Читать книгу Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles - Kira Henehan - Страница 17

11

I woke to Binelli’s voice and, simultaneously, to the sensation of being pinned down by an automobile tire.

The voice was saying,—So I see you’ve met Lavendar.

The sensation was saying many things all at once but mostly, —You seem to have been pinned down by an automobile tire.

I chose to not open my eyes for a while. I heard domestic sounds: yawning, water flowing from a faucet, paper ripping, a tea kettle’s whistle, and so forth. I waited until I smelled the smell of tea close by, and then I opened my eyes.

I was not pinned down by an automobile tire.

I was pinned down by a tremendous coil of snake. The coil was on my stomach, exactly where I would pouch a baby if I were, as they say, With Child, which I thankfully was not. The coil showed both head and tail resting dead center. I wondered how exactly that worked; the coil seemed perfectly wound and not as if the two ends could end up in the same central location. It was extraordinarily heavy and I breathed shallow breaths. This was not from fear. I remembered immediately that the snake had already killed me quite neatly the previous night, so there was nothing more it could do. I pushed against the couch with my feet so I could sit up a little without disturbing the snake. I was not afraid but all the same, you know, I didn’t want to wake it up again. Seeing as that was exactly what had raised its ire the night before.