"Pat Murphy - Iris versus the Black Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Murphy Pat)

Iris caught a glimpse of her own face in the mirror in the hall -- she was frowning and she looked like she
might cry. On the playground at last, she fled to the far edge of the blacktop, out past the fifth graders' game
of dodge ball.

She stood on the edge of the field that adjoined the blacktop. In sunny weather, the students sometimes
played in the grass. But the last few days of rain had left the field muddy and slippery. Enormous gray and
white sea gulls stood in the grass, watching Iris with their bright beady eyes.

"There is a goddess named Iris," she muttered to herself. "There is a rainbow. I don't care what they say."

The largest of the gulls squawked and bobbed his head, as if in response. Iris stared at him and the gull
stared back.

"I remember colors, even if no one else does." She glanced up at the cloudy sky. "It's blue up there," she told
the gull. "At least it used to be. I bet it still is. If only I could get there."

The gull squawked again and flapped his wings. As Iris watched, he took two steps forward and pecked at
something coiled in the grass. A snake? The gull came up with something in his beak. The end of a jump
rope, lost in the grass. The gull waddled forward, pulling the rope behind him. It was a long rope. One end
was frayed so that the single strand had separated into smaller strands.

When the rope was stretched straight behind the gull, he put that end down and waddled over to the frayed
end. Then he screeched, looking around at the other gulls. The other birds stopped their preening and walked
over to join him. There were dozens of them. When the leader screeched again, the gulls took off with a
thunder of wings and a chorus of squawks and screeches. Each one clutched a strand of the rope in its
claws.

Iris stared in amazement as the rope rose from the ground. At the last possible moment, she snatched at the
end of the rope, wrapping it around her hand just before the gulls pulled it out of reach. She clung for a
moment while the gulls tugged. She felt light on her feet, as if she were barely touching the blacktop. Above
her, the gulls strained.

For a moment she was frightened. What was happening? Then she looked up at the gray sky, remembered
that it had once been blue. Thinking of blue, she kicked off her black loafers and jumped in the air.

Slowly, majestically, the gulls rose, with Iris dangling beneath them. The breeze caught her skirt and the
fabric billowed. She swayed beneath the flock of gulls like the clapper of a giant bell.

"Goodbye," she called down to the girls playing tetherball, the boys on the jungle gym. Cynthia stood by the
monkeybars, waiting her turn. She stared up at Iris, her mouth open. "Goodbye!" Iris called. "Goodbye!"

The gulls carried her over the playground toward Mrs. Dixon, who was standing by the school door. She
shouted up as Iris passed overhead. "Where are you going, Iris Johnson? You get right back down here. The
bell is just about to ring and . . . . "

"I'm off to find the rainbow," Iris called. Then the school bell rang drowning out Mrs. Dixon's reply. And the
gulls carried Iris higher, leaving the school behind.

Far below her, cars rushed to and fro in the city streets. She saw a driver staring up at her, then heard brakes