Дмитрий Леонтьев – Don't trust anyone (страница 8)

“Dinner,” he heard his mother’s voice. “Dinner’s ready.”

“I’m coming,” Kevin muttered under his breath. “Max, you look so joyful,” he said to his dog and stretched his arm to pet it.

The dog of a pit bull breed immediately ran up to him and licked his palm with satisfaction.

“Yeah, I wish I had your problems,” Kevin sighed. “Oh, Max, why don’t dogs go to school?” Kevin chuckled.

“Kevin!” a louder and much stricter voice called him from the kitchen. “How much more shall I wait for you?”

“Coming! Coming!” Kevin replied looking unhappy. He threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed.

“Oh, my,” he sighed again struggling to his feet. “I’m not hungry, mum,” he shouted in hope that his mum would leave him alone.

“Kevin,” now he could hear a male voice, “I want to tell you something.”

“Come on, Max,” Kevin said and sluggishly walked out of his bedroom.

Looking at its master leaving the room, the dog followed him.

“I already said that…,” Kevin began to explain.

“I want to tell you something good,” his father interrupted.

“Fred! Maybe you can do it later,” Linda butted in.

“But that’s why I asked him to come down,” Fred replied biting into a slice of homemade pizza.

“Let me guess,” Kevin said with a thoughtful face, “Grandma wants to come over and she’s already on her way.”

“No,” Fred responded smiling and took a sip of orange juice.

“Hmm,” Kevin kept guessing and pressed his chin against both palms. Then he sat down on a kitchen chair and said, “I think that Granny is coming to visit.”

Hearing these words Linda couldn’t help laughing. Looking at her son, she put down a plate with a slice of pizza in front of him.

“You’re going to buy a new car or move to another house,” he supposed and then asked his mother, “Mum! Where’s my drink?”

“No! No and no!” Fred said and then added, “You’ve been wanting it a long time.”

At first Kevin looked intently at his father simultaneously trying to recall what he had been wanting and finally shouted joyfully, “Oh, my God! Really?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Fred answered nodding and with a satisfied look on his face took another bite of pizza.

“Come on, guys,” Linda intervened again in the men’s dialogue putting glasses of juice down on the table.

“You really want to buy a scooter for me?” Kevin asked just to make sure he got it right.

“Well,” Fred replied looking sad. Chewing, he took a peep at the ceiling, “You know…that....”

At once Kevin understood that he had got so excited for nothing. He pulled a sorrowful grimace as his father was trying to find words to tell him something more. But Kevin already did not care.

“Kevin,” his father uttered at last. “You shouldn’t get frustrated right now…”

But Kevin was already in a bad mood and he cast his eyes down to the plate.

“Because we’ve already bought it, dude!” Fred exclaimed happily.

“Yippee!” Kevin immediately reacted, jumped up from the table and ran up to his father to give him a hug and after that to his mother.

“You are so…I love each of you,” Kevin kept repeating clinging to his mother.

“Why not, Kevin,” Fred explained. “I called your teacher and now I know that you demonstrated high academic performance and I think that you well deserve a scooter.”

“Thank you very, very much!” Kevin yelled and began to hug his parents again.

“Well, but first of all you should finish your dinner,” Linda declared with a smile and suddenly screamed, “Max! Hey, what are you doing?” But it was too late because the dog had already stolen Kevin’s dinner and was now nibbling at it on the floor.

CHAPTER 2

“My congratulations!” Robert exclaimed cheerfully looking at Kevin.

“Yeah, thanks! Same to you!” Kevin responded addressing his classmate.

“Thank God, we managed to pass all the exams and will be moved up to the 9th grade,” Robert replied lifting up his hands as if in a prayer.

“Enough,” Kevin calmed down Robert putting his hands down. “At last, I can take my new scooter from the father’s garage and try it,” he added and made several roaring sounds imitating a scooter.

“Oh my God, dude! Why didn’t you tell me before about it?” Robert sounded surprised.

“I was also amazed when my parents told me about it several days ago,” Kevin replied leaving school through the exit door.

“What? Already several days?” Robert yelled. “And you are telling me about it only now?” he was still speaking loudly behind Kevin.

But Kevin kept walking towards the school gate with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

“Hey,” Robert said overtaking him at last. “Wait,” he added.

“What?” Kevin asked his classmate.

“That’s awesome because I also have a scooter…,” Robert began to say.

“I know,” Kevin interrupted him and continued walking.

“I just want to tell you that we can ride to one arcane place”, Robert said finding himself behind Kevin again.

“What arcane place?” Kevin asked striding forward and looking rather sour. He did not even turn to his pesky classmate.

“Ok, you know better,” Robert said stopping.

“I hate y’all,” Kevin mumbled quietly, almost under his breath, and at last he walked out of the school yard.

* * * * * *

“Max!” was the first word uttered by Kevin when he approached his house at the front door.

At that moment the dog rushed to Kevin from the side, jumped up to him and began licking his happy face.

“Max! Max!” Kevin kept saying tumbling down on the floor under the weight of the dog. He could feel the warmth of Max licking his face.

“Stop! Max!” Kevin shouted at last through the dog’s smacking.

“Come on, Max,” he heard Linda’s voice, who had come out of the kitchen holding something in her hands for the dog.

The dog quickly turned its eyes to Linda and seeing what she was holding in her hands immediately trotted to the kitchen.

“Goofy dog,” Kevin declared getting up to his feet.

“Where is Daddy?” he asked.

“In the garage, sweetie! He‘s been waiting for you,” Linda answered already from the kitchen.

Kevin dropped his school bag on the floor and shoved it closer to the door as, surely, he was too impatient to go up to his room.

“Come on, Kevin! Let’s have lunch. Mmm, delicious,” Linda called him tasting something in the kitchen.

“I’ll be back soon,” was Kevin’s response as he had already decided to go straight to the garage to see his new scooter.

Such was their agreement that Kevin would not see his gift till he completed the eighth grade.