"Rosenblum-CaliforniaDreamer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenbaum Benjamin)

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me." Beth's face was pale. "You think she's dying."

Ellen opened her mouth, but the lie wouldn't come.

"She can't die," Beth whispered. "She can't. I need her."

Need couldn't save the one you loved. "Your mom's sleeping and you need some
sleep, too." Ellen steered Beth firmly out of the room. "You can sleep in my bed
tonight. I'll sit up with your room."

"She'll be better when she wakes up." Beth's shoulders stiffened. "She has to
be."

"I'm sure she will be," Ellen said, but Beth's eyes told her she knew the lie
for what it was.

Ellen found an extra nightshirt and tucked Beth into her own bed. Such bitter,
bitter irony, to survive the Quake just to die from the busy breeding of
invisible bacteria. "Go to sleep," Ellen whispered. "Your more will be fine."

"She was making fudge." Beth looked up at Ellen, golden hair spread across the
pillow. "She always makes fudge on Wednesday, because Wednesday's her day off
and fudge is our favorite thing in the whole world. The corner where our
apartment is cracked and just fell down. This big chunk of concrete landed on a
man and you couldn't even see what happened to him. Just dust, lots of dust. It
hid everything and then there was smoke and fire and Cara was screaming that
everyone was dead, that Mom was dead. She ran away, but I waited for the
firetrucks. They didn't come and then the whole building fell in and Cara's
building was on fire and I had to run away after all."

Terror filled those depthless eyes. "It's all right, honey." Ellen stroked her
face. "Your morn got out, remember?"

"Cara was lying," Beth said shrilly. "She always lied. I knew Mom wasn't dead,
but I couldn't find her. I saw a body lying in a pile of bricks. It was a man
with black hair. He didn't have any pants on and one of his legs was gone. Some
firemen in yellow coats told me they'd help me, but they didn't. They took me to
this park and it wasn't even in Berkeley. There were tents and lots of people. I
told them I couldn't stay, that I had to look for my mother, but they wouldn't
listen to me. There was a fence around the park. And soldiers. They wouldn't let
me out. They said that Mom would come look for me there, but how could she
know!"

"She found you. She's right here, Beth." And dying. Ellen put her arms around
the shaking girl, held her close, rocking her gently.

"I found her," Beth whispered. "We're going to Grandpa's house, up in Oregon.
We'll be safe there. You think she's dying." Beth pushed Ellen away. "She's not