"Donnelly, Marcos - El Hijo De Hernez" - читать интересную книгу автора (Donnelly Marcos)

Nothing frazzled the Mayor's man. "Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when
children of different races would play together and live side by side --" The
man was playing teacher.

"'That one day on the red hills of Georgia,"' said Zane, and Tyque hummed the
pipe tune for history class, "'they'll all sit down together at the table of
brotherhood. That my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their
character.' " Zane recited it real good, with lots of emotion, even though most
of the emotion was sarcasm.

"You think Georgia's all red?" Tyque asked, really sounding like he wanted to
know.

As quick as he'd stepped up, the Mayor's man walked away. I got still, because I
could feel him leave. A pipe tune played in my head, going after him. I'd never
heard the tune before, but it echoed lonelier than any Mr. Pietr had ever
played. I looked at Zane and Tyque, but I don't think they were paying attention
to Mr. Curtis's tune.

"Go talk at La Viuda," Zane said.

More people were in Mama's huddle now, and she was at the center of it all. She
didn't need to say nothing much to be the center. Her every small comment was
holy word-of-God.

"It's a war," the Save-Our-Cities lady explained. "Until we see it's a war,
there'll be no mobilized effort. There'll be no victories in our cities." She
was begging Mr. Pietr to believe her.

Mr. Pietr's voice was smooth and soft. "Saving cities is too hard. I don't try
anymore." He kept glancing down at the floor when he talked. With old people, he
wasn't so forceful as when he was in our classroom. "It's a lot easier to save
individuals."

"That's where it stars!" the Save-Our-Cities lady said, sounding like she and
Mr. Pietr had just agreed on the most important thing ever.

Mama saw me standing there. "Ven aca, m'hijo."

I waved her to me instead. They pared for her, and we stepped away.

"I'm going out."

The power of La Viuda faded away all at once. She had her back to the others,
but I could see the weak woman under all the respect that they put on her. That
they invested in her. My brother Luis was the first one to figure out how to
make Mama weak, how to make the face of La Viuda disappear. He was good at it.
After he took off from home -- early last year, just not showing up one night,
just running off and leaving me behind without even telling me he was going to