"Diana Wynne Jones - Chrestomanci 5 - Conrad's Fate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Diana Wynne)

 тАЬItтАЩs something that would take ages to explain, and I havenтАЩt
time,тАЭ Anthea said, bending over her notes again. тАЬYou donтАЩt seem
to understand that IтАЩm working for an exam that could change my
entire life!тАЭ
тАЬWhen are you going to get lunch, then?тАЭ I asked.
тАЬIsnтАЩt that just my life in a nutshell !тАЭ Anthea burst out. тАЬI do all
the work round here and help in the shop twice a week, and nobody
even considers that I might want to do something different! Go
away!тАЭ
You didnтАЩt mess with Anthea when she got this fierce. I went
away and tried to ask Mum instead. I might have known that
would be no good.
Mum has this little bare room with creaking floorboards half a
floor down from my bedroom, with nothing in it much except dust
and stacks of paper. She sits there at a wobbly table, hammering
away at her old typewriter, writing books and magazine articles
about womenтАЩs rights. Uncle Alfred had all sorts of smooth new
computers down in the back room where Miss Silex works, and he
was always on at Mum to change to one as well. But nothing will
persuade Mum to change. She says her old machine is much more
reliable. This is true. The shop computers went down at least once a
weekтАФthis, Uncle Alfred said, was because of the activities up at
StalleryтАФbut the sound of MumтАЩs typewriter is a constant
hammering, through all four floors of the house.
She looked up as I came in and pushed back a swatch of dark
gray hair. Old photos show her looking rather like Anthea, except
that her eyes are a light yellow-brown, like mine, but you would
never think her anything like Anthea now. She is sort of faded, and
she always wears what Anthea calls тАЬthat horrible mustard-colored
suitтАЭ and forgets to do her hair. I like that. SheтАЩs always the same,
like the cathedral, and she always looks over her glasses at me the
same way. тАЬIs lunch ready?тАЭ she asked me.
тАЬNo,тАЭ I said. тАЬAntheaтАЩs not even started it.тАЭ
тАЬThen come back when itтАЩs ready,тАЭ she said, bending to look at
the paper sticking up from her typewriter.
тАЬIтАЩll go when you tell me what pulling the possibilities means,тАЭ I
said.
тАЬDonтАЩt bother me with things like that,тАЭ she said, winding the
paper up so that she could read her latest line. тАЬAsk your uncle. ItтАЩs
only some sort of magiciansтАЩ stuff. What do you think of
тАШdisempowered broodmaresтАЩ as a description? Good, eh?тАЭ
тАЬGreat,тАЭ I said. MumтАЩs books are full of things like that. IтАЩm never
sure what they mean. That time I thought a disempowered
broodmare was some sort of weak nightmare, and I went away
thinking of all her other books, called things like Exploited for
Dreams and Disabled Eunuchs . Uncle Alfred had a whole table of
them down in the shop. One of my jobs was to dust them, but he
almost never sold any, no matter how enticingly I piled them up.
I did lots of jobs in the shop, unpacking books, arranging them,
dusting them, and cleaning the floor on the days Mrs. PottsтАЩs nerves