章节_16

followihe dining room.

wouldnt it be better just to go home, dear?” auunia

suggested timidly, hours later, but un dido

hear her. exactly what he was looking for, hem knew. he

drove them into the middle ot out, looked around,

shook his head, got ba the d off they went again. the

same thihe middle of a plowed field, halfway across

a suspensie, aop of a multilevel parking garage.

”daddys gone mad, hasnt he?” dudley asked auunia dully

late that afternoon. un had parked at the coast, locked

them all ihe d disappeared.

it started treat drops beat on the roof of the car. dud

ley sniveled.

”its moold his mreat humbertos on

tonight. i want to stay somewhere with a television. ”

monday. this reminded harry of something. if it was monday --

and you could usually dudley to khe week,

because of televisioomorrow, tuesday, was harrys eleventh

birthday. of course, his birthdays were ly fun -- last

year, the dursleys had given him a ger and a pair of uncle

vernons old socks. still, you werent eleven every day.

un was bad he was smiling. he was als

a long, thin pad didnt a petunia when she asked

what hed bought.

”fou place!” he said. ”e o!”

it was very cold outside the ointing

at what looked like a large rock er top of

the rock was the most miserable little shaagine. one

thihere was no television in there.

”storm forecast fht!” said un gleefully,

g his haher. ”alemans kindly agreed

to lend us his boat!”

a toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with

a rather wi, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray

water below them.

”ive already got us some rations,” said un, ”so

all aboard!”

it was freezi. icy sea spray and rai down

their ned a d whipped their faces. after what seemed

like hours they reached the rock, where un, slipping and

slidihe way to the broken-down house.

the inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed,

the wihrough the gaps in the wooden walls, and the

fireplace ty. there were only two rooms.

uns ratioo be a bag of chips ead

four bao start a fire but the empty chip bags just

smoked and shriveled up.

”e of those letters now, eh?” he said

cheerfully.

he was in a very good mood. obviously he thought nobody stood

a ce them here in a storm to deliver mail. harry

privately agreed, though the thought didnt cheer him up at all.

as he promised storm blew up around them. spray

from the high lattered the walls of the hut and a fierce

wihe filthy etunia found a few moldy

blahe seade up a bed for dudley on the

moth-eaten sofa. she and u off to the lumpy bed

door, and harry was left to fi bit of floor he

d to der the thi ragged bla.

the sted more and more ferociously as the

on. harry t sleep. he shivered aryi

fortable, his st with hunger. dudleys snores were

drowhe low rolls of thuarted near midnight. the

lighted dial of dudleys as dahe edge of

the sofa on his fat wrist, told harry hed be elevees

time. he lay and watched his birthday tiearer, w if the

dursleys would remember at all, w where the letter writer

was now.

five mio go. harry heard somethiside. he hoped

the roof wasnt going to fall in, although he might be warmer if

it did. four mio go. maybe the house i drive would

be so full of letters whe back that hed be able to steal

one somehow.

three minutes