Читать книгу Koko - Peter Straub - Страница 19

A little while later someone suggested that he lie down and take a nap on Mike’s bed, but Conor refused, no, no, he was fine, he was with his asshole buddies, all he had to do was get moving, anybody who could still spell Singapore wasn’t too bent out of shape…

Without any transition he found himself out in the corridor. He was having trouble with his feet, and Mikey had a firm grip on his left arm. ‘What’s my room number?’ he asked Mikey.

‘You’re staying with Tina.’

‘Good old Tina.’

They turned a corner and good old Tina and Harry Beevers were right in front of them, waiting for the elevator. Beevers was combing his hair in front of a big mirror.

The next thing Conor knew, he was sitting on the floor of the elevator, but he managed to get back on his feet before the doors opened.

‘You’re cute, Harry,’ he said to the back of Beevers’ head.

The elevator door opened and for a long time they moved through long, blank hallways crowded with people. Conor kept bumping into guys who were too impatient to listen to his apologies. He heard people singing ‘Homeward Bound,’ which was the world’s most beautiful song. ‘Homeward Bound’ made him feel like crying.

Poole was making sure he didn’t fall down. Conor wondered if Mike actually knew what a great guy he was, and decided he didn’t – that was what made him so great.

‘I’m really okay,’ he said.

He sat down beside Mike in a darkened hall. A black-haired man with a narrow moustache, wearing what looked like a prize-fighter’s championship belt under his tuxedo, was singing ‘America the Beautiful’ and jumping around onstage in front of a band.

‘We missed Jimmy Stewart,’ Mike whispered to him. ‘This is Wayne Newton.’

‘Wayne Newton?’ Conor asked, then heard that his voice was too loud. People were laughing at what he had said. Conor felt too embarrassed for Mikey to set him straight – Wayne Newton was a fat teenager who sang like a girl. This Las Vegas toughie wasn’t Wayne Newton. Conor closed his eyes and the whole dark hall instantly began to swing him around with it in great zooming circles. Conor found that he was unable to open his eyes. Applause, whistles, shouts of approval filled his ears. He heard his own first snore, and less then a second later fell into unconsciousness.