"Samuel R. Delany - Corona" - читать интересную книгу автора (Delaney Samuel R)

Buddy straightened his shoulders. And slipped.

He went over on his backside, grabbed the pail; water splashed over
him, sluiced beneath. Soap stung his eyes. He lay there a moment.

Bare feet slapped toward him. "Come on, kid. Up you go, and back to
work."

With eyes tight, Buddy pushed himself up.

"You sure are one clums-"

Buddy rolled to his knees.

"I told you not to let your knee touch the floor!"

Wet canvas whammed his ear and cheek.

"Didn't I?"

A foot fell in the small of his back and struck him flat. His chin hit the
floor and he bit his tongue, hard. Holding him down with his foot,
Bigfoot whopped Buddy's head back and forth, first with one shoe, then
the other. Buddy, blinded, mouth filled with blood, swam on the wet
stone, tried to duck away.

"Now don't let your knees touch the floor again. Come one, back to
work, all of you." The feet slapped away.

Against the sting, Buddy opened his eyes. The brush lay just in front of
his face. Beyond the wire bristles he saw a pink heel strike in suds.

His action took a long time to form. Slap and slap. On the third slap he
gathered his feet, leapt. He landed on Bigfoot's back, pounding with the
brush. He hit three times, then he tried to scrub off the side of Bigfoot's
face.

The guards finally pulled him off. They took him into a room where
there was an iron bed with no mattress and strapped him, ankles, wrist,
neck, and stomach, to the frame. He yelled for them to let him up. They
said they couldn't because he was still violent. "How'm I gonna eat!" he
demanded. "You gonna let me up to eat?"

"Calm down a little. We'll send someone in to feed you."

A few minutes after the dinner bell rang that evening, Bigfoot looked
into the room. Ear, cheek, neck, and left shoulder were bandaged.
Blood had seeped through at the tip of his clavicle to the size of a
quarter. In one hand Bigfoot held a tin plate of rice and fatback, in the