"Duncan,.Lois.-.Summer.Of.Fear" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Lois)"Painful," Mother said. "That's a better word. It was so painful, seeing that home for the first time, and Marge not in it. It was a lovely home, Rae, small and simple and rustic but perched on the side of a mountain where the breeze blew straight through one set of windows and out another. Marge had flowers planted everywhere, and her paintings were on all the walls. Her easel was set up in the bedroom with a canvas half finished, and her work smock was tossed on the bed as though she'd just run out for a moment and would be right back. And Ryan had left a page of his novel in his typewriter."
We went into the living room and Mother dropped her purse on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa. I sat on the chair across from her. "You said there wasn't a funeral?" I asked. "There was nothing to bury," Mother said. "The car had burned. There was only a shell of metal left. At least, it must have been fast, it fell so far. Those winding roadsЧthe sheer drop-offsЧit's incredible. And Julia wanted to leave as soon as possible. She said there was nothing to stay for. "Dad went down to Pine Crest and listed the house with the man who runs the little grocery store. He seemed to be the one who handles all real estate sales in that area. And we left the furnishings in it. We packed all the personal things into boxes and left them at Springfield to be shipped. I think Julia will want to have them someday when the grief has had time to lessen." "How is she taking it?" I asked. "Surprisingly well. Almost too well, actually. I think she's still in a state of shock." Mother shook her head worriedly. "It was a shattering experience for her. Her parents had left for what was to be only a couple of hours, just long enough to drive the girl Sarah back to the village for the weekend and to pick up some groceries and the mail. Julia had decided against going with them because she had a little headache and wanted to take a nap. She says that when she woke up it was getting dark and her parents weren't back. She started dinner, and when it was cooked they still hadn't returned. She sat up waiting for them all night." "Wasn't there somebody she could call?" I asked, horrified at the thought of the lonely vigil. "Weren't there neighbors?" "They didn't have a phone," Mother reminded me, "and there were no neighbors for miles. That was the reason Ryan moved to the mountains, to be away from distractions. No, Julia just sat there all night long, becoming more and more frightened, and the next morning when the sun came up she started walking to the village. "She said she had walked about five miles when she saw a car coming up the road, and it was the sheriff from Pine Crest. The wreck had been discovered. Some fishermen had been following the creek back through the valley and had come upon it and looked up and seen the passage it had traveled from the top of the ledge." "Then that's why you weren't notified sooner." "Yes. By the time they took Julia to identify the car and then back to the house to find our address, it was afternoon. The sheriff drove back to Pine Crest to send the telegram. He wanted Julia to go with him or at least to call in some of the women from the village to stay with her, but she refused to see anybody. She just stayed alone in the house and waited for us to come." "Poor thing," I breathed. "Seventeen is such a vulnerable age," Mother said. "The adjustment will be hard. She doesn't even know us. I hope so much we can make her happy here." "We will," I said. "Albuquerque's a nice place to live." "But to make a whole new life, to start from scratch among people who must seem like strangers! How lost she must feel! I'm afraid much of the responsibility will fall upon you, dear. You're the one closest to her age, the one she'll be best able to relate to." "Don't worry," I said. "I'll take care of her. I'll introduce her to my friends and take her to the pool andЧoh, everything. It'll be all right, Mother." "I surely hope so." There were footsteps on the stairs and my father's voice called, "Leslie?" "In here, dear," Mother called back, forcing a little smile as he appeared in the doorway. "Did you get Julia installed in Rae's room?" "Well, she's up there if that's what you mean," Dad said. "I didn't know where to tell her to put things. As usual, the place looks like a cyclone hit it." "I was going to get it straightened," I said hurriedly. "I didn't know you were coming home so soon. I'll go up now and clear out some drawers in the bureau." "We'll get a second one," Mother said, "as soon as possible. Take up some hangers." "Okay," I said. I went to Bobby's room for the hangers because they seem to breed in his closet, and carried them upstairs and paused before the closed door of my room. I wondered if I should knock. I decided I should and rapped softly, and immediately Julia's voice said, "Yes?" "Come in." I opened the door. Julia was not lying down, as I had expected, but was seated on the edge of one of the twin beds, looking about her. Automatically I found myself following her gaze, seeing the room as through the eyes of a strangerЧthe pale yellow walls, the gay posters, the crowded bookshelf, the cluttered bureau top, the pile of clothing tossed on the wicker chair. "It's kind of messy," I said. "That's all right." "I'm not very neat. I'll try to be better now that you're here." I went over to the chair and picked up the clothes. It wasn't that much, really, just my pajamas and the shirt I had worn the day before and my tennis shoes. I crammed them into the top drawer of the bureau and then stood wondering which drawers I should empty and what I should do with the stuff. "Mother says we'll be getting another bureau." "I didn't bring a heap of things," Julia said. "I won't need much room for 'em." "Then I'll give you the two drawers at the bottom. That is, unless you want the top ones." "I don't care." Julia was still gazing about her, those strange eyes moving in a slow, careful path, missing nothing. "Who's the boy in the picture?" "Mike Gallagher," I said. "He lives next door." "Is he your solid feller?" "My boyfriend, you mean? NoЧyesЧI guess you could call him that. I don't wear his ring or anything." "He's good looking." "Yes," I agreed with a touch of pride. Mike was good looking with his broad shoulders and easy grin and that mop of blond hair. "You'll be meeting him tonight. We have a movie date. At least, we did have." It occurred to me that it was not the politest thing in the world to take off with a date on the first night Julia was with us. "Maybe you'd like to go. It's the early feature, and we'd planned on taking Bobby." "No, thank you." Julia turned to look at me directly for the first time. It was the same way in which she had looked at the room, with a deep, penetrating gaze that took in every detail as though making a mental photograph that would be stored forever in the files of memory. Those eyes bored into me with such intensity that they gave me a feeling of having been caught and pinned in place by a physical force. I could almost feel their progress past the light skin and the sprinkling of freckles, through the hard bones of the skull, into the absolute core of my being. It was a strange feeling being studied so intently. I shifted uncomfortably and turned my own eyes away. "How do your folks feel about having me here?" Julia asked. "They want you," I said. "They want you very much. Almost the first thing Mother said after the telegram came was 'We'll have to go get Julia.'" "And your father?" "Dad too, of course. He wants whatever Mother wants, always." "They get along well then, your folks?" "Well, sure. They married each other, didn't they?" It was such a strange question I wondered if I had misunderstood it. Some of the terms Julia used and the way she pronounced her words were disconcerting. Perhaps, I thought, she had meant something entirely different. But my answer seemed to satisfy her. I felt those eyes draw out of me, and she settled back on the bed. "Tell me about your family," she said. "What are they like? I want to know all about them." |
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