"Cooney, Caroline B - Janie Johnson 03 - Voice on the Radio" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cooney Caroline B)

No. Clearly there were no better choices than Reeve in Boston. Probably in the world.
Jodie wanted to laugh at Janie and say something really barbed-wire, but they weren't sisters enough to tease over important things. It's too late, thought Jodie.
The beautiful calendar of high school graduation and college was suddenly agony. They would never be sisters under the same roof now. They might one day be friends-but sisters? Bickering, sharing, shopping, just knowing each other? It was too late.
"Boston sounds so wonderful," Jodie said, trying not to let her voice break. "Equal parts city and suburb. Half college campus and half insurance-company towers. There has to be so much going on, and I'm tired of' a small town, aren't you? I want the big city-sidewalks, and a hundred thousand people my own age, and a dorm with all those different kinds of people, so I can learn how to get along."
"If you got along with me," said Janie, "I'd say you have it licked already."
Jodie was touched by this remark. She wanted to hug her sister and say It's all right, but it wasn't yet all right, and they were stuck in this shiny white room with furniture in between them.
"What are you going to study in college?" said Janie.
"International banking. Doesn't that sound fabulous? Wall Street and Tokyo and Zurich and London. Plus my Japanese is great after three years of studying. Might as well use it."
"Numbers," pointed out Janie, who detested math.
"I love numbers," said Jodie. "I love that word crunch. I can crunch any numbers on any screen. Plus, I want to be famous for something other than having a kidnapped sister." All her resolve couldn't
keep the next sentence from spilling out. "I still hate you for that, you know."
Judging by the flush that covered her face, Janie knew.
S S S
"Oh, good," said Jodie at the dinner table, "I love Boston Chicken." Actually she was sick of it, but right now she was setting an example for Janie. This is how you behave to your parents. Or exparents, or semiparents, or whatever 'the Springs were to Janie.
Mrs. Johnson said, "I was going to cook a meal, I've been meaning to cook a meal for weeks now, I've even looked in the direction of my cookbooks, but I just stopped at Boston Chicken and here we are."
"Fine with me," said Brian. "We have this all the time. Mom can't find the energy to cook Monday through Thursday. I love their mashed potatoes."
Mashed potatoes in their plastic bucket were passed first to Brian, followed by chicken, and stuffing, and corn bread.
"Actually," said Janie's father, "I want you to eat fairly quickly, Jodie."
Her parents thought Mr. Johnson was distinguished looking, but to Jodie he was just old and tired.
"You and Brian still have quite a drive ahead of you, Jodie, and you don't want to be on the highway too late. Like any other city," he went on, checking his watch, "Boston can be dangerous."
On the one hand, Jodie appreciated the worry of
grown-ups, but on the other hand, if one more person worried about her one more week, she'd go live in the Antarctic, instead of just Boston.
Janie, wonderfully, defended her sister. "Daddy, Jodie is seventeen. Nearly eighteen. She speaks Japanese. She can parallel park."
Jodie loved it that of all the things she could do, those were the two that impressed her sister.
"And I," put in Brian proudly, "can change a tire."
"What a team," said Mr. Johnson with a smile. Jodie didn't feel like eating fast. She felt like spending more time here, getting to know them better. Janie on her own turf was so much easier than Janie bristling in New Jersey, afraid of being disloyal to the Johnsons. "Janie," said Jodie suddenly, "why don't you come with us to Boston? It's only for two days. You could cut school tomorrow, you're an A student, and nobody minds you cutting school if it's for college visits."
"Come with you?" Janie found this such an amazing idea, she had trouble finding a place to set her glass down. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson froze in place and tried to reactivate themselves with swallows and blinks.
Janie's not free yet, thought Jodie. We're building our new lives, but Janie hasn't built hers. Maybe her parents need her too much.
"We're staying at the Marriott," said Jodie. "The room has two king beds. You and I'll share one, Janie, and Bri will have the other. It'll be so much fun. Come on. Come with us."
"Oh, Mom!" said Janie, glowing. "Say yes!"
How young we are, thought Jodie, compared to
other teenagers. We're eight-year-olds here, waiting for the parents to decide. Who would we be right now, if Hannah hadn't driven through New Jersey?
Janie turned, laughing, to Jodie. "We can drop in on Reeve, too."
"Unannounced," said Jodie. "We'll catch him with some gorgeous college girl."
"Bring a weapon then," said Janie. "He'll be history."
They had never so completely been sisters. Not the red hair, but the patience of waiting for permission; they were mirrors of each other; they had been formed by parental permission more than any other family they knew.
"She is my sister," said Janie, to bolster an argument that hadn't started.
"Her big sister," added Brian. "Her big, reliable older sister."
Mrs. Johnson nodded minutely with her chin, and Mr. Johnson, appointed spokesman, said, "Okay. You may go to Boston with them."
CHAPTER
EIGHT.
Brian knew he had to take the backseat. Jodie and Janie never even thought of discussing seat choices but took the front as their due. The longer you've been on earth, the more front seat you get.
He was glad they'd be seeing Reeve. Reeve was what Brian wanted to be: popular, handsome, tall and at ease.
They'd leave the car in the parking garage at the Marriott. To get around Boston for the next three days, they'd take the T, Boston's trolley-subway system. Brian was desperate to be the kind of person who was comfortable taking the T. Who knew how much a ticket was, and where the routes went, and wasn't afraid of the people who sat next to him.
Plus Boston was the cradle of history. Perhaps he could convince his sisters to go to at least one historic site.
Dream on, thought Brian wistfully.
S S S
At WSCK, Reeve took the phones. It was only nine P.M., he could have been in his room studying, but he couldn't stay away. "You've reached WSCK, We're Here, We're Yours, We're Sick, how can I help you?" He loved those lines.
"Hi, Reeve. Listen, I just have one question about the janies."
"Just one?" he said. "Normal people have at least a hundred." Reeve disconnected, laughing to himself. He loved how the tip of one finger could remove somebody from his world.