"Replica03 - Another Amy - Kaye, Marilyn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kaye Marilyn)

"Is that how you feel about the actress?"
Amy nodded. "Seeing her up closeЧclose enough to touch . . . it was, I don't know, scary and thrilling, at the same time."
"There's something I wonder about, though," Tasha remarked. "She didn't sound like you. I mean, her voice was the same, but the way she was yelling and whining. I can't imagine you carrying on like that."
"She was just in a bad mood," Amy said. "Even clones have moods, you know. You've heard me yell. And I can definitely whine."
"I wonder what her name is," Tasha mused.
"We'll know tomorrow," Amy declared. "We're going back to that trailer."
"We are?"
"Well, I am, and you can come too, if you want."
Tasha grimaced. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? She wasn't exactly thrilled to see you."
Amy brushed that aside. "Hey, she was freaked out; you can't blame her for that. I was blown away too. Once she calms down, she'll want to see me again." She jumped off the bed as a wave of excitement rushed through her. "Oh, Tasha, there will be so much we can talk about! Experiences and feelings to compare . . . I mean, you're my best friend in all the world, and I could never be closer to anyone else, but the idea of finding someone who knows exactly what I am . . ."
"I understand," Tasha assured her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to be jealous."
They heard a door open downstairs, and then a voice called, "Amy?"
"I'm up here, Mom."
A moment later Nancy Candler came into the bedroom. "Hi, Tasha. AmyЧwhat's wrong?"
"What makes you think something's wrong?" Amy asked innocently.
"I know my daughter, that's what," her mother said dryly. "And there isn't an expression you can come up with that I wouldn't recognize."
Amy laughed. "Well, nothing's wrong. In fact . . . something's very right."
"What's that?"
"I think I'd better go now," Tasha announced. "You two will want to have a mother-daughter conversation, talk about this privately. I'll call you later, Amy."
Nancy looked at Tasha's departing figure with suspicion and curiosity, which she then directed toward Amy. "Okay, what's up?"
Amy wasn't sure how to begin. "Mom, there's something I never told you."
Apprehension crossed Nancy's face. She sat down on Amy's bed and put a hand over her heart, as if she was preparing herself for the worst.
"Nothing terrible," Amy assured her quickly. She sat down next to her. "It's something that happened while you were in the hospital. I didn't want to tell you about it then. Well, actually, I couldn't. I mean, you were in a coma. And then, afterwards, you weren't exactly in a great mood."
"Amy, get to the point."
"Well, it was when Mrs. Morgan took us to see The Nutcracker. There was a dancer in the ballet. She looked exactly like me."
Nancy didn't say anything.
"I looked for her after the program," Amy went on. "But she'd already left."
"And you saw her again today?" her mother asked.
"No. I found another one." Amy told her mother the whole story, about going to the mobile home and encountering the star of the movie. "She's another one like me, Mom. Another Amy."
Her mother was quiet for a minute. "Amy, sweetie, you can't be sure about this. The girl you saw in the ballet, the girl you saw todayЧit's very possible that they are both just two ordinary girls who bear a resemblance to you. You know, they say everyone in the world has a twin somewhere."
"And some of us have triplets?" Amy shook her head. "I don't think so, Mom."
At least Nancy was taking her seriously. "How did the other girl react when she saw you today?"
"She flipped," Amy replied. "I guess that's natural; I was shook up too. To run into your own clone like thatЧ"
Nancy broke in. "She may not even have realized what was happening."
"Huh?"
"Amy, even if this girl is your clone, it's conceivable that she has no knowledge of what she is. Maybe no one ever told her. It's possible that her parents don't even know her background. This information wasn't included when the infants were sent to orphanages."
"But she has to know she's different from other people. I did."
"That's because you were in situations that made your unique qualities and talents apparent. You were taking gymnastics, and suddenly you found you could do all the routines better than anyone else. You went to an ice-skating party never having ice-skated in your life, and you performed like an Olympic champion. Maybe this girl has never been in a similar situation."
"But it was more than that," Amy protested. "I knew I could hear and see better than other people, I could run faster, I could throw a ball farther . . ."
"You knew because you had other people around to compare yourself to," Nancy said. "You had friends who pointed your skills out to you. Maybe this girl you saw today hasn't been as social as you are. Maybe she thinks she's ordinary, that everyone in the world sees and hears like she does."
"She'd have to have been awfully sheltered," Amy objected. "Like, locked up in solitary confinement or something."
Her mother considered this. "You said she's an actress, right? She could have a stage mother, whoЧ"
"A what?" Amy interrupted.
"A mother who hovers over her child, watches her all the time, worries about her constantly."
Amy grinned mischievously. "Oh yeah, I once knew a mother like that."
"I was never that bad with you," Nancy protested. "And a stage mother is different. She wants her child to be a big success in show business; she's constantly on the lookout for competition. She's overprotective, and she keeps her child away from others her own age. I'm serious, Amy. This girl could have no idea that she's any different from anyone else."
"Mom, come onЧ"
"And like I said before, she could be someone who just looks like you and that's all. Nothing more."
Amy got up and went to the mirror. She gazed at her reflection, concentrating on her hair. She imagined it blond and curly.
Her mother was wrong. No two people could look that much alike without being related. That actress shared something very basic with Amy. Something that went far beyond chance and coincidence.