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

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Buddy lay on his back, afraid. After they had drugged him, they had
brought him into the city. He didn't know where he was. He couldn't
see, and he was afraid.

Something fingered his face. He rocked his head to get away from the
spoon-

"Shhh! It's all right ..."

Light struck one eye. There was still something wrong with the other.
He blinked.

"You're all right," she-it was a she voice, though he still couldn't make
out a face-told him again. "You're not in jail. You're not in the ... joint
any more. You're in New York. In a hospital. Something's happened to
your eye. That's all."

"My eye ... ?"

"Don't be afraid any more. Please. Because I can't stand it."

It was a kid's voice. He blinked again, reached up to rub his vision
clear.

"Watch out," she said. "You'll get-"

His eye itched and he wanted to scratch it. So he shoved at the voice.

"Hey!"

Something stung him and he clutched at his thumb with his other hand.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to bite your finger. But you'll hurt
the bandage. I've pulled the one away from your right eye. There's
nothing wrong with that. Just a moment." Something cool swabbed his
blurred vision.

It came away.

The cutest little colored girl was kneeling on the edge of the bed with a
piece of wet cotton in her hand. The light was nowhere near a bright as
it had seemed: just a nightlight glowed over the mirror above the basin.
"You've got to stop being so frightened," she whispered. "You've got
to."