"Zenna Henderson - People 1 - Pilgrimage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Henderson Zenna)

wonder went, And why my wonder all is spent-' " Hot tears stung her eyes but could not fall. " '-no
wonder more-' " The big emptiness that was always waiting, stretched and stretched, distorting-"No
wonder?" Karen broke the bubble with her tender laughter. "Oh, Lea, if only I had the time! No wonder,
indeed! But I've got to go. The most incredibly wonderful-" There was a brief silence and the cars shh-ed
by overhead, busily, busily. "Look!" Karen took Lea's hands. "You don't care what happens to you any
more, do you?"
"No!" Lea said dully, but a faint voice murmured protest somewhere behind the dullness.
"You feel that life is unlivable, don't you?" Karen persisted.
"That nothing could be worse?"
"Nothing," Lea said dully, squelching the murmur.
"Then listen." Karen hunched closer to her in the dark. "I'll take you with me. I really shouldn't, especially
right now, but they'll understand. I'll take you along and then-then-if when it's all over you still feel there's
no wonder left in the world, I'll take you to a much more efficient suicide-type place and push you over!"
"But where-" Lea's hands tugged to release themselves.
"Ah, ah!" Karen laughed, "Remember, you don't care! You don't care! Now I'l1 have to blindfold you
for a minute. Stand up. Here, let me tie this scarf around your eyes. There, I guess that isn't too tight, but
tight enough-" Her chatter poured on and Lea grabbed suddenly, feeling as though the world were
dissolving around her. She clung to Karen's shoulder and stumbled from sand to solidness. "Oh, does
being blindfolded make you dizzy?" Karen asked. "Well, okay. I'll take it off then." She whisked the scarf
off. "Hurry, we have to catch the bus. It's almost due." She dragged Lea along the walk on the bridge,
headed for the far bank, away from the town.
"But-" Lea staggered with weariness and hunger, "how did we get up on the bridge again? This is crazy!
We were down-"
"Wondering, Lea?" Karen teased back over her shoulder.
"If we hurry we'll have time for a hamburger for you before the bus gets here. My treat."
A hamburger and a glass of milk later, the InterUrban roared up to the curb, gulped Lea and Karen in
and roared away. Twenty minutes later the driver, expostulating, opened the door into blackness.
"But, lady, there's nothing out there! Not even a house for a mile!"
"I know," Karen smiled. "But this is the place. Someone's waiting for us." She tugged Lea down the
steps. "Thanks!" she called. "Thanks a lot!"
"Thanks!" the driver muttered, slamming the doors. "This isn't even a corner! Screwballs!'" And roared
off down the road.
The two girls watched the glowworm retreat of the bus until it disappeared around a curve.
"Now!" Karen sighed happily. "Miriam is waiting for us somewhere around here. Then we'll go-"
"I won't." Lea's voice was flatly stubborn in the almost tangible darkness. "I won't go another inch. Who
do you think you are, anyway? I'm going to stay here until a car comes along-"
"And jump in front of it?" Karen's voice was cold and hard.
"You have no right to draft someone to be your executioner. Who do you think you are that you can
splash your blood all over someone else?"
"Stop talking about blood!" Lea yelled, stung to have had her thoughts caught from her. "Let me die! Let
me die!"
"It'd serve you right if I did," Karen said unsympathetically.
"I'm not so sure you're worth saving. But as long as I've got you on my hands, shut up and come on. Cry
babies bore me."
"But-you-don't-know!" Lea sobbed tearlessly, stumbling miserably along, towed at arm's length behind
Karen, dodging cactus and greasewood, mourning the all-enfolding comfort of nothingness that could
have been hers if Karen had only let her go.
"You might be surprised," Karen snapped. "But anyway God knows, and you haven't thought even once
of Him this whole evening. If you're so all-fired eager to go busting into His house uninvited you'd better
stop bawling and start thinking up a convincing excuse."