"Asaro, Catherine - Echea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asaro Catherine)

someone elseТs life.

When my husband and I married, we acted
like an acquiring conglomerate. We tore
down my familyТs summer home because it
had no potential or historical value, and
we built onto my husbandТs. The ancient
house became an estate with a grand lawn
that rolled down to the muddy water.
Evenings we sat on the verandah and
listened to the cicadas until full dark.
Then we stared at the stars and their
reflections in our lake. Sometimes we were
blessed with the northern lights, but not
too often.

This is the place we brought Echea. A girl
who had never really seen green grass or
tall trees; who had definitely never seen
lakes or blue sky or EarthТs stars. She
had, in her brief time in North Dakota,
seen what they considered EarthЦthe brown
dust, the fresh air. But her exposure had
been limited, and had not really included
sunshine or nature itself.

We did not really know how this would
affect her.

There were many things we did not know.

Our girls were lined up on the porch in
age order: Kally, the twelve-year-old, and
the tallest, stood near the door. Susan,
the middle child, stood next to her, and
Anne stood by herself near the porch. They
were properly stair-stepped, three years
between them, a separation considered
optimal for more than a century now. We
had followed the rules in birthing them,
as well as in raising them.

Echea was the only thing out of the norm.

Anne, the courageous one, approached us as
we got off the shuttle. She was small for
six, but still bigger than Echea. Anne
also blended our heritages perfectlyЦmy
husbandТs bright blue eyes and light hair
with my dark skin and exotic features. She