"Cooney, Caroline B - Janie Johnson 02 - Whatever Happened to Janie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cooney Caroline B)

I hate him, thought Janie. She gripped the sweating, cold soda can and went back to the gym. Doesn't he realize how hard this Is for me? she thought furiously.
The goodtwin half of her thought: It's hard for him, too.
She climbed up next to Mrs. Spring again. Stephen wouldn't say anything in front of his mother.
We're both protecting our mothers, thought Janie.
In her purse were photographs of Mommy and Daddy. She could open the clasp, unzip the pocket, and shuffle through the familiar, beloved photos of her Connecticut mother and father. But already she did not want to hurt Mr. and Mrs. Spring's feelings by doing that.
What about Mommy and Daddy's feelings? she thought.
She did not unzip her purse, but felt the edge of the stack of photographs through the thin leather, playing with the corner as if it were a baby's pacifier.
What normal, decent person swaps families as easily as a pair of Ice skates? she thought~ It was evil of me to do it when I was three, but isn't it more evil of me to do it now that I am fifteen?
I bet I'm the kind of person who becomes a mass murderer. A sniper from a hotel balcony. A poisoner of public water supplies.
Everybody in this family-well, everybody but Stephen-is nice. Yet all I want to do is hurt them.
Was this just pouting and whining, like the threeyearold who had left them twelve years ago, or was she standing up for something right and true?
We need to talk, thought Janie. But I can't. I just can't. I can't bear the thought of talking. Unless it's to Mommy, or Daddy, or Reeve.
Jodle ached for her little brothers. She could tell by their expressions that they did not know what to do about being on different levels. Would they let it pass or dwell on It? Fight? Separate? Forget it? Maybe Brian would actually quit the team, leaving Brendan on his own-a first In their twinny lives.
Now that she shared a bedroom with somebody who did not want to share with her, she no longer envied twins.
How will they ever untwine? she thought~ her heart breaking for both of them.
Maybe she could have a real conversation with Jennie about this. Maybe they could get into their feelings at last if they talked about the twins' feelings.
It made Jodie so nervous to address Jennie. Jennie took every sentence as something to deliberate, to weigh, andpossibly to throw back. And now she had Stephen hanging over her shoulder, listening in, so that even if she made one syllable of prЇgress, like Jennie being impressed about the Japa
nese, Stephen would ruin it. "Brian must be dying inside," Jodie said to her new sister.
Jennie nodded, "I would be."
Like a family, they watched Brian struggle while Brendan sat triumphant on the bench-most valuable player sitting out the last thirty seconds, hay
ing scored enough that it was now safe to put in the worst players. Such as his twin.
"Do you play basketball, Jennie?" asked Dad.
"No," said Jennie. "I don't like gym much. But Daddy coached soccer. He loves soccer. We went to all his games, of course."
The Daddy who had asked her the question did not ask any more.
What is the matter with her? thought Jodie. Why is she so cruel?
At the end of the game, Jennie headed straight for the car, forgetting they had to wait for the twins to shower and change. Forgetting, Jodie could only suppose, that she was related to those twins,
"What are we going to do about her, Dad?" said Jodie.
Jennie stood at the far end of the lobby, her back to them, waiting for them to catch up, but not turning to see what was taking them so long.
"We have to accept that this will take time," said her father.
"Don't push her," said Mom. But Momlooked after Jennie with such pain and longing that Jodie found herself wanting to get violent; beat Jennie's brains out in order to make her hug Mom and call Dad Dad.
Dad walked after Jennie. As he drew near his
daughter, Jodie's heart ffipped over. The resemblance was clear all the way down the hall. The hair, the tilt of the head, the stance. She was so completely Dad's child. Did she know? Could she see it? If those Connecticut parents saw Dad and Jennie together, would they see It?
Jodie watched them talk. Because they were talking. Even Jennie. Say good things, Jodie willed. Be nice to Dad.
The team was out of the locker room as if they had spent no more than a split second in the shower. As Brendan came close, Jodie knew that this was in fact the case. She also knew that Jennie's family would never do anything as tacky as sweat too much and then skip showering.
Since the boys had won because of I3rendan's playing, a celebration was called for. "Pizza Hut?" yelled the coach. "Everybody's going? Meet you
there?"
Kids shouted yes, parents shouted maybe.
Jodle, Stephen, and Mom caught up to Dad and Jennie. Brendan the victor bounced and yelled among his teammates, far too excited with his victory to think of anything like family, or Jennie.
Brian hung back. "So, Jerinle," he said to his sister, "did you enjoy the game?"
She smiled at him. "I wish you'd been put in more, Brian," she said, and the Spring family relaxed in unison.
Brian shrugged. "I'm not so hot. He was right not to put me in."
"Maybe the coach plays favorites," said Jennie, giving his pride an out.
"No," confessed Brian. His eyes fastened with pain on his twin. "I'm lousy."
Jennie touched him. Gently she put her hand on his shoulder to offer comfort. It was her first physical gesture toward any of them. Jodie had tears in her eyes. Dad was right. They couldn't push. They had to let Jennie have all the time she needed.
Twelve years wasn't an afternoon, after all. They couldn't expect the Johnsons' influence to dissolve the first month.
"What kind of pizza do you like, Jennie?" said Mom. "We'll get two extralarges and each half different. So we usually order one half cheese, another half pepperoni, one half hamburger, and the last half everything, but you may pick a half."
"We don't eat pizza," said Jennie. "My mother doesn't believe in junk food."
What I'd like to do right now, thought Jodie, is shove her right in that pizza oven. Toast her nasty little personality.
Janie knew perfectly well what her real mother would say if she had witnessed this scene. Did I bring you up to behave like this? I believe in manners! I believe in being nice! I believe in being thoughtful! What is the matter with you? Am I proud of you? No. I am not. Now be nice.
Last winter, when she finally knew the truth. she had resolved never to reveal it, She would be Janie Johnson with all her heart and mind and soul. But she could not sustain the lie. She had told.