Читаем The Haunted полностью

Personally, he liked a ranch-style house only a mile or so away from where they lived now, in a nicer version of their present neighborhood. It was slightly smaller than their current home, with one bedroom fewer, which meant that his office would probably have to be moved into the garage, but it was situated in the middle of a double-size lot, which meant they would have quite a bit of land. On the east side of the property was what amounted to a small orchard, with two lemon trees, two orange trees, an avocado tree and a fig tree. The previous owner had also had a large vegetable garden, and though it was overgrown and full of weeds, with a little work it could easily be restored to its former glory. Claire wasn’t thrilled with the fact that the house was smaller than the one they had now, but, as he’d been telling her, if things continued to go well for them, they could always add on.

“If we got that house, you’d be back to your old school,” he told James, trying to lure the boy over to his side.

“I don’t want to change schools,” Megan said, overhearing them.

You’ll be going to the same junior high either way,” Julian pointed out.

“I like Mom’s house better,” Megan insisted. “It has a pool.”

“I like pools,” James admitted.

The pool was another strike against the McMansion, as far as Julian was concerned. Maybe he was just being paranoid because all summer the Albuquerque newscasts had kept a running tally of backyard drownings, but to his mind the benefit of being able to swim and have fun was more than offset by the potential for serious injury and death.

There were three houses in the running, and the dark-horse candidate was an older two-story home within walking distance of the historic downtown district. It was big enough for Claire, had yard enough for Julian, and while it was not the first choice for either of them, it had no major drawbacks to which the other could object.

The real estate agent was the one who’d suggested they look at the property, and it was she who suggested another walk-through when, after a week, and despite her numerous high-pressure phone calls, it became obvious that they were no closer to choosing a house than they had been the first day. “I’ve been in this business for over ten years,” she said, “and I’m pretty good at matching home to homeowner. Let me take you through the house one more time. I think, looking at it with fresh eyes, you might see some very positive attributes that you may have overlooked before.”

So, Saturday morning, Julian, Claire and the kids all piled into the van to meet the realtor at the house.

“I still like the one in DesertView,” Claire said.

“And I like the one with the fruit trees. But it can’t hurt to check things out again. In fact, maybe we should look at all three of them today and see what we think. Besides, we don’t have to decide right now. If we can’t agree on one of these, we can just wait a month or so. I’m sure there’ll be more homes up for sale.”

It was only a five-minute drive, but Megan still brought along her iPod, and her earbuds were in before Julian even put the van into gear.

He glanced at her in the rearview mirror as he drove down the street. It occurred to him that while this generation had access to an almost unlimited amount of music over the Internet, they were much more narrowly focused in their interests than had been the kids of his day—or even his parents’ day. When his mom and dad had been growing up, as they’d never failed to tell him, Top 40 radio played everything from rock to country to easy listening. They’d been exposed to the Beatles and Ray Charles and Glen Campbell and Neil Diamond, all on the same station. When Julian was a teenager, he and his friends had not only listened to music on radio, records, CDs and mix tapes borrowed from their peers, but they’d also been able to raid their parents’ and grandparents’ stacks of old albums and discover for themselves gems from the past. Now that avenue of discovery was completely cut off, for the simple reason that kids today did not have devices on which to play records or, in some cases, even CDs. The music could not be physically translated from those media, and that surreptitious passing down of knowledge—done behind parents’ backs, which made it somehow more acceptable than when adults tried to turn kids on to a song themselves—no longer occurred.

Next to Megan, James could have been playing with his DS—but he wasn’t. Instead, he stared happily out the window, and Julian smiled. As far as he was concerned, the boy was turning out okay.

Julian drove down the street. The Willet kid was skateboarding at the end of the block, and he grinned at the van as it passed, no doubt planning to head back and play in their driveway as soon as they were gone, probably with his punk friends.

Julian was going to be glad to get out of this neighborhood.

Перейти на страницу:

Похожие книги

Звездная месть
Звездная месть

Лихим 90-м посвящается...Фантастический роман-эпопея в пяти томах «Звёздная месть» (1990—1995), написанный в жанре «патриотической фантастики» — грандиозное эпическое полотно (полный текст 2500 страниц, общий тираж — свыше 10 миллионов экземпляров). События разворачиваются в ХХV-ХХХ веках будущего. Вместе с апогеем развития цивилизации наступает апогей её вырождения. Могущество Земной Цивилизации неизмеримо. Степень её духовной деградации ещё выше. Сверхкрутой сюжет, нетрадиционные повороты событий, десятки измерений, сотни пространств, три Вселенные, всепланетные и всепространственные войны. Герой романа, космодесантник, прошедший через все круги ада, после мучительных размышлений приходит к выводу – для спасения цивилизации необходимо свержение правящего на Земле режима. Он свергает его, захватывает власть во всей Звездной Федерации. А когда приходит победа в нашу Вселенную вторгаются полчища из иных миров (правители Земной Федерации готовили их вторжение). По необычности сюжета (фактически запретного для других авторов), накалу страстей, фантазии, философичности и психологизму "Звёздная Месть" не имеет ничего равного в отечественной и мировой литературе. Роман-эпопея состоит из пяти самостоятельных романов: "Ангел Возмездия", "Бунт Вурдалаков" ("вурдалаки" – биохимеры, которыми земляне населили "закрытые" миры), "Погружение во Мрак", "Вторжение из Ада" ("ад" – Иная Вселенная), "Меч Вседержителя". Также представлены популярные в среде читателей романы «Бойня» и «Сатанинское зелье».

Юрий Дмитриевич Петухов

Фантастика / Боевая фантастика / Научная Фантастика / Ужасы / Ужасы и мистика