Dolly and the Starry Bird-Dorothy Dunnett-Johnson Johnson 05 Read Online Free PDF Page B

Flies Out to Photographer Son
. His face was yellow white and his eyes had black slopes cut out under them. I said, “Sit down. I’ll get a doctor. Don’t worry. To hell with Maurice.”
    He didn’t sit down. He said, “
Don’t you hear it
?” in a voice rising distinctly toward panic. It was not the Charles of the obituary notices. But then, it had not been fully Charles of the obituary notices ever since what we had found in the zoo. I expect I looked pretty grotty as well.
    Timothy was coming toward us. I said, “I don’t hear anything. Whatever you hear, it must be in your head.”
    He was saying, “It’s not. It’s not, Ruth,” when Timothy came up beside us. He said, “Aren’t you well? Ruth, isn’t he well? He must come and lie down then, darling. Along here. It’s my room and ever so comfy.”
    Charles stared at him, his hands still held over his ears. “It’s something in his head,” I said. “A noise. He thinks he hears a terrible noise.”
    Timothy blinked. Then, turning slowly, he glided back to the room he had left. We heard his voice, speaking to Maurice, and Maurice’s voice saying, “Yes do, do. How exciting!” Then, as if a command had descended from heaven, Charles’s face altered. His hands eased off and then left his eardrums. He said, “It’s stopped!”
    Timothy’s head, appearing in Maurice’s doorway, called dulcetly, “You can come along now!”
    We went in.
    We were confronted by ten pretty faces and Maurice, whose face was pretty too. It was a beautiful face, fine and aesthetic and cynical, and upholstered with the finest white hair, like a porcelain vase with white mink on it. He said, “Ruth darling. You must have Digham tied off or divorce him. I won’t have you become preggy by someone who can hear Mouse Alarms.”
    I said, “We’re not married” in the same moment as Charles exclaimed, “Mouse Alarms!” which gives you a rough idea of our respective order of priorities.
    Maurice was with me. He said, “Are you living in sin? Why, of course you are. I remember it all. What is the basis of morality? It is a loving relationship, one not to possess, dominate and exploit another person but one in which two people try to understand and care for one another. But how very exhibitionist of you to refrain from marrying. Think how lucky you are, being of opposite sexes. Although you do give me a moment’s worry, Ruthie dear. Career women always do.”
    “Timothy,” I said, “is quite safe from me. Maurice, explain the Mouse Alarm.”
    Maurice stared inimically at me. He said, “
You
are the scientist. It is
your
world we poor creatures of Nature are trapped in. Do I not pay you with shekels to succor us?”
    “He doesn’t like mice,” said Johnson mildly. I hadn’t seen him, there in the shadows; neither had Charles. We peered at him and the bifocals flashed redly back. Diana Minicucci, almost topless and earmarked like the Passover with cake blusher, was lying reclined at his feet.
    “So,” said Timothy, “we had this Mouse Alarm fixed to scare them off. Too high for human hearing, or so they said. I’ll write and tell them. Imagine. How they will foam!”
    I looked at Charles. “You’re a freak,” I said. “I suppose you hear dog whistles too?”
    “I’ve never been whistled at,” said Charles, “by a dog. Do you have the bloody thing on all the time?”
    “Yes. Especially tonight. Tonight was a Red Alert,” said Maurice peacefully. “We heard a certain rumor from Jacko. What a ridiculous name. Almost as ridiculous as its owner.”
    I said, “You know, this is a little story I’d hate anyone to tell Innes Wye. He doesn’t know Poppy had wandered.”
    Maurice stared at me with much disfavor. “Ruth darling, if you must give the rodent a name, why let your choice fall on a flower? Why not look to the earlier cultures, the strong, the primitive nomenclatures. I often feel,” said Maurice with gentle melancholy, “that God was less than fair