"The Giver Quartet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowry, Lois)

тАЬHow long will I have to take them?тАЭ



тАЬUntil you enter the House of the Old,тАЭ she explained.



"All of your adult life. But it becomes routine; after a while you won't even pay much attention to it."



She looked at her watch. "If you leave right now, you won't even be late for school. Hurry along.



"And thank you again, Jonas," she added, as he went to the door, "for your dream."



Pedaling rapidly down the path, Jonas felt oddly proud to have joined those who took the pills. For a moment, though, he remembered the dream again. The dream had felt pleasurable. Though the feelings were confused, he thought that he had liked the feelings that his mother had called Stirrings. He remembered that upon waking, he had wanted to feel the Stirrings again.



Then, in the same way that his own dwelling slipped away behind him as he rounded a corner on his bicycle, the dream slipped away from his thoughts. Very briefly, a little guiltily, he tried to grasp it back. But the feelings had disappeared. The Stirrings were gone.





6


"Lily, please hold still," Mother said again.



Lily, standing in front of her, fidgeted impatiently. "I can tie them myself," she complained. "I always have."



"I know that," Mother replied, straightening the hair ribbons on the little girl's braids. "But I also know that they constantly come loose and more often than not, they're dangling down your back by afternoon. Today, at least, we want them to be neatly tied and to stay neatly tied."



"I don't like hair ribbons. I'm glad I only have to wear them one more year," Lily said irritably. "Next year I get my bicycle, too," she added more cheerfully.