[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Dustin shook his head. "'Course not. They eat people youmustaknowed that."
"Can't say as I did," Paul admitted, intrigued by the little guy's tale in spite of himself. "Good thing you
warned me. Why do you visitZorak if the space monsters live there?"
Dustin looked at him in disbelief. "'Cause it's fun."
"Sure. Guess I forgot you have to do some stuff just for fun."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You could go with us sometimes," Dustin offered. "But you'dhafta be a rider. Brian's always the pilot."
"Why's that?"
"'Cause he's older. He's five!" Dustin confided, clearly impressed.
"That old, huh? You sure he'd let a grown-up come along?"
Dustin scrunched his face in concentration. "I dunno. But Brian knows you gothurted and you act funny
now."
Paul cleared his throat, suddenly alerted. "I act funny now?"
Dustin cocked his head. "Uh-huh. Not like before."
"Um & have you told anybody I act funny?"
"No. Mommy already knows."
Alarms started clanging at a ferocious rate. "She does?"
Dustin nodded his small head earnestly. "She says it's 'cause you gothurted and so we have to play
careful with you."
"Oh. Anything else?"
Dustin pulled his brows together. "Like what?"
Paul shrugged, striving for a casual tone. "Nothing special. Just anything else Mommy might have said."
Suddenly Paul was appalled at himself. He was asking the child to rat on his mother, and with the
information Paul could completely change Dustin's life. "Never mind, Dustin, it doesn't matter. Tell you
what when I was a little boy, we didn't know how to get toZorak , but I knew how to play soldiers or
cowboys."
"Cowboys!" Dustin decided in an instant, grinning as he struggled to get down.
Paul helped him, sharing the child's smile as he scampered toward his room to get some toys.
Within a few minutes Dustin was back, his arms so full of toys he could barely see around them.
Laughing, Paul reached over to unload him. "Hey, tiger, are you under there somewhere?"
Dustin's head bobbed in assent, as he chewed on his lip in concentration. "Uh-huh. You wanna be the
cowboy or the Indian?"
"Which one do you want to be?"
"Indian," Dustin answered promptly. "He gets to wear the feathers."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Sounds fair to me. When we were kids, my brother and I used to take turns. That way we got to play
everything from cowboys to Martians."
Dustin frowned. "What's Martians?"
Paul laughed. "Sort of like the space monsters onZorak , but they don't eat people."
"You don't talk about your brother much." Katherine surprised him, her voice coming from the doorway
of the living room.
Paul glanced over at her, noticing her bare feet. That was why he hadn't heard her come into the room.
He wondered if she'd done that on purpose, so she could eavesdrop. He also wondered how long she'd
been standing there. "Well, we& " What in the hell had Matthew told her? Estranged, he thought.
"I know. You said you'd been on the outs for a while, with only a vague hope for reconciliation." She
crossed to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, her eyes thoughtful. "I'm just glad you remember you
have a brother."
Thrown off guard, Paul felt as though he'd just piloted himself into the fantasy world ofZorak . "Well& "
She smiled again, that rainbow burst of light. "Maybe everything else is close behind." Her fingers ruffled
his hair, which was growing to an unaccustomed length. Since his return, it was only one of many subtle
changes. "You know what? We haven't had a picnic for dinner in ages. What do you say, guys? The
great outdoors?"
Dustin was already jumping up and down, so Paul nodded.
"Super." Katherine headed out of the room,then paused, meeting Paul's eyes. "In case I haven't told you
today, I'm awfully glad you're home." Without waiting for his reply, she disappeared into the kitchen.
Paul heard her humming in the next room as she opened cabinets, then rummaged through the pantry. At
the same time he felt something pressing at his knees and glanced down. Dustin was pushing a toy rifle at
him.
"Cowboys!" Dustin insisted.
"Right, tiger. I think we'd better go outside, though. Your mom probably doesn't let you have horses in
the house."
Dustin giggled in reply and Paul found himself warming again. He told himself it was because he liked
having a receptive audience to his dubious humor, not because of the small hand curled so trustingly in
his. As they headed outside, it occurred to him that a man never felt taller than when walking hand in
hand with a child.
* * *
"Curry?" Paul asked. "I don't think I ever had curry on a picnic before."
"I was going for a theme you know, to fit with cowboys and Indians."
"Isn't curry fromIndia, a place decidedly lacking in cowboys?"
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
She threw a linen napkin at him. "Okay, okay. You can see now why I couldn't be the chef. I don't think
the guests would understand my themes, either."
"Is Dustin going to eat curry?" Paul asked. It didn't seem like something a little kid would like.
Katherine produced some sandwiches. "Peanut butter and jelly. I think that'll keep him happy. Unless
you were thinking maybe beef jerky for trail grub in keeping with thetheme ." She held up some other
bags. "Chips, granola and, of course, his favorite brownies, since he's not a fan of my éclairs or
napoleons."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]