Poachers Road by John Brady Page A

likes to go in there, you told me before.”
    “He’s regressing,” said Mrs. Himmelfarb again. “Something bothers him.”
    Felix spooned out some cream. When he stole a look back at Hansi, the eyes were closed again. Frau Himmelfarb carried over the tray. The Thermos jug had that scorched smell of instant coffee, all right.
    “That’s too bad,” Gebhart said. “It must be hard on you.”
    “All he says is ‘sleep’ when I ask him. “‘Sleep’ or ‘sleeping.’”
    “Do you need a sleep, Hansi?” Gebhart called out. “A nice sleep?”
    Hansi shook his head several times. He did not open his eyes, but held the kitten up closer to his face. Frau Himmelfarb sighed.
    “He won’t leave the house,” she said. “Coffee for you both?”
    “Three days now,” she went on, as she poured the coffee.
    “I haven’t seen him at the club,” said Gebhart.
    “Won’t leave the house,” said Himmelfarb.
    “And he cries,” Frau Himmelfarb added. “He never cries. He is as happy as the day is long. Even when he is ein bisschen krank even when he’s a bit sick.”
    Nobody seemed to want to say anything then. Felix blew on his coffee, and took sly looks around the huge kitchen. The walls were nearly a half-metre thick by the windows. Hansi stood by the sink caressing the kitten. He was looking out the window now.
    “It’s been a long winter,” Gebhart said quietly.
    “It’s always long,” said Himmelfarb.
    “Hansi is always out,” his wife said. “We blow a whistle, he comes back.”
    “We wonder,” said Himmelfarb. “Did he meet someone out there? You never know these days, the terrible things. People they take advantage of kids it’s happened, I know it. It’s on the news, nicht war, Mutti?”
    She nodded.
    “Oh, the crimes these days,” Himmelfarb went on. “People behave worse than animals.You see it every night.”
    Felix hadn’t noticed a satellite dish on their way in. He’d remember to look when they left. What sense could an older couple like the Himmelfarbs make of all the crap pouring down from satellite channels now?
    Gebhart turned in his chair.
    “You’re a good boy Hansi, aren’t you? I’ll bet you are.
    Everybody knows that.”
    Felix became aware of Frau Himmelfarb’s gaze on him. When he turned toward her, a smile ready, she quickly looked away.
    “Hansi,” said Gebhart. “Do you like the police? Wah wah, the siren?”
    Hansi met his eyes for several moments. Then he nodded.
    “I thought you did, yes. Well, will you meet my friend? I have a new friend, yes.”
    Hansi glanced over at him. Felix noticed that Hansi’s eyes were mostly directed toward his beret. He began to believe that Gebhart could well have predicted, and even planned, every move here.
    Somehow he worked up a smile for Hansi.
    “Come over here, Felix,” said Gebhart. “Felix likes kittens.
    Don’t you, Felix?”
    Felix reached out and got a gnaw from the kitten on his knuckles.
    “Felix will do the wah wah for you, Hansi. Go with Felix.”
    Felix tried a hard stare and his best ESP with Gebhart. There was no go there. What if this boy/man throws a fit with the siren?
    “Go with Felix, Hansi. Felix is a good boy, just like you. But he doesn’t know anything about farming. Or the woods, either. Do you Felix?”
    “No,” said Felix. “I know nothing.”
    Gebi gave him a measured look before turning back to Hansi.
    “See, Hansi? But I hear you know all about the farm. Show poor Felix. Felix lives in town. He’s kind of lost, you know.”
    A look of concentration crossed Hansi’s face. Then he walked to the door, and put the kitten in a basket there. He looked at his father, to Gebhart, and then to Felix. With a sinking feeling, one made up of pity and annoyance, and now a clear desire for some sort of revenge on Gebhart, Felix saw that Hansi was keen now.
    “Wah wah?” said Hansi.
    “Atta boy,” said Gebhart.
    Hansi held out his hand.
    “He does that when he’s bothered,” said