"Michael Kandel - Hooking Up (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kandel Michael)

MICHAEL KANDEL

HOOKING UP

WHAT'S THE MATTER, TOPAZ? asked her mother, pushing her gently toward the
door.
Topaz said, Nothing. Come on, dear, coaxed her mother in that patient, sad way
she had, which made Topaz do whatever her mother wanted. All right, said
Topaz,
and took a deep breath, shut her eyes for a moment, then opened them and went
in.

The children turned to look, just as she expected. The teacher came over with
a
smile, took Topaz by the hand, and said, Class, this is Topaz. They all
stopped
what they were doing and stared. There must have been a hundred of them. Some
of
them were mouthing the word Topaz, some were just staring, and a few in the
back
were making faces. She looked at the floor, she couldn't help it. There were
too
many eyes on her.

You'll sit over here, the teacher said, right by me, and gave her a quick hug
so
she wouldn't be afraid anymore. The teacher smelled of soap. She led Topaz to
a
chair made of real wood. On Nerol, such a chair would be in a museum, and
there
would be a shield around it so people couldn't touch the wood or breathe on it
too much. Topaz knew wood when she saw it because her father had a small wood
box that he ran his fingers over when he was troubled by something. The wood
of
the box was called maple, and it was soft and warm in a way that no plastic
could be. All the chairs in the room were wood, but they were not smooth and
clean like the maple box, they were beaten up and dirty. They had dents. She
thought: I'll never get used to it here.

The teacher said to Topaz, I'm Ms. C. Then she said to the class, Topaz is
from
Nerol. She was born here, but she went to Nerol with her parents when she was
two, and now she's come back. Isn't that interesting.? I'm sure she has
fascinating things to tell us. How many of you have been on another planet?
Only
three hands went up.

Ms. C. turned and told Topaz's mother, Don't worry, she'll be all right. Bye
dear, Topaz's mother said to Topaz, waving, see you later, and she left. Topaz
could hear her mother's shoes clicking farther and farther away down the long