"Cory Doctorow - A Place So Foreign" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dodd Christina)

Mama shot him a look then, but he pretended he didn't see it. He stubbed out his
cigar, hitched up his suspenders, and put on his tailcoat and tophat and
ambassadorial sash and picked up his leather case.

"Good night, son. Good night, Ulla. I'll see you on Wednesday," he said, and
stepped into the teleporter.

That was the last time I ever saw him.

#

"He died from bad snails?" Oly Sweynsdatter said to me, yet again.

I balled up a fist and stuck it under his nose. "For the last time, yes. Ask me
again, and I'll feed you this."

I'd been back for a month, and in all that time, Oly had skittered around me
like a shy pony, always nearby but afraid to talk to me. Finally, I'd grabbed
him and shook him and told him not to be such a ninny, tell me what was on his
mind. He wanted to know how my Pa had died, over in France. I told him the
reason that Mama and Mr Johnstone and the man from the embassy had worked out
together. Now, I regretted it. I couldn't get him to shut up.

"Sorry, all right, sorry!" he said, taking a step backwards. We were in the
orchard behind the schoolyard, chucking rotten apples at the tree-trunks to
watch them splatter. "Want to hear something?"

"Sure," I said.

"Tommy Benson's sweet on Marta Helprin. It's disgusting. They hold hands -- _in
church_! None of the fellows will talk to him."

I didn't see what the big deal was. Back in 75, we had had a two-week session on
sexual reproduction, like all the other subjects. Most of the kids there were
already in couples, sneaking off to low-gee bounceataria and renting private
cubes with untraceable cash-tokens. I'd even tussled with one girl, Katebe
M'Buto, another exchange student, from United Africa Trading Sphere. I'd picked
her up at her apt, and her father had even shaken my hand -- they grow up fast
in UATS. Of course, I'd never let on to my folks. Pa would've broken an axle.
"That's pretty disgusting, all right," I said, unconvincingly.

"You want to go down to the river? I told Amos and Luke that I'd meet them after
lunch."

I didn't much feel like it, but I didn't know what else to do. We walked down to
the swimming hole, where some boys were already naked, swimming and horsing
around. I found myself looking away, conscious of their nudity in a way that I'd
never been before -- all the boys in town swam there, all summer long.

I turned my back to the group and stripped down, then ran into the water as