"Andre Norton - Long Night of Waiting" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

be caught. Suppose someone built a house right over where the stone stood, and suppose some day a
little boy like Alex, or a girl like Lesley, or even a mom or dad, disappeared? She and Rick, maybe they
ought to talk and keep on talking until someone believed them, believed them enough to make sure such
a house was never going to be built, and this place was made safe.

"MattтАФhe kept sayin' he wanted his mom." Alex's voice cut through her thoughts. "Rick, where was his
mom that she lost him that way?"

Rick, for the first time, looked helpless. How could you make Alex understand?

Lesley stood up. She still felt quite shaky and a little sick from the left-over part of her fright. But the
worst was past now, she had to be as tough as Rick or he'd say that was just like a girl.

"Alex," she was able to say that quite naturally, and her voice did not sound too queer, "Matt, maybe he'll
find his mom now, he was just looking in the wrong place. She's not here any more. You remember last
Christmas when you went with Mom to see Santy Claus at the store and you got lost? You were hunting
mom and she was hunting you, and at first you were looking in the wrong places. But you did find each
other. Well, Matt's mom will find him all right."

She thought that Alex wanted to believe her. He had not pushed away from Rick entirely, but he looked
as if he was listening carefully to every word she said.

"You're sure?" he asked doubtfully. "MattтАФhe was scared he'd never find his mom. He said he kept
calling an' calling an' she never came."

"She'll come, moms always do." Lesley tried to make that sound true. "And Lizzy will help. Lizzy," Lesley
hesitated, trying to choose the right words, "Lizzy's very good at getting things done."

She looked beyond to the evidence of Lizzy's getting things done and her wonder grew. At first, just after
it had happened, she had been so shocked and afraid, she had not really understood what Lizzy had
done before she and Matt had gone again. WhatтАФwhat had Lizzy learned during that time when she had
been in the other place? And how had she learned it? She had never answered all their questions as if she
was not able to tell them what lay on the other side of that door, or whatever it was which was between
here and there.

Lizzy's work was hard to believe, even when you saw it right before your eyes.

The bulldozer and the other machines which had been parked there to begin work again Monday
morningтАФWell, the bulldozer was lying over on its side, just as if it were a toy Alex had picked up and
thrown as he did sometimes when he got over-tired and cross. And the other machinesтАФthey were all
pushed over, some even broken! Then there were the growing things. Lizzy had rammed her hands into
the pockets of her dress-like apron and brought them out with seeds trickling between her fingers. And
she had just thrown those seeds here and there, all over the place.

It took a long time for plants to growтАФweeksтАФ Lesley knew. But lookтАФthese were growing right while
you watched. They had already made a thick mat over every piece of the machinery they had reached,
like they had to cover it from sight quickly. And there were flowers openingтАФand butterfliesтАФLesley
had never seen so many butterflies as were gathering about those flowers, arriving right out of nowhere.

"RickтАФhowтАФ?" She could not put her wonder into a full question, she could only gesture toward what