"Duncan,.Lois.-.A.Gift.Of.Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Lois)

"I don't need tests," Nancy said. Her brows were drawn together in a straight hard line. "I don't have anything wrong with me. I don't even get colds."
"These wouldn't be physical tests," Dr. Russo explained. "I'm a psychiatrist, Nancy. My whole interest is in the mind and how it works. Tom Duncan, here, knows my interest in psychic phenomena. That's why he called me after his interview with you at school the other day. It isn't often that we in this small town have an opportunity to conduct experiments with ESP."
"ESP?" Their mother looked startled. "Surely you don't think that Nancy has that sort of sensitivity?"
Brendon looked at Nancy. She was sitting very still. She was wearing a pair of faded old shorts and a sweat shirt, and except for the worry on her face, she didn't look any different than usual. Whatever she had, it did not appear to be serious.
"What's ESP?" he asked. "Can you catch it?"
"ESP," Dr. Russo said, "stands for extrasensory perception. It's a special kind of mental awareness. People who have it can sense things the rest of us can't. They seem to have control over a part of the brain that other people don't use. Science doesn't understand fully how it works, just that it does exist in various forms and degrees. There are special schools doing research on it, but so far we still know very little."
"Nancy with ESP!" Elizabeth repeated incredulously. She paused, considering the idea. "Nancy is very sensitive, it's true. There are times when she astonishes me with her feelings about things." She turned to her daughter. "What do you think, dear? Have you ever felt you had some sort of special gift this way?"
"No," Nancy said.
"The tests we would run would be very simple," Dr. Russo told them. "One of the first is done with an ordinary deck of playing cards. Without looking at the faces, Nancy would try to guess what each card was. Anything over a certain percentage of correct guesses is considered proof of extra perception."
"Nancy can do that," Brendon said. "She does it all the time. That's why Kirby and I don't like to play rummy with her."
"Ah?" Dr. Russo's face brightened. "That is just what I was hoping to hear. Do you think you could come to my office after school tomorrow, Nancy? That is, of course, if your mother is willing."
"I have a piano lesson tomorrow," Nancy said.
Brendon regarded her with astonishment. Nancy's piano lessons were on Tuesdays.
"You got your days mixed up," he volunteered helpfully. "Tomorrow's Friday."
"That's right, dear," Elizabeth said. "You are free tomorrow, aren't you?"
"I have to practice," Nancy said. "And I have homework. I've got a paper to write for English." She stopped and drew a deep breath. The reasons all sounded ridiculous and she knew it."
"Actually," she admitted in a small voice, "I justЧdon't want to. I don't want to go to a psychiatrist's office. It makes me sound like some sort of freak."
"You're wrong about that, Nancy," Mr. Duncan said. "It's not freaks who go to psychiatrists. It's people who need help with problems. And in your case, it's you who would be doing the helping. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars in this world being spent on research to discover the very things that you may already know."
"But I don't know anything," Nancy said. "I really don't. I'd flub up on your test and waste all that time."
"I have an idea," Elizabeth said. "Why doesn't Dr. Russo give the card test right here? It can't take very long. We won't be eating until later anyway because Kirby is still at her dancing class."
"I don'tЧIЧIЧ" Nancy gave a sigh of surrender. "Okay. Okay, if all of you insist. But I warn you, it won't be any good. It won't work."
A few moments later she was seated in a chair at one end of the room with Dr. Russo at the other.
"Are you ready?" the doctor asked.
Nancy nodded.
Carefully Dr. Russo lifted a card from the deck in his hand and held it with his back facing Nancy.
"Now," he said, "just write down on your pad of paper what you think this card is. Is it red or black? A face card or a small one? See if you can get some inkling of the suit."
"I don't know," Nancy said. "I don't have any idea." Her voice sounded thick and funny.
"Then just take a guess," Dr. Russo said. "Write down the first thing that comes into your mind. Got it?" as Nancy bent and wrote something on the pad. "All right, let's try another."
One by one he went through all the cards in the deck, and one by one Nancy wrote down the answers.
When they were finished, Nancy got up from her chair and handed the pad to the doctor.
Dr. Russo glanced quickly at the pad. For an instant his face fell, but he caught himself so that he did not look too disappointed.
"Oh, there are bound to be some wrong answers," he said. "It's the percentage that tells the story. I'll have to check all your answers against the cards."
"But they are wrong, aren't they?" Nancy asked. "The first ones?"
"I told you, Nancy, it's the overall average that counts." Dr. Russo got to his feet. "I want to thank you, Nancy, and you too, Mrs. Garrett, for your time and cooperation. I hope I can persuade you to come to my office for further experiments, but of course it is your decision to make. This has been most interesting."
"We were delighted to have you, doctor," Elizabeth said graciously, extending her hand.
Mr. Duncan got up too.
"After I take Dr. Russo home," he said, "why don't I stop at the studio and pick up Kirby? It will save you a trip, and I can drop her off on my way home."
"Why, Tom, how thoughtful of you!" Elizabeth gave him a warm smile. "That would be wonderful. And why don't you stay and have dinner with us when you get back? We have more than plenty."
During the polite good-byes, Brendon looked across at Nancy. Her straight mouth was pulled tight at the corners, and her face was pale.
Brendon suddenly felt sorry for her.
"Maybe your answers got right further on," he said to her in a low voice. "He didn't check very far."
"Oh, they're wrong, all right," Nancy said. "No problem there."
She turned to her brother, and there was a look of pleading in her eyes.
"Please, Bren," she said, "don't ever, ever tell anybody about this today. And don't ever say that I can guess cards, no matter who asks you."


7

A cold snap arrived toward the end of November. The soft summer feeling went out of the air, and for three or four days the children went around in sweaters and slacks instead of shorts.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the chill vanished, and it was warmer, though not quite the same. The mosquitoes were gone and the air seemed thinner.