"Cory Doctorow - Welcome to Hard Times" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dodd Christina)

WELCOME TO HARD TIMES


E.L. DOCTOROW
FIRST LEDGER
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The Man from Bodie drank down a half bottle of
the Silver Sun's best; that cleared the dust from his
throat and then when Florence, who was a red-
head, moved along the bar to him, he turned and
grinned down at her. I guess Florence had never
seen, a man so big. Before she could say a word,
he reached out and stuck his hand in the collar of
her dress and ripped it down to her waist so that
her breasts bounded out bare under the yellow
light. We all scraped our chairs and stood upтАФ
none of us had looked at Florence that way be-
fore, for all she was. The saloon was full because
we watched the man coming for a long time before
he pulled in, but there was no sound now.
This town was in the Dakota Territory, and on
three sidesтАФeast, south, westтАФthere is nothing but
miles of flats. That's how we could see him com-
ing. Most times the dust on the horizon moved
east to westтАФwagon trains nicking the edge of
the flats with their wheels and leaving a long dust
turd lying on the rim of the earth. If a man rode
toward us he made a fan in the air that got wider
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4 E. L. Doctorow
and wider. To the north were hills of rock and
that was where the lodes were which gave an ex-
cuse for the town, although not a good one. Really
there was no excuse for it except that people
naturally come together.
So by the time he walked into the Silver Sun a
bunch of us were waiting to see who he was. It
was foolish because in this country a man's pride
is not to pay attention, and after he did that to
the girl he turned around to grin at us and we
looked away or coughed or sat down. Flo mean-
while couldn't believe what happened, she stood
with her eyes wide and her mouth open. He took
his hand off the bar and suddenly grabbed her
wrist and twisted her arm around so that she
turned and doubled over with the pain. Then, as
if she was a pet bear, he walked her in front of
him over to the stairs and up to a room on the
second floor. After the door slammed we stood
looking up and finally we heard Florence scream-