Coin Locker Babies Read Online Free PDF Page B

model of the human body, and a flag—all hidden safely away in the basement of the coal refinery. This time, Kiku was hoping for a bicycle.
    As they approached the buildings, Hashi suddenly stopped short.
    “Something’s wrong,” he said. He was quick to sense things and would always warn Kiku of the clump of grass where a snake was hiding, the exact location of the bat in the tunnel, or the patch of seaweed with a jellyfish in it. “I can hear somebody breathing,” he said.
    Kiku peered cautiously through the wall of weeds ahead and then broke into a smile.
    “Hashi, come and look,” he called. But Hashi refused to budge, remembering other times when Kiku had said the same thing and he had gone cheerfully forward only to find a ceiling covered with bats, or worse. “It’s a puppy!” said Kiku at last.
    It took a promise of his diving mask if he was lying, but Hashi finally came forward to find a white puppy playing in the entrance to building B. They watched as the puppy dug at a hole for a while, then ran off after a bug. Before Hashi could even suggest that they take the dog for a pet, Kiku had run out of the bushes. The puppy was still a little unsteady on its feet and should have been easy to catch, but it saw Kiku coming and set off in the other direction. Chasing it, they got as far as the entrance to building C when a growling sound froze them in their tracks. It seemed to come from the entire building, a low moan filling the great concrete cavity. A moment later they noticed several shining eyes in the dark entrance, and then as their own eyes adjusted to the light, they could make out bared teeth and crouching forms. Eyeing them malevolently, one dog crept out into the open and began howling, which set off all the others.
    That was enough for Kiku; he was about to turn and run when Hashi grabbed him.
    “If you turn your back on them they attack. I read in a bookon big game hunting you’re supposed to look them in the eye and back up slowly.” As they watched more dogs appear from the building, they remembered that the body of some man—a vagrant, everyone had said—had washed ashore a while back with the haunches, belly, and sides eaten away. The police said it couldn’t have been fish since fish always eat the eyeballs first. And when a chicken or a pig disappeared from somebody’s farm, people talked about wild dogs, but no one had ever tried to hunt them, mostly because they lived right where the vipers were most abundant.
    “What do you mean ‘look them in the eye’?
Which
eye? There’re hundreds of them,” moaned Kiku. “We’re dead if they get behind us. Can’t you think of something?” Hashi suggested they try yelling as loud as they could, but the yell rose to a shriek and the baying grew louder. By now they were surrounded.
    “All they do is sit there and howl. Maybe they only eat stuff that’s already dead,” Kiku started to say, but just then a small reddish dog darted forward and snapped at Hashi’s leg. Kiku swung the sickle he’d been using on the weeds, catching it on the side of the head and drawing a spurt of blood. The animal rolled away, but another came jumping over it, biting Hashi’s collar and dragging him to the ground. This time Kiku couldn’t aim for the thing’s head for fear of hitting Hashi, so he drove the blade into its flank, but when it turned to run, the sickle was pulled from Kiku’s hands.
    Now the ring of dogs was getting tighter. One leapt at Kiku’s throat, but he managed to grab Hashi’s sickle and jab it in its face. Almost without flinching, it turned and sank its teeth into Hashi’s wrist.
    “Hashi! Get up!” Kiku screamed, cutting the dog along one side, but this only made it bite down harder. As he raised theblade to strike again, a mass of black fur fastened itself to Kiku’s thigh. He collapsed on top of Hashi, who had gone as white as a sheet, but by shielding himself with both arms he was able to keep the dog away from his