"Carol Emshwiller - At Sixes and Sevens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emshwiller Carol)

at all.

Well, not so ordinary. A normal young woman would have had some
posters of movie stars or musicians on the wall, not this odd landscape. A
normal girl would have maybe her own artwork. Or pictures of horses, thatтАЩs
the usual around here. She does have some feathers stuck on the wall with
push pins. Some big brownish black ones from turkey vultures.

Turkey vultures! It all fits together.

On the way home I pick an apple from one of those old trees. I take a
couple of bitesтАФso sweet and juicyтАФbetter than most. Wormy of course.
Tasty as it is, I toss it away. ItтАЩs like her. SheтАЩs a pretty girl, but a menace to
all of us.

****
 But Daniel wonтАЩt pay any attention to me. All heтАЩll say is, тАЬLet her be,
for heavenтАЩs sake. SheтАЩs doing the best she can.тАЭ

тАЬHow can I let her be when IтАЩm sure? And look how dry our fields are.
And she wonтАЩt even ever come to church. IsnтАЩt that a sign of something?
And what about those apples?тАЭ

тАЬWhat about them?тАЭ

тАЬIsnтАЩt it just like a witch to have the sweetest apples of all and then
have them all wormy?тАЭ

Daniel just laughs.

IтАЩm not going to тАЬlet her be,тАЭ but I wonтАЩt tell Daniel. I have to stop her.
What could stop a witch? Salt? Vinegar? Maybe you have to fight fire with
fire. Maybe I can think up spells of my own to out-spell her. Maybe I could
do my own moonlight dance. With her broken leg, I could get way ahead of
her spellwise.

All that blah, blah, blah, when I saw her mouth moving. That must have
been spells. I should have thought of that before. Where can I find a spell
of my own? Or do I have to make one up? And talking in tongues. IтАЩve
heard of that. Is that from God or the devil? Boolla bomba sitty so, sat
satterloopa gluey zit. I can do that without even trying.

Saturday night seems like the right time, and the moon is almost full.

I do it. I go out and dance. Actually, itтАЩs a nice thing to do. I didnтАЩt think
it would be. It was hard getting started, but once I do, I enjoy it. You have to
forget yourself and not worry about how it might look. Thank goodness
Daniel is too sound a sleeper to wake up in the middle of the night and see
me.