhouse, climbed the back fence and ran down the lane, Snoth leading.

Snoth ran fast. His boots made a clattering sound on the cobblestones of the lane. Nystagmus and Jennifer wore sneakers. They made a sound like horses galloping in Ugg boots. They ran and they ran, turning from the lane onto the dirt track along the bank of the creek. They ran so hard they could feel their breath burning in their chests. At the bridge Snoth raised his hand, signalling to Nystagmus and Jennifer to stop.

Snoth turned and pointed at a fence on the far side of the little wooden bridge. He placed his finger over his lips. They understood: they were very near and they must not make a noise. But their hearts beat so hard anyone near that fence would surely hear.

They need not have worried because a loud noise, a screaming mixed with a sort of hissing came from the far side. It was so loud, strange and sudden they thought their hearts might stop. Nystagmus felt panicky. He wanted to run but then he thought of the Drink of Courage they had all drunk and the Cord they shared, and he did not desert his friends.

The sounds came again. The children were terrified. They all wanted to run away. But they did not do that. They remembered the Onions of Weeping. And when Snoth started to creep across the bridge, Nystagmus and Jennifer followed close behind. Now they crouched next to the fence. The sounds came a third time, closer now and louder. Nystagmus bent down on all fours, and Snoth crouched at his shoulder. Jennifer knew what she had to do. She placed one foot on Nystagmus’ back, then another; then she climbed onto the back of the crouching Snoth. She straightened carefully, the boys holding her legs to steady her.

Jennifer looked over the fence straight into the face of the creature that made those terrifying sounds.

(I think this is a good time for me to tell you one of the Secrets of the three friends. Their Secret Drink with the pleasant perfumey smell was a hot liquorice drink. Nystagmus made it for them before every meeting.)

While Yaya and Papou were busy working in the shop at the front, Nystagmus folded a liquorice stick into a mug and placed it in the microwave and turned it onto HIGH. After exactly 45 seconds, he took it out. The liquorice stick was now a little pool of hot black stuff. Nystagmus knew it was so hot it would burn your tongue off. [This is far too dangerous to do without an adult!]

Nystagmus added warm water from the tap and sixteen drops of white liquid that he took from a baby’s bottle with a small syringe.

Then he repeated the entire process with the second mug and the third.

And what is so secret about a hot liquorice drink, you wonder? The secret is the sixteen drops of white liquid that Nystagmus counted so carefully as he syringed it into the mugs. The white liquid was rare and precious. Actually it was unique. It was human breast milk.

(And the terrifying noises from the far side of the fence? Please see Chapter Three.)