Читать книгу The Last Family in England - Matt Haig - Страница 42

sigh

Adam let out a sigh that lasted so long he had nearly transferred the entire contents of the kitchen table to the dishwasher by the time it had been fully exhaled.

During the sigh Charlotte screeched her chair back, stood up, and walked out of the room, typing into her phone as she went.

Table cleared, Adam tightened his tie and gave me a look which asked: What have we done to deserve this?

He fed me. My bowl of meat jelly and biscuit.

A dog’s dinner.

A dog’s breakfast.

I wolfed it down.

More morning sounds upstairs: footsteps in hurried competition. The whole house getting louder and louder, as it did on the mornings when Kate went to work at the gift shop, when she joined the other members of the Family getting ready for their busy day. The noise reached its thunderous peak as everyone, in quick succession, riverdanced their way downstairs and slammed the front door behind them.

Slam. Slam. Slam. Slam.

After that last slam the house was never more quiet. As I slumped back in my basket, as I settled back and washed my paws, the silence seemed to be speaking to me. Whether it was canine intuition or delusion I cannot be sure. But it seemed to be telling me that this routine, the routine which bored and warmed me at the same time, was not going to survive. All of a sudden, the entire room was full of secrets, concealing its advance knowledge within every object. And this feeling stayed with me for some time before I decided to bark for the rest of the day. To shut up the silence and its unwelcome premonitions.