"Baker,_Kage_-_Katherine's_Story" - читать интересную книгу автора (Baker Kage)

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Katherine's Story
by Kage Baker
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Copyright (c)2001 by Kage Baker


Fictionwise Contemporary
Science Fiction


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1937
She knew the marriage had been a mistake by the time they stepped off the train.
All the same, she smiled and waited obediently as Dick got their suitcases from the porter. This was a pretty place, at least; big green mountains and trees, and the little train station quite rustic if not exactly charming. Lean men in overalls, red clay thick on their workboots, waited in a silent line as goods were unloaded: sacks of feed, sacks of fertilizer, wire cages full of baby chicks. The chicks peeped and poked their tiny beaks through the mesh. The heat was shimmering, sticky.
Dick approached with the luggage. She turned to smile at him but he was looking past her, grinning and hefting one suitcase in a wave.
"Pop!"
One of the lean men was loading cages into the back of an old truck. He turned and saw Dick, and nodded in acknowledgment. Dick ran toward him and she followed.
"Hey, Pop!"
"Hey," the man responded, looking them up and down. "You're early."
"I got the train times wrong," Dick said.
"Well, that's you." Mr. Loveland shook his head. His gaze moved briefly to Katherine. "This the wife?"
"Yes -- "
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Loveland, I've heard so much about you," said Katherine, smiling as she twisted the strap of her handbag. He just nodded, considering her.
"We got your room ready, anyways," he said.
"Oh, thank you -- "
"You may's well put those in the back," he told Dick, gesturing at the suitcases. Dick stepped close and hoisted the suitcases into the truck bed. As he did so he kicked one of the wire cages and there was a pitiable cheeping from the chicks inside.
"Oh, Dick, you've hurt one of them," Katherine cried, stooping down. "It's this black one, look! I think his little foot is squashed. There's blood -- "
"Oh! Sorry -- "
"Things happen," said Mr. Loveland.
* * * *
The ride to their new home was silent and uncomfortable. Literally; she rode perched on Dick's lap, which would have been funny and romantic under other circumstances. They bumped along unpaved roads for miles, up into the mountains, far out of town, before turning down a gravel drive to a frame house set back among trees. There was an enclosed screened porch running the length of the front.
Katherine hopped out and waited, clutching her handbag, as the men unloaded the cages and carried them around to the chicken pen in the side yard. Mr. Loveland remained with the chicks, opening the cages and dumping their contents into the pen. Dick got their suitcases again and she followed him into the silent house.
To her dismay, she saw two cots set up on the porch and an old chiffonier, clearly intended for them.
"Are we living out here?" she whispered.
Dick looked down at the cots. "Oh," he said. "I guess so. Well, it's hot, ain't it? We'll be all right." He dropped the suitcases and pushed through the door into the house. She followed him, wondering where she was going to put her things when they arrived.
"Ma!"
The kitchen was small and dark, and the woman kneading biscuit dough at the table filled it effectively. She looked up at them. She had Dick's strong jaw. She did not smile as she said: "Oh."
"Hey!" Dick edged forward and embraced her.
"You'll get your good clothes floured," Mrs. Loveland told him, looking over his shoulder at Katherine. "You're Kathy, I guess."
"Yes, Mother Loveland, Katherine," she said, smiling and nodding. "I'm awfully glad to meet you -- though I guess we're a little early. I hope that's not an inconvenience."
"_Katherine_, huh?" Mrs. Loveland looked coldly amused. "Now, that's funny. Dick told me you were born in Chapel Hill, but you sure don't talk like it."
"Well, I was," Katherine stammered, "But I grew up in New York, you know. I studied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, did Dick tell you?"
"No," said Mrs. Loveland.
* * * *