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

ing and we wondered what kind of man it was who
could make her scream. .
Jimmy Fee was the only child in town and
when Flo was stumbling over her dress up the
stairs, he ducked under the swinging doors and
ran down the porch past the man's horse and
across the street. Fee, his father, was a carpenter,
he had built up both sides of the street almost
without help. Fee was on a ladder fixing the eaves
over the town stable.
"Pa," Jimmy called up to him! "the man's got
your Flo!"
Jack Millay, the limping man with one arm, told
me later he followed the boy across the street to
fill Fee in on the detailsтАФlittle Jimmy might not
 Welcome to Hard Times

5
have made it clear that the customer was a Bad
Man from Bodie. Fee came down the ladder, went
around in back of his place down the street, and
came out with a stout board. He was a short man,
bald, thick in the neck and in the shoulders, and
he was one of the few men I ever met who knew
what life was about. I was standing by the window
of the Silver Sun and when I saw Fee coming I got
out of those doors fast. So did everyone there,
even though the screaming had not stopped. By the
time Fee walked in with his plank at the ready,
the place was empty.
We all stood scattered in the street waiting for
something to happen. Avery, the fat barkeep, had
brought a bottle with him and he tilted his head
back and drank, standing out in the dirt with his
white apron on and one hand on his hip. I had
never seen Avery in sunlight before. The sun was
on the western flats to about four o'clock. There
was no sound now from the saloon. The only horse
tied up in front was the stranger's: a big ugly roan
that didn't look like he expected water or a tub.
Behind him in the dirt was a pile of new manure.
We waited and then there was a noise from in-
sideтАФa clatterтАФand that was all. After a while
Fee came out of the Silver Sun with his cudgel
and stood on the porch. He walked forward and
missed the steps. The Bad Man's horse skittered
aside and Fee tumbled down and landed on his
knees in the manure. He got up with dung clinging
to his britches and lurched on toward Ezra Maple,
the Express Man, who said: "He can't see." Ezra