Page 49 - Universal

to drift to the Scorpions, then to his
father. His father had been a postal

worker for all Greg’s life, and was
proud of it, often telling Greg how
hard he had worked to pass the test.
Greg had heard the story too many
times to be interested now.

For a moment Greg thought he
heard something that sounded like a

scraping against the wall. He listened
carefully, but it was gone.

Outside the wind had picked up,
sending the rain against the window
with a force that shook the glass in
its frame. A car passed, with its tires

hissing over the wet street and its red
tail lights glowing in the darkness.

Greg thought he heard the noise
again. His stomach tightened as he held himself still and listened intently. There weren’t
any more scraping noises, but he was sure he had heard something in the darkness—
something breathing!

He tried to figure out just where the breathing was coming from; he knew it was in the
room with him. Slowly he stood, tensing. As he turned, a flash of lightning lit up the

room, frightening him with its sudden brilliance. He saw nothing, just the overturned
table, the pile of rags and an old newspaper on the floor. Could he have been imagining
the sounds? He continued listening, but heard nothing and thought that it might have
just been rats. Still, he thought, as soon as the rain let up he would leave. He went to
the window and was about to look when he heard a voice behind him.

“Don’t try nothin’ ‘cause I got a razor sharp enough to cut a week into nine days!”

Greg, except for an involuntary tremor in his knees, stood stock still. The voice was high

and brittle, like dry twigs being broken, surely not one he had ever heard before. There
was a shuffling sound as the person who had been speaking moved a step closer. Greg
turned, holding his breath, his eyes straining to see in the dark room.

The upper part of the figure before him was still in darkness. The lower half was in
the dim rectangle of light that fell unevenly from the window. There were two feet, in
cracked, dirty shoes from which rose legs that were wrapped in rags.

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The English Carnival-7