Читать книгу Hanky and the Thousandsleeper - Marvin Roth - Страница 14

Hanky lay in his own bed and stared at the ceiling. Doctor Ness had brought him home in his car and had helped his parents put him to bed. Everybody was concerned about him and his mother had spent a long time sitting by his bedside, stroking his hand. She still saw Hanky as the small boy with big eyes who appeared to be lost in daydreams and never seemed to be completely present. She had never had enough money to take the boy to a real specialist and have him examined. In all the years she had spent raising him he had not changed, except physically. Now he just looked like a man. The only one who could make Hanky laugh out loud was his grandfather and the boy adored the old man. Hanky visited grandpa almost every day and listened to the same old stories in amazement.

After a while, his mother had gotten up and had quietly returned the chair to its place by the window. She’d tiptoed to the door, turned off the light and closed it. Hanky was glad that his mother had finally left, although he had enjoyed her presence immensely.

He would have loved to have a real conversation with her like never before - but he knew that he would have to pretend that he was the same “old" Hanky for a while. At daybreak he would definitely go over to grandpa’s house right away to tell him about his big change. Grandfather would certainly know what to do and would have some advice for his pursuit of the evil thing. His grandfather would stand by him and would not reveal his secret to anyone.

About sixty miles down the road, Walt Kessler’s car was now parked in a small lot alongside the country road. The thing sat in the vehicle and surveyed the fields and meadows through Walt’s eyes. The morning fog rose above the ground like an ocean made of cotton fibers. The sky was turning just a little red, while the bluish black of the night still prevailed. The thing did not take notice of any of that. It tried hard to get comfortable. It was satiated and as a rule, if it had had its fill, the creature felt pretty good. Not today. Everything was completely different, incomprehensible and new.

During the night the creature had hunted down a victim successfully and had sucked every ounce of energy out of it. It had been any easy feat - just like always. Except this time, killing the victim had not been any fun at all. Driven by fury caused by its discomfort, the thing had dismembered its victim in the worst possible way, even as the man lay dead next to his car. Even that had not given the creature any pleasure, especially since it had been interrupted by the arrival of another vehicle on the scene. Under normal circumstances, it would have done away with the trouble makers as well, but a sense of panic had overwhelmed this desire and driven it into flight. It was convinced that the people in the car - two of them - would recognize Walt’s car. Now it was too late. It would have to sever ties with its host body. A new host body would have to be found without the creature getting caught. Using the thinking patterns of its prisoner, the thing searched for a new opportunity. A city - a busy place where many people bustled about -that would be the perfect venue.