Free The Omen by David Seltzer Page A

continually against giving them weight It occurred to Thorn that the priest might be a potential assassin, for in the cases of both Lee Harvey Oswald and Arthur Bremmer, the assassins tried to make personal contact of the kind the priest had made. But he dismissed this as well. He could no longer move as he had to if he dwelt on the spectre of death waiting in the crowds. And yet the priest stayed with him; in his waking hours and in his sleep, until Thorn became aware he was as obsessed with the man as the man was with him. Tassone was the predator, Thorn the prey. He felt as a fieldmouse must feel, fearing always, that high above, he was being circled by a hawk.
    At Pereford the surface was calm. But in the depths of hidden feelings the fires of anxiety burned bright Thorn and Katherine saw little of each other, his speaking engagements and other duties keeping him away. When they came together, they kept their conversation on a surface level, avoiding anything that would cause distress. Katherine was spending more time with Damien, as she had promised, but it only served to accentuate their distance, the child whiling away the hours in silence, enduring the time rather than enjoying it, until Mrs. Baylock returned.
    With his nanny, he was able to laugh and play, but with Katherine he was withdrawn; in frustration she attempted, day after day, to find ways of bringing him out of his shell. She bought coloring books and paint sets, building blocks and wheeled toys, but always they were met with the same dulled response. One afternoon he evidenced interest in an animal cut-out book, and it was then that she decided to take him to the zoo.
    As she packed her station wagon for a day's outing, it occurred to her how different their lives were from those of normal people. Her child was four and a half years old and he had never even been to a zoo. As the Ambassador's family, everything was brought to them, they rarely sought things out. Perhaps it was this lack of normal childhood adventures that had dulled Da-mien's sense of fun. But today there was life in his eyes, and as he sat beside her in the car, she could sense she had finally done something right. He even talked. Not much, but more than usual—struggling with the word "hippopotamus," and giggling when he finally got it right. How little it took to make Katherine happy; a giggle from her child caused her spirits to soar. As they headed for the city, she talked nonstop, and Damien listened intently. Lions were just big cats and gorillas were just big monkeys, and squirrels were related to rats, and horses related to donkeys. He was delighted, absorbing it all, and Katherine made a poem of it, repeating it as they drove. Lions are cats and gorillas monkeys, and squirrels are rats and horses are donkeys. She said it fast and Damien laughed, and she said it faster and he laughed harder. It convulsed him, and they laughed together all the way to the zoo.
    On a bright Sunday in winter everyone in London tries to get outdoors; people were everywhere, greedily soaking up fresh air and sun. It was an uncommonly beautiful day and the zoo was packed to capacity. The animals also seemed to be enjoying the sun, their growls and howls heard all the way to the admission gate where Katherine rented a stroller so she could push Damien and not have their day hampered by fatigue.
    They stopped first at the swans and watched the beautiful creatures flock around a group of children who were feeding them bread. They pushed through to get a front-row vantage, but at that moment the swans suddenly became disinterested in feeding and majestically turned their tails, slowly paddling away, In mid-pond they stopped, gazing back like disdainful mon-archs, the children pleading and throwing bread. But the swans would not return to feed, Katherine noticing that only after she and Damien left did their hunger appear to have once again returned.
    It was near lunchtime and the crowds were thickening;