"Children's Books - Steinbeck, John - The Red Pony" - читать интересную книгу автора (Children's Books)

to him to disobey the harsh note. He never had: no one
he knew ever had. He brushed the tangled hair out of his
eyes and skinned his nightgown off. In a moment he was
dressed-blue chambray shirt and overalls. It was late in
the summer, so of course there were no shoes to bother
with. In the kitchen he waited until his mother got from
in front of the sink and went back to the stove. Then he
washed himself and brushed back his wet hair with his
fingers. His mother turned sharply on him as he left the
sink. Jody looked shyly away.
"I've got to cut your hair before long," his mother said.
"Breakfast's on the table. Go on in, so Billy can come."
Jody sat at the long table which was covered with
white oilcloth washed through to the fabric in some
places. The fried eggs lay in rows on their platter. Jody
took three eggs on his plate and followed with three
thick slices of crisp bacon. He carefully scraped a spot of
blood from one of the egg yolks.
Billy Buck clumped in. "That won't hurt you," Billy
explained. "That's only a sign the rooster leaves."
Jody's tall stern father came in then and Jody knew
from the noise on the floor that he was wearing boots,
but he looked under the table anyway, to make sure. His
father turned off the oil lamp over the table, for plenty
of morning light now came through the windows.
Jody did not ask where his father and Billy Buck were
riding that day, but he wished he might go along. His
father was a disciplinarian. Jody obeyed him in every-
4
The Red Pony
thing without questions of any kind. Now, Carl Tiflin
sat down and reached for the egg platter.
"Got the cows ready to go, Billy?" he asked.
"In the lower corral," Billy said. "I could just as well
take them in alone."
"Sure you could. But a man needs company. Besides
your throat gets pretty dry." Carl Tiflin was jovial this
morning.
Jody's mother put her head in the door. "What time
do you think to be back, Carl?"
"I can't tell. I've got to see some men in Salinas. Might
be gone till dark."
The eggs and coffee and big biscuits disappeared rap-
idly. Jody followed the two men out of the house. He
watched them mount their horses and drive six old milk
cows out of the corral and start over the hill toward
Salinas. They were going to sell the old cows to the
butcher.
When they had disappeared over the crown of the
ridge Jody walked up the hill in back of the house. The